Original article (in Croatian) was published on 20/7/2025; Author: Marta Kolarić
The image actually shows interstellar dust around the black hole at the center of galaxy M51, and it was taken back in 1992.
The Instagram page Novi Život (archived here) recently claimed that a telescope image captured by Hubble shows a “cross” silhouette at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
“NASA’s Hubble telescope has captured an unusual structure at the heart of our galaxy – a shape that strongly resembles a cross.
Thousands of social media users have reacted with awe and spiritual inspiration, interpreting this discovery as a divine reminder of Christ’s sacrifice and presence throughout the universe.”
The post correctly states that the image was taken by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope, a space observatory launched in 1990 through a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency.
Despite its age and relatively small size, Hubble is still regarded as one of the most powerful telescopes ever built. Orbiting Earth at an altitude of 600 km and equipped with optics five times sharper than ground-based telescopes, Hubble has contributed to some of the most significant discoveries in astronomy – including helping determine the age and expansion rate of the universe, discovering two of Pluto’s moons, confirming that nearly every large galaxy has a black hole at its center, and assisting in the creation of 3D maps of dark matter.
However, the post falsely claims that the image shows the center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. In reality, the image depicts the central region of a different galaxy – M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy – and was captured more than three decades ago, in 1992.
M51 is one of the brightest and most well-known spiral galaxies in the sky and was the first galaxy ever identified as spiral in structure. It is relatively close to Earth and positioned nearly face-on from our perspective, offering a clear view of its core.
In the image, a dark “X” shape appears over the galaxy’s nucleus. In 1992, Dr. Holland Ford of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute explained that this feature is the result of dust absorption. The “X” marks the precise location of the black hole at the center of M51, around which millions of stars orbit. The more prominent arm of the “X” is likely a ring of dust seen edge-on – tilted so that it obscures the black hole from direct view – while the other arm likely represents a second ring or rotating clouds of gas and dust.
This image has frequently been misrepresented online, often used in Christian narratives falsely claiming it as “evidence that Heaven lies at the center of our galaxy.”
In conclusion, the 1992 image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope does not show a cross-shaped silhouette at the center of the Milky Way. It captures the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and a dust formation around its central black hole. The shape interpreted as a “cross” is a natural result of how interstellar dust absorbs and scatters light – not evidence of divine symbolism.
