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Concept

Zone of Avoidance

The area of the sky that is obscured by the Milky Way's own galactic disk. Because the plane of our galaxy is thick with interstellar dust and gas, it absorbs visible light from more distant objects, leaving a 'blind spot' that covers about 20% of the night sky. Astronomers must use X-ray, infrared, and radio wavelengths to peer through this curtain and study the large-scale structures of the universe beyond.

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