dmzer5 wrote:1. What is the source of the bright light seen at the centers of all (?) galaxies?
When we look at galaxies we do so with optical devices which can't resolve single stars in those galaxies because they are so far away. So the large number of stars closely packed near the centers of galaxies just appears as a glow to us. That glow is made up of from hundreds of millions to billions of stars.
dmzer5 wrote:2. Can we see the "bright light" at the center of our Milky Way galaxy?
We can see some of it but mostly it's obscured by a lot of dust and gas between us and it.
Here's an APOD that shows a view towards the center of our Milky Way.
dmzer5 wrote:3. What percentage of the "stars" we see with the naked eye, actually are these centers of galaxies?
Most of what we can see with the naked eye are stars in the Milky Way galaxy. (Pretty much 100%, in fact.) A few specks would be distant galaxies, but they're best seen through telescopes. One of the things I've only recently learned is that the background in some telescopic images of space is almost entirely filled with galaxies.
Here's an APOD showing that. There are only a few stars in that image -- the ones with the diffraction spikes glaring off them. Everything else you see is galaxies. It's awe inspiring.
Rob
[I see Chris beat me to it, but I'll leave my answer too, since I didn't make any egregious errors.]
[quote="dmzer5"]1. What is the source of the bright light seen at the centers of all (?) galaxies?[/quote]
When we look at galaxies we do so with optical devices which can't resolve single stars in those galaxies because they are so far away. So the large number of stars closely packed near the centers of galaxies just appears as a glow to us. That glow is made up of from hundreds of millions to billions of stars.
[quote="dmzer5"]2. Can we see the "bright light" at the center of our Milky Way galaxy?[/quote]
We can see some of it but mostly it's obscured by a lot of dust and gas between us and it. [url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090614.html]Here's an APOD[/url] that shows a view towards the center of our Milky Way.
[quote="dmzer5"]3. What percentage of the "stars" we see with the naked eye, actually are these centers of galaxies?[/quote]
Most of what we can see with the naked eye are stars in the Milky Way galaxy. (Pretty much 100%, in fact.) A few specks would be distant galaxies, but they're best seen through telescopes. One of the things I've only recently learned is that the background in some telescopic images of space is almost entirely filled with galaxies. [url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091209.html]Here's an APOD[/url] showing that. There are only a few stars in that image -- the ones with the diffraction spikes glaring off them. Everything else you see is galaxies. It's awe inspiring.
Rob
[I see Chris beat me to it, but I'll leave my answer too, since I didn't make any egregious errors.]