In this James Webb telescope photo the mega molecular cloud near our galaxy center appears as canvas of pink and purple clouds set against shadow backdrop.
James Web Telescope
Stars shape in molecular clouds molecular clouds regions that are cold, dense, rich in molecules and filled with dust.
One huge cloud responsible for forming half of stars in Milky Way central region is Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud located in few hundred light years from our central supermassive black hole.
Boasting a mega mass between 3 million and 10 millions time that of sun and stretching 150 light year across.
It is one mega molecular clouds in galaxy.
It lies almost 26000 light years from Earth in constellation Sagittarius.
This giant star forming region is shrouded in mystery.
It has manage to produce 50% of stars in region despite containing 10% of galactic center gas.
Astronomers observed this super efficient stellar factory using the James Webb Space Telescope JWST.
In the hope of some clues about its unusual productivity.
This spectacular photo is telescope mid infrared view capture by JWST Mid infrared Instrument MIRI.
In the photo the clumps of dust and gas in molecular complex glow in shades of pink red and purple.
These clumps are seen surrounded by dark regions.
James Web Telescope
Dark does not mean these area are empty.
In star forming areas like this one warm dust gas and only the bright stars emit in mid infrared.
This contrasts with near infrared image capture by JWST Near Infrared Camera which reveals an abundance of stars because stars emit more strong in near infrared light.
In this MIRI photo the clumps on right appear redder than rest of cloud complex correspond to one of chemically complex region known as revealed by observation using other telescopes.
Astronomer think this unique area may hold clue to why Sgr B2 is more efficient at star formation than rest of galactic center.
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