An article submitted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study of the exceptional rate of star formation in the M82 galaxy. A team of researchers led by Alberto Bolatto of the University of Maryland, College Park, used the James Webb Space Telescope to map powerful galactic winds that expel vast amounts of gas caused by star formation and supernova explosions.

The NIRCam instrument is the one used in particular to trace the origin of that activity back to dense star clusters in the galactic disk. This new study of M82 offers advances in understanding star formation and how this activity is affecting the galaxy.