2022NatAs...6.1178N

The Milky Way's centre is the closest galaxy nucleus and the most extreme environment in the Galaxy. Although its volume is less than 1% of that of the Galactic Disk, up to 10% of all new stars in the Galaxy in the past 100 Myr formed there. It therefore 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 young clusters in the Galactic Centre account for <10% of the expected young stellar mass. We analyse the star formation history of Sagittarius (Sgr) B1, a Galactic Centre region associated with strong H II emission, and find evidence for the presence of several 10⁵ solar masses of young stars that formed ∼10 Myr ago. We also detect the presence of intermediate-age (2-7 Gyr old) stars in Sgr B1 that seem 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 towards a better understanding of star formation at the Galactic Centre, such as the fate of young clusters, and the possibly different initial mass function in this region.