Astronomers using ESO’s VISTA infrared survey telescope have discovered a dozen ancient stars, of a type known as RR Lyrae, in the vicinity of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. This discovery provides the first direct observational evidence that the nuclear stellar bulge of the Galaxy contains ancient stars. This image from ESO’s VISTA telescope shows the central part of the Milky Way. While normally hidden behind obscuring dust, the infrared...
