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

The JWST used NIRCam and MIRI to capture this region near the Milky Way's SMBH. The star IRS 3 is in this field. 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. The researchers were surprised to find water and dust here, even though powerful radiation from the SMBH inhibit them. Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan. Licence: CC BY 4.0 INT or ESA Standard Licence

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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