Watch this magical view of the heart of our galaxy. Sagittarius C, imaged in unprecedented detail by the NASA James Webb telescope, is a star-forming region about 300 light-years from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

In this image, a cluster of baby stars shines through the cocoon of a dusty cloud. At the centre of the cluster is a nascent star with a mass 30 times that of the Sun. Surrounding the dense dust cloud is a previously unseen region of ionised hydrogen gas (cyan in colour). Inside are intriguing needle-like structures, chaotically orientated, which scientists hope to study further.

Sagittarius C is only 25,000 light years from Earth, close enough for Webb to study individual stars. Webb's data will help astronomers learn more about star formation in an extreme cosmic environment, and with it the origin story of our universe.

Image description:

This set of images shows an area filled with stars. A large, bright cyan-coloured area surrounds the lower part of a funnel-shaped region of space that is wider at the top edge of the image and then narrows. This funnel-shaped region appears darker than its surroundings. Towards the narrow end of this dark region, a small mass of red and white appears to be shooting streamers upwards and to the left. The cyan-coloured area has needle-like structures and becomes more diffuse towards the right. The final image is dominated by a purple haze with orange and red clouds.