Webb Captures Unprecedented Details Inside Milky Way's Largest Star Nursery

The ever-busy James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently turned its gaze toward the core of our galaxy and revealed unprecedented details of the largest and most active stellar nursery nestled within. Webb's target, the massive Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) molecular cloud, is a cauldron of star formation located a mere few hundred light-years from the supermassive black hole at the galactic center. The new images, which are results of research by astronomers from University of Florida as well as an international team, gives us a more vivid view into the often-hidden process of how stars are born.

Often described as the most active birthplace of stars in our galaxy, Sgr B2 (despite containing only 10% of the galactic center's gas, is responsible for half of its star-forming activity) has long been a subject of fascination for astronomers. However, the gas and dust density in that region has ...