Even Near a Supermassive Black Hole, Stars Enrich the Interstellar Medium

Universe Today Universe Today —

The JWST used NIRCam and MIRI to capture this region near the Milky Way's SMBH. The star IRS 3 is in this field.</p><p>It's an AGB star, and researchers are studying it to investigate the connection between material cast off from these types of stars and the interstellar medium.</p><p>The researchers were surprised to find water and dust here, even though powerful radiation from the SMBH inhibit them.</p><p>Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan.</p><p>Licence: CC BY 4.0 INT or ESA Standard Licencehttps://www.universetoday.com/article_images/IRS_3_Field_NIRCam_and_MIRI_image_20260818_184735.jpg" width="1280" />

Astronomers know that evolved AGB stars shed their outer layers, contributing to the makeup of the interstellar medium.

But new JWST observations show this can happen even near a supermassive black hole, where powerful radiation could obliterate molecules.

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