Astronomers utilizing the James Webb Space Telescope have made an unprecedented discovery of water and oxygen-rich dust surrounding a dying star located near the center of the Milky Way. The findings reveal that molecular material can survive in the intensely hostile and irradiated neighborhood of a supermassive black hole.
JWST Detects Water Near Milky Way Supermassive Black Hole
The observations focus on a bright, evolved star designated as IRS 3, situated approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth and just 0.55 light-years away from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole. The study was published August 11, 2026, in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Galactic centers are among the most extreme environments, so understanding whether stars can continue enriching their surroundings there is an important question,
Florian Peißker, an astrophysicist at the University of Cologne in Germany and lead author of the study, said in a statement. Peißker noted that the space telescope allows researchers to directly observe stellar behavior under these harsh conditions and confirm that dust production remains remarkably resilient.
Probing the Envelopes of Aging Stars
As stars with up to roughly eight times the mass of our Sun approach the end of their lifecycles, they become bloated, reddish, and cool, gradually losing their outer layers into space. These stellar winds enrich the cosmos with dust that serves as a building block for celestial objects. However, astronomers previously questioned whether this process could occur so close to a supermassive black hole’s gravitational pull and intense radiation.
By examining the inner parsec of the galaxy using the James Webb Space Telescope and its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), researchers mapped the structure of the star’s envelope. The team combined spectral data with simulations modeling how starlight travels through different dust configurations.
The analysis determined that IRS 3 possesses a layered, shell-like structure of dust stretching roughly 10,000 astronomical units outward. Temperatures within this envelope range from approximately 1,200 kelvins near the star down to about 100 kelvins at the outer edge.
The data also overturned an earlier classification. While previous observations suggested IRS 3 was carbon-rich, the mid-infrared signatures revealed two strong indicators of silicate dust composed of silicon and oxygen, confirming an oxygen-rich chemistry.
Surviving Extreme Radiation
Most notably, researchers detected traces of water within the star’s envelope for the first time this close to the galactic center.
The detection of water is especially exciting because it shows that molecular material can survive in an environment dominated by intense radiation,
Macarena Garcia Marin, a researcher at the European Space Agency and study co-author, said in a statement reported by Sciencealert. Garcia Marin added that the discovery demonstrates how stars continue contributing material back into their surroundings even in extreme proximity to a supermassive black hole.
Based on models and observations—including a bow shock created as the dying star’s envelope smashes into interstellar space—researchers estimate that IRS 3 may have been born as far away as 16 light-years from the galactic center before migrating inward. The star is roughly six times as massive as the Sun, approximately 72 million years old, and shines 60,000 times brighter despite having an effective temperature of about 2,800 kelvins.
