Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in the heart of our galaxy, focusing on Sagittarius C, one of the most active regions for star formation. Using NASA‘s James Webb Space Telescope, the team, led by John Bally at the University of Colorado Boulder, examined this star-forming cloud, revealing new insights about its unique structure and star-forming processes. Sagittarius C sits about 200 light-years from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and contains dense clouds of hydrogen, helium, and other materials, making it an area where stars are born and die.

The team found that, unlike other star-forming regions such as the Orion Nebula, Sagittarius C’s appearance is dominated by bright, filament-like structures made of plasma. These filaments, several light-years long, are formed by hot gases of charged particles and are shaped by the region’s intense magnetic fields. “We were definitely not expecting those filaments,” said co-author Rubén Fedriani, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía. The filaments contribute to Sagittarius C’s distinct, chaotic look, which sets it apart from other nebulae.

The study also uncovered the role of magnetic fields in regulating the star formation process in Sagittarius C. While the Orion Nebula, located farther from the galaxy’s center, is smooth and less affected by magnetic forces, the powerful magnetic fields in Sagittarius C appear to prevent the collapse of gas clouds, slowing the rate at which stars form. This could explain why Sagittarius C, despite its high density of interstellar gas, has produced fewer stars than expected. The magnetic forces may be strong enough to counteract the gravitational pull that would typically trigger the formation of new stars.

Despite these challenges, the region continues to be a star-forming powerhouse. However, the team notes that Sagittarius C is reaching the end of its star-forming days. The young stars in the region have already blown away much of the surrounding gas, and the cloud may disappear entirely in just a few hundred thousand years. This discovery, published in a pair of papers in The Astrophysical Journal, sheds new light on the complex interplay of magnetic forces and star formation in the galaxy’s central regions, offering a deeper understanding of how stars are born in extreme environments.

References

• University of Colorado at Boulder. (2025, April 2). Sagittarius C: Webb provides closest look yet at one of Milky Way’s most extreme environments. Phys.Org; University of Colorado at Boulder. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-sagittarius-webb-closet-milky-extreme.html
• Bally, J., Crowe, S., Fedriani, R., Ginsburg, A., Schödel, R., Andersen, M., Tan, J. C., Li, Z.-Y., Nogueras-Lara, F., Cheng, Y., Law, C.-Y., Wang, Q. D., Zhang, Y., & Zhang, S. (2025). The jwst-nircam view of sagittarius c. Ii. Evidence for magnetically dominated h ii regions in the central molecular zone. The Astrophysical Journal, 983(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9d0b

Crowe, S., Fedriani, R., Tan, J. C., Kinman, A., Zhang, Y., Andersen, M., Ferres, L. B., Nogueras-Lara, F., Schödel, R., Bally, J., Ginsburg, A., Cheng, Y., Yang, Y.-L., Kendrew, S., Law, C.-Y., Armstrong, J., & Li, Z.-Y. (2025). The jwst-nircam view of sagittarius c. I. Massive star formation and protostellar outflows. The Astrophysical Journal, 983(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad8889