The latest image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including intriguing needle-like structures and other never-before-seen features that astronomers have yet to explain.
The image is the first James Webb project ever to be led by an undergraduate student, Samuel Crowe at the University of Virginia. The project leading up to the new image started at the Chalmers Astrophysics & Space Science Summer, CASSUM, under the supervision of Jonathan Tan, professor in Astrophysics at Chalmers and the University of Virginia.
The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is about 300 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. The NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals a portion of the Milky Way’s dense core in a new light.
“There’s never been any infrared data on this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity we get with Webb, so we are seeing lots of features here for the first time,” says Samuel Crowe. “Webb reveals an incredible amount of detail, allowing us to study star formation in this sort of environment in a way that wasn’t possible previously.”
“The galactic center is the most extreme environment in our Milky Way galaxy, where current theories of star formation can be put to their most rigorous test,” says Jonathan Tan, one of Crowe’s advisors.
It started at the Chalmers summer school
Samuel Crowe spent the summer of 2022 working and living in Gothenburg. Att CASSUM, he was working on a project in the Galactic Center that led him to make a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project proposal.
"The summer program at Chalmers was wonderful and gave me many amazing experiences exploring the city of Gothenburg and traveling abroad with the other interns. Besides the great memories, it also gave me an invaluable education in astronomy research and hands-on skills working on a research project, which I used to directly motivate the JWST proposal that produced this spectacular image”, says Samuel Crowe.
Samuel also returned to the CASSUM program in 2023, then working with Chalmers alumni Rubén Fedriani at the Instituto Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain. Samuel also visited Chalmers again in 2023, as he is still associated with Jonathan Tan's group at Chalmers.
“I would wholeheartedly recommend the CASSUM program to any students looking for a summer experience that is fun, enriching, and beneficial to advancing one's career in astronomy. It's the full package!"
More information:
Read the Nasa press release: NASA's Webb Reveals New Features in Heart of Milky Way.
CASSUM:
CASSUM website: https://cosmicorigins.space/cassum
The 2024 Chalmers Astrophysics and Space Sciences Summer (CASSUM) program is currently in preparation. The program offers in-person/hybrid research projects for undergraduate and master’s students with primary supervisors at Chalmers. CASSUM was founded in 2020 with support from GENIE (Gender Initiative for Excellence) and there is a strong emphasis in the program in promoting gender equality, diversity, equity and inclusion. CASSUM offers potentially life-changing opportunities for students who wish to pursue a career in research. It also provides opportunities for Chalmers junior researchers to gain experience in designing independent research projects and supervision of students, which are crucial elements for academic career development.
After the initial seed funding from GENIE, CASSUM has received support in recent years from Stiftelsen Wilhelm och Martina Lundgrens Vetenskapsfond.