Astronomers have peered into the “heart” of the Milky Way for the first time: this photo is breathtaking
Previously, scientists could not see the center of our galaxy in such detail.
Using its infrared capabilities, the James Webb Space Telescope has allowed astronomers to peer through gas and dust into the center of the Milky Way. This is reported by Science Alert.
One of the biggest mysteries is a star-forming region called Sagittarius C, located about 300 light-years from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole.
It is estimated that about 500,000 stars form in this region. How can they form in such a tense environment? Now astronomers cannot explain this.
“There has never been any infrared data on this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity that we obtain with Webb, so we are seeing many features here for the first time,” the scientists said.
A modern telescope reveals an incredible amount of detail, allowing astronomers to study star formation in a way that was not possible before.
The region shown in the new image is about 50 light-years wide and lies about 25,000 light-years from Earth.
One previously unknown huge protostar has been discovered at the center of this young cluster. Its mass is more than 30 times the mass of our Sun.
As UNIAN reported, earlier an international group of researchers discovered an ancient galaxy that is very similar to our Milky Way.
Scientists suggest that just 2 billion years after the Big Bang, this galaxy has already become very similar to ours.