Peering through the Dust of Sagittarius B1: Infrared View | ESO

Peering through the Dust of Sagittarius B1: Infrared View  | ESO

This is an infrared view of Sagittarius B1, a region close to the center of the Milky Way, imaged with the European Southern Observatory (ESO)’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The center of our galaxy is an exotic environment, densely populated with stars, and has been suggested to have more star formation than any other place in the Milky Way. However, so far we have only found less than 10% of all young stars we expect there. Where are the others? 

There is a catch: our view towards the center is obscured by clouds of dust and gas, blocking the light from the stars. With infrared instruments it is possible to peer through these clouds. In this image, taken with the infrared HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s VLT, we get to take a closer look at this region. The view is mesmerising, unveiling a myriad of stars. In a recent study, a team led by Francisco Nogueras Lara (MPIA Heidelberg, Germany) discovered that this region hosts an excess of young stars, with a combined mass of more than 100,000 times the mass of the Sun. This is a key step forward in our quest to find all the expected young stars in the central regions of the Milky Way, and thus understand how stars evolve in such a unique environment.

This image comes from the GALACTICNUCLEUS survey, whose goal is to obtain high-resolution infrared images of the galactic center. With future infrared ESO instruments such as ERIS on the VLT and MICADO on the upcoming ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the team hopes to study the stars in greater detail, which will lead to a better understanding of the evolution of the Milky Way’s center. 

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Nogueras-Lara et al.

Release Date: August 29, 2022

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