JWST detects water and dust near Sagittarius A's IRS 3
Technology
Big news from space: The James Webb Space Telescope just found water and cosmic dust around IRS 3, a star super close to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Using its Mid-Infrared Instrument, JWST suggested these materials can survive even in harsh conditions where they might otherwise be expected to be destroyed.
Water and dust endure black-hole environments
Turns out, water and dust, key ingredients for making new stars and planets, can handle intense radiation near black holes.
This discovery flips old assumptions on their head and shows how aging stars keep recycling material in some pretty wild galactic neighborhoods.
The findings were published on August 11, 2026, in Astronomy and Astrophysics.