Webb space telescope examines largest stellar nursery in Milky Way

The James Webb Space Telescope has gazed into the largest and most prolific star-forming region in the Milky Way, a molecular cloud designated as Sagittarius B2, at a distance of only a few hundred lightyears from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole occupying the galaxy core. The stellar nursery is a region densely packed with newborn stars, star-forming clouds and complex, tangled magnetic fields. The gas and dust in the region obscures light in optical frequencies, but is a suitable target for Webb with its sensitive infrared gaze, that can peer through the clouds. The densest regions of the stellar nursery though, are obscured from even the gaze of Webb. 

These densest regions are of particular interest to scientists because although they appear empty, these are the regions where the stars are being formed. The embryonic stars are cocooned by the gas and dust, the raw material of their formation, and are still growing in mass and density, unable to sustain the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, that marks the birth of a star, and allows it to shine. The observations by Webb have revealed dust heated by the energetic light pouring out of young stars. The observations reveal the masses and ages of the stars in the region, that allows scientists to better understand the processes at work towards the central region of the galaxy. 

Despite being saturated with gas and dust, the central regions of the galaxy are producing far fewer stars than can be expected, considering the amount of raw material available. Scientists hope to shed light on the mystery with observations by Webb. Sagittarius B2 contains only 10 per cent of the gas towards the central regions of the galaxy, but still produces about half of all the new stars. Scientists do not fully understand the mechanisms of the region, and hope to determine if the process of star formation has been triggered recently, or has been ongoing for millions of years.