The Milky Way's center is the closest galaxy nucleus and the most extreme environment of the Galaxy. Although its volume is less than 1% of that of the Galactic disk, up to 10% of all new-born stars in the Galaxy in the past 100 Myr formed there. Therefore, it constitutes a perfect laboratory to understand star formation under extreme conditions, similar to those in starburst or high-redshift galaxies. However, the only two known Galactic center young clusters account for <10% of the expected young stellar mass. We analyze the star formation history of Sagittarius (Sgr) B1, a Galactic center region associated with strong HII emission, and find evidence for the presence of several $10^5$ solar masses of young stars, that formed $\sim$10 Myr ago. We also detect the presence of intermediate age stars (2-7 Gyr) in Sgr B1 that appear to be rare (or absent) in the inner regions of the nuclear stellar disk, and might indicate inside out formation. Our results constitute a large step toward a better understanding of star formation at the Galactic center, such as the fate of young clusters, and the possibly different initial mass function in this region.
Categories: astro-ph.GA