New Delhi: The James Webb Space Telescope has peered into the largest star forming region in the milky way, dubbed Sagittarius B2, located at a distance of 26,000 lightyears from the Earth towards the core of the galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius. Sagittarius B2 is the most massive and active stellar nursery in the Milky Way, producing half of the stars in the central region of the galaxy. Webb is uniquely suited to peer into stellar nurseries, because the gas and dust obscure light in optical frequencies, but allow infrared wavelengths to pass through, which the instruments on Webb are sensitive to.
MIRI image of Sagittarius B2. (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Ginsburg (University of Florida), N. Budaiev (University of Florida), T. Yoo (University of Florida). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI)).
Sagittarius B2 is located only a few hundred lightyears from the supermassive black hole occupying the core of the galaxy, dubbed Sagittarius A*. The surrounding region is dense and busy, and is packed with stars, stellar nurseries and complex magnetic fields. Webb has been able to peel back the thick clouds to reveal the young stars enshrouded in warm dust. Astronomers hope that the observations will help explain why Sagittarius B2 is forming stars at such a furious rate. The darkest, thickest regions in the image are where the dust and gas is densest, and where embryonic stars are being formed.
Disproportionate star formation
The Sagittarius B2 is another of Webb’s target that has been revealed to astronomers in unprecedented detail. Further research will reveal the masses and ages of the stars, shedding light on the process of star formation in the region. The core of the galaxy is packed with plenty of gas and dust, the raw material from which stars are formed. Sagittarius B2 contains only 10 per cent of the gas at the centre of the galaxy, but produces 50 per cent of the stars. Astronomers hope that observations by Webb will help explain this disproportionate star formation in the Sagittarius B2 stellar nursery.