Milky Way Center (MeerKAT and Webb)

Caption

An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope array puts the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the Sagittarius C region in context. The MeerKAT image spans 1,000 light-years, while the Webb image covers 44 light-years. 

At the center of the MeerKAT image the region surrounding the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole blazes bright. Huge vertical filamentary structures echo those captured on a smaller scale by Webb in Sagittarius C’s blue-green hydrogen cloud. Like a super-long exposure photograph, MeerKAT shows the bubble-like remnants of supernovas that exploded over millennia, capturing the dynamic nature of the Milky Way’s chaotic core. 

Astronomers think the strong magnetic fields in the heart of the galaxy are shaping the filaments seen by MeerKAT and Webb, and may also play a role in suppressing star formation in the region. Though there is a rich cloud of raw star-making material in Sagittarius C, star formation rates are not as high as astronomers expect. Instead, magnetic fields may be strong enough resist the gravity that would typically cause dense clouds of gas and dust to collapse and forge stars.

Credits

Image

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford)

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