What was previously identified as a gas and dust cloud at the center of our galaxy actually consists of three very young stars. That is the result of a new study led by scientists from the University of Cologne's Institute of Astrophysics. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT)—a telescope with mirror diameters of 8.20 meters on the summit of Cerro Paranal in Chile—provided the data for the study, which has appeared in The Astrophysical Journal. The stars began to form less than 1 million years ago, which is very young in astrophysical terms. By comparison, our sun is just under 5 billion years old.