NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken detailed images of the Sagittarius C region near the center of the Milky Way galaxy, revealing a dense star-forming region with numerous protostars and infrared dark clouds. This observation provides a new perspective on star formation and the dynamics of the galactic center. (Artist’s concept, see web image below)
The play of darkness and light in the dense center of our galaxy is on display like never before.
Regions of bright gas sweep around the edges of dark, dense clouds, where young stars explode and take their place in space. They join an estimated 500,000 other stars of all ages, sizes, and skin colors.it’s our hub milky way The galaxy is a rush-hour urban center, and the quiet corner of the solar system is a remote outpost by comparison. Discover new features and mysteries. NASA‘s james webb space telescope has uncovered an unprecedented infrared observation of a chaotic region and what it means for astronomy.
![Sagittarius C (Webb NIRCam image)](https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Image-777x294.jpg 777w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Image-400x151.jpg 400w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Image-768x291.jpg 768w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Image-1536x581.jpg 1536w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Image-2048x775.jpg 2048w)
A panoramic view of the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) instrument reveals a 50-light-year wide section of the Milky Way’s dense center. An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this image of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region, which also includes several unidentified features.
A vast region of ionized hydrogen, shown in cyan, wraps around the infrared dark cloud. This cloud is so dense that it blocks out light from distant stars behind it. The interesting needle-like structure in ionized hydrogen release lacks uniform orientation. The researchers note that the ionized region extends over a surprising extent, about 25 light years.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crowe (UVA)
Webb Space Telescope reveals new features in the heart of the Milky Way
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 about 300 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive star. Black HoleSagittarius A*.
unprecedented details
“Infrared data for this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity available with the Webb has never existed before, so here we were able to see many of the features for the first time,” said Dr. said Samuel Crowe, an undergraduate student at the university. University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Webb revealed incredible details, allowing us to study star formation in this type of environment in ways that were previously impossible.”
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.
![Sagittarius C (annotated Webb NIRCam image)](https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Annotated-Webb-NIRCam-Image-777x294.jpg 777w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Annotated-Webb-NIRCam-Image-400x151.jpg 400w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Annotated-Webb-NIRCam-Image-768x291.jpg 768w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Annotated-Webb-NIRCam-Image-1536x581.jpg 1536w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Annotated-Webb-NIRCam-Image-2048x775.jpg 2048w)
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. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crowe (UVA)
Protostars and infrared dark clouds
Among the estimated 500,000 stars in the image are clusters of protostars (stars that are still forming and gaining mass), creating a bonfire-like outflow in the midst of the stars. infrared dark cloud. At the center of this young star 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.
New discoveries made by NIRCam
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.
![Sagittarius C (Webb NIRCam compass image)](https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Compass-Image-777x422.jpg 777w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Compass-Image-400x217.jpg 400w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Compass-Image-768x417.jpg 768w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Compass-Image-1536x835.jpg 1536w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Sagittarius-C-Webb-NIRCam-Compass-Image-2048x1113.jpg 2048w)
This image of Sagittarius C (Sgr) taken by Webb’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows a compass arrow, scale bar, and color key for reference.
The north and east compass arrows indicate the direction of the image in the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east in the sky (when viewed from below) is reversed with respect to the directional arrows on the map on the ground (when viewed from above).
The scale bar is labeled in light years. A light year is the distance that light travels in one Earth year. (It takes three years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light year is equivalent to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers. The field of view shown in this image is about 50 light years long.
This image shows invisible near-infrared wavelengths converted to visible light colors. The color key indicates which NIRCam filter was used when collecting the light. The color in each filter name is the visible light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crowe (UVA)
Investigation of the galactic center
“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.”
Galaxy Center Research
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.”
About the James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. It is leading the investigation of our solar system, exploring distant worlds around other stars, and investigating the mysterious structure and origins of our universe. Webb is an international program led by NASA. european space agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.