GC_EPO2 (IMAGE)
Caption
A detailed infrared view of the Galactic Center region of our Milky Way Galaxy. These infrared images are sensitive to the presently forming massive stars there as well as the emission from cool regions of dust and gas orbiting our Galactic Center’s supermassive black hole (marked by the red star symbol). The star-forming regions that were studied – Sgr B1 & B2 and Sgr C – are contained in the boxes, and are shown as zoomed-in regions for a more detailed look. The study found that massive stars are indeed presently forming in the Galactic Center, but confirm recent studies suggesting that stars in general are forming there at a relative low rate. Our Sun lies 26,000 light years from our Galactic Center, but Sgr B1, B2 and C are orbiting the Galactic Center at only about 300 light years. The fast orbits of these regions and their extreme closeness to the energetic and chaotic Galactic Center negatively impacts the star formation process in these star-forming regions. In particular, they top out at a relatively lower stellar mass compared to other similar-scale star-forming regions in the rest of the Galaxy and produce fewer massive stars.
Credit
These images are made from data from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Herschel Space Observatory. Image credit: J. De Buizer (SETI) / SOFIA / Spitzer / Herschel.
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License
Original content