The NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals part of the Milky Way’s dense core in new light. An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this image of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region, which also includes several unidentified features. The large region of ionized hydrogen shown in cyan contains interesting needle-like structures with no uniform orientation. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and S. Crowe (University of Virginia). Download full resolution image This article was brought to you by the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The latest images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope show part of the galaxy’s dense center in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features that astronomers have yet to explain. Masu. The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is located about 300 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
“There has never been infrared data for this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity available with the Webb, so we can see many features here for the first time.” said the lead researcher of the observation team. Samuel Crowean undergraduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Webb uncovered incredible details, allowing us to study star formation in this type of environment in ways not previously possible.”
Professor Jonathan Tan, one of Professor Crowe’s advisors at the University of Virginia, said: “The galactic center is the most extreme environment in the Milky Way, and where current theories of star formation may be subjected to the most rigorous tests. Yes,” he added.
protostar
Among the estimated 500,000 stars in the image are clusters of protostars (stars that are still forming and gaining mass), producing infrared outflows that glow like bonfires in the middle of dark clouds. . At the center of this young cluster is the previously known giant protostar, with a mass more than 30 times that of the Sun. The cloud in which the protostar emerges is so dense that light from stars behind it does not reach the web, making it less crowded even though it is actually one of the densest areas in the image. It looks like you haven’t. Small infrared dark clouds dot the image, looking like holes in the starry sky. This is where future stars are born.
Webb’s NIRCam (near-infrared camera) instrument also captured large emissions from ionized hydrogen surrounding the underside of the dark cloud, shown in cyan in the image. Usually this is the result of high-energy photons emitted by young, massive stars, Crowe said, but the vastness of the region Webb showed is surprising and deserves further investigation. Another feature of this area that Crowe plans to investigate further is needle-like structures within the ionized hydrogen, which appear to be randomly oriented in different directions.
“The center of a galaxy is a crowded, noisy place. There are clouds of turbulent, magnetized gas forming stars that affect the surrounding gas with outflowing winds, jets, and radiation.” said project co-investigator Rubén Fedriani from Spain’s Andalucía Astronomical Institute. “Webb has provided us with a wealth of data about this extreme environment, and we’re just starting to dig into it.”
The approximate outline helps define the characteristics of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region. Astronomers are studying data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to understand the relationships between these features and other influences in the chaotic galactic center. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crow (UVA) Enlarged image
At a distance of about 25,000 light-years from Earth, the galactic center is close enough to study individual stars with the Webb telescope, allowing astronomers to study how stars form and how this process depends on the cosmic environment. Unprecedented information can be gathered about what to do, especially when compared to other regions. of the galaxy. For example, do more massive stars form at the center of the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arms rather than at their ends?
“The images from the web are amazing, and the science that comes from them is even better,” Crowe said. “Massive stars are factories that produce heavy elements in their cores, so understanding them better is like learning the origin story of much of the universe.”
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb unravels the mysteries of our solar system, looks to distant worlds around other stars, and explores the mysterious structure and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA and its partners ESA (European Space Agency) and Canadian Space Agency.
Download full resolution image This article was brought to you by the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Astrobiology, astrochemistry, astronomy
