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An international team of over 160 astronomers has used the ALMA telescope in Chile to produce the largest-ever radio image of the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone, a 650-light-year-wide region surrounding our galaxy's supermassive black hole. The ACES survey reveals a complex web of cold gas filaments, dozens of molecular species including organic compounds like methanol and acetone, and new insights into how stars form under extreme conditions that mirror the early universe.