The James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered something remarkable near the heart of the Milky Way: water and freshly formed cosmic dust surviving astonishingly close to Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Using Webb’s powerful MIRI instrument, astronomers studied IRS 3, an aging star located just about 0.55 light-years from the black hole, and detected water in its enormous dusty envelope for the first time, along with clear signatures of oxygen-rich silicate dust. The discovery shows that molecules and dust can form and persist even in the intense radiation environment surrounding a supermassive black hole, challenging assumptions about how hostile galactic centers are to complex material. Webb’s observations also reveal that IRS 3 is rapidly shedding material, creating a vast envelope extending roughly 10,000 astronomical units and potentially supplying the galactic center with ingredients that can later become part of new stars and planetary systems. In this video, we explore what Webb actually detected, how scientists found the water, what is happening to IRS 3, and why this discovery could change our understanding of how matter survives and evolves in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy.

Sources:

ESA/Webb — Dust and Water Near Sagittarius A*

https://esawebb.org/news/weic2617

Astronomy & Astrophysics — IRS 3 Dust Production Study

https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202660243

ESA — Dust and Water Close to the Milky Way’s Black Hole

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Dust_and_water_spotted_close_to_giant_black_hole

NASA — Dust and Water in Sagittarius A*

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/dust-and-water-in-sagittarius-a/

University of Cologne — Water in the Stellar Envelope Near Sgr A*

https://uni-koeln.de/en/university/news/news/news-detail/a-stellar-envelope-near-the-black-hole-sgr-a-contains-water