Astronomers find water in extreme environment near the Milky Way’s black hole – Space Picture of the Week
View of the Milky Way Galaxy.
(Image source: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan)
Quick facts
What is it: The region surrounding the star IRS 3
Where is he: 26,000 light years from Earth
When shared: August 11, 2026
This mesmerizing image may look beautiful, but it captures a hostile environment: the turbulent region surrounding a dying star near the central black hole in our galaxy.
This unprecedented view of star IRS 3 (located near the center of the image) shows it shedding a huge amount of material, gas and dust to build a sprawling envelope around itself. Inside that star’s atmosphere, scientists discovered traces of water.
Although astronomers have discovered water near other stars before, this is the first time it has been found this close to stars. milky wayenormous Black holeKnown as Sagittarius A*.
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The observations were described on August 11 in the journal Astronomy and astrophysicsIt shows that even in the extreme conditions surrounding the central region of the galaxy, aging stars like IRS 3 may still be quietly kicking up dust in their surroundings. This challenges the assumption that the centers of galaxies are too extreme for this process to occur at all.
“The discovery of water is particularly exciting because it shows that molecular materials can survive in an environment dominated by intense radiation,” study co-author Macarena Garcia MarinA researcher at the European Space Agency, A statement.
How the photo was taken
the Magical view They are put together by combining data from James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) Near-infrared camera and mid-infrared instrument.
“This is the first time a continuous mid-infrared spectrum has been collected for this star, allowing us to detect features of silicate dust and reveal the star’s true chemical identity,” said Garcia Marin, who is also the project’s principal investigator. Mid-infrared characterization of famous nearby galaxy centers Meconic program.
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Another picture Shows where this star is located in relation to Sagittarius A*: 0.55 light-years away.
This image shows the location of the star IRS 3
(Image source: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan)
IRS 3 is no ordinary star. It belongs to a class of aging stars that live in what astronomers call the asymptotic giant branch phase. In this late stage of life, stars are large, have relatively cool temperatures, and high brightness. It blows away layers of its own material through intense stellar winds, and this matter seeds the universe with cosmic dust.
But given how close IRS 3 was next to Sagittarius A*, it wasn’t clear whether it could still generate these winds and produce dust. The new study provides a much clearer picture.
To map the structure of the star’s atmosphere, the team combined JWST’s spectroscopic data with models that simulate how starlight travels through the various possible dust formations around the star. The best fit turned out to be a layer-like structure of dust extending about 10,000 AU outward from IRS 3, with temperatures ranging from about 1,200 K (1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, or 927 degrees Celsius) near the star down to about 100 K (minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit, or -173 degrees Celsius) at the outer edge of the envelope.
By delving into mid-infrared data, the team found clear signs of oxygen-rich dust surrounding IRS 3. This discovery refutes Previous result Which the IRS categorizes 3 as carbon-rich based on the shape of its dust envelope. Instead, the analysis revealed a strong infrared signature of silicate dust composed of silicon and oxygen, indicating the presence of oxygen-rich chemistry.
More interestingly, they also detected traces of water inside the shell, despite the star’s proximity to the harsh radiation environment of a supermassive black hole. Combining spectroscopic data with stellar models, the team estimates that IRS 3 has a mass of about six times that of the Sun and an age of about 72 million years. The star has a luminosity approximately 60,000 times that of the Sun.
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