The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured glowing cosmic dust heated by very young massive stars in unprecedented detail in this image of the Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) molecular cloud released on Sept. 24, 2025.
Sgr B2 is the most massive, and active star-forming region in our galaxy, located only a few hundred light years from our central supermassive black hole. While Sgr B2 has only 10% of the galactic center’s gas, it produces 50% of its stars. Astronomers want to figure out why it is so much more active than the rest of the galactic center.
MIRI has both a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. MIRI’s view reveals colorful stars punctuated occasionally by bright clouds of gas and dust. Further research into these stars will reveal details of their masses and ages, which will help astronomers better understand the process of star formation in this dense, active galactic center region.
Image credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
NASA詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜的中红外仪器（MIRI）在这张于2025年9月24日发布的图像中，以前所未有的细节捕捉到了由年轻大质量恒星加热而发光的宇宙尘埃。图中展示的是射手座B2（Sgr B2）分子云。
Sgr B2是银河系中质量最大、恒星形成最活跃的区域之一，距离银河系中心的超大质量黑洞仅数百光年。虽然该区域的气体仅占银心气体的10%，却孕育了其中50%的恒星。天文学家希望弄清为何该区域的恒星形成效率远高于其他银心区域。
MIRI配备了相机与光谱仪，能够观测电磁波谱中段的中红外光。MIRI的视角揭示了缤纷的恒星，其间点缀着明亮的气体与尘埃云。对这些恒星的进一步研究将揭示它们的质量与年龄，有助于天文学家更深入理解在如此致密且活跃的银心区域中，恒星形成的过程。
图片来源: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); 图像处理: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
