A captivating new image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled mysterious structures at the core of the Milky Way that baffle scientists. The image focuses on Sagittarius C (Sgr C), a region located approximately 300 light-years away from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy. With unprecedented clarity, astronomers are now able to study this area in ways previously impossible.
The high level of detail has revealed never-before-seen features, shedding light on the densely populated galactic center housing around 500,000 stars, including a cluster of protostars still in the process of formation. Notably, a massive protostar, 30 times the mass of our Sun, resides at the center of this cluster. Furthermore, the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured significant emission from ionized hydrogen bordering an infrared-dark cloud, providing astronomers with an exciting opportunity to investigate the region and gain unprecedented insights into the processes of star formation.
Expressing his enthusiasm for the discovery, Samuel Crowe, the principal investigator of the observation team, remarked, “There’s never been any infrared data on this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity we get with Webb, so we are seeing lots of features here for the first time. The image from Webb is stunning, and the science we will get from it is even better.”
