Webb’s UK-led instrument probes star-forming cloud
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) has revealed stunning views of the largest and most active star-forming region in the Milky Way galaxy.
The colossal star-forming cloud, named Sagittarius B2, generates half of the stars created in the central part of the Milky Way even though it only contains about a tenth of the area’s star-making material.
Alongside MIRI, Webb captured images of Sagittarius B2 using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). MIRI operates at a longer wavelength than NIRCam, resulting in clear differences between both images.
The high resolution and mid-infrared sensitivity of MIRI – which is a Europe-US collaboration including a UK-led consortium of European institutes – show glowing cosmic dust and gas in stunning detail, while all but the brightest stars disappear from view. In contrast, the NIRCam image is dominated by a huge array of colourful stars, interspersed only occasionally by bright clouds of dust and gas.
Scientists hope this new imagery will help them to better understand why star formation is so unevenly distributed in the central part of our galaxy.
You can read the full story about Webb’s new imagery of Sagittarius B2 on the esa.int Science pages.
About MIRI
MIRI is part of Europe’s contribution to the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) mission. It is a partnership between Europe and the USA; the main partners are ESA, a UK-led consortium of nationally funded European institutes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
