New Milky Way Image Reveals Why Star Formation Is Slower at Galactic Center

Magnetic Fields May Be Halting Star Formation at the Milky Way’s Core, New Image Suggests

A breathtaking radio image of the Milky Way’s center has been unveiled, giving scientists and stargazers alike a vivid and unprecedented look at the heart of our galaxy.

Captured by South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope and released on April 2, 2025, the image spotlights Sagittarius C (Sgr C), a region 25,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The striking new view uses colors like blue, cyan, yellow, and white to depict a 1,000-light-year stretch filled with remnants of exploded stars—supernovae that left behind colorful gas bubbles.

Unlike traditional visual depictions of the Milky Way, this long-exposure radio image provides crucial context for earlier infrared observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which in 2023 revealed more than 500,000 stars in this same region.

Despite the dense presence of gas and dust in what is known as the Central Molecular Zone near the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, astronomers have been puzzled by the surprisingly low rate of star formation.

Astrophysicist John Bally from the University of Colorado Boulder, co-author of a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, suggests magnetic fields may be the answer. “If there is so much dense gas and cosmic dust here, and we know stars form in such clouds, why are so few stars born here? Now, for the first time, we’re seeing that strong magnetic fields could be inhibiting that process, even on small scales,” he said.

These powerful magnetic fields may be preventing gas clouds from collapsing under gravity—an essential step in forming new stars.

MeerKAT, made up of 64 radio dishes in the Karoo region of South Africa, is just one piece of a much bigger astronomical project. It will eventually integrate into the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an international initiative to build the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world. SKA will also feature over 130,000 antennas in Western Australia, located on the ancestral lands of the Wajarri Yamaji people.

This remarkable radio image of Sgr C not only redefines how we see our galaxy but also deepens our understanding of why certain galactic regions are less productive in star creation than previously thought.