This ester is also responsible for the flavour of raspberries, leading some articles on Sagittarius B2 to postulate the cloud as smelling of ‘raspberry rum’. An ester, ethyl formate, was also discovered, which is a major precursor to amino acids. The composition was discovered via spectrograph in an attempt to discover amino acids. This is due to the conglomeration of atoms resulting in new molecules. The cloud contains ethanol, vinyl alcohol, and methanol. The cloud is composed of various kinds of complex molecules, of particular interest: alcohol. The 5-parsec-wide core of the cloud is a star-forming region that is emitting about 10 million times the luminosity of the Sun. H II regions A–G, I and J lie within Sgr B2(M), while region K is in Sgr B2(N) and region H is in Sgr B2(S). The first 10 H II regions discovered were designated A through J. The sites Sgr B2(M) and Sgr B2(N) are sites of prolific star formation. Thus Sgr B2(N) represents the north core.

The cloud is divided into three main cores, designated north (N), middle or main (M) and south (S) respectively. The internal structure of this cloud is complex, with varying densities and temperatures. The mean hydrogen density within the cloud is 3000 atoms per cm 3, which is about 20–40 times denser than a typical molecular cloud.

The total mass of Sgr B2 is about 3 million times the mass of the Sun. This complex is the largest molecular cloud in the vicinity of the core and one of the largest in the galaxy, spanning a region about 45 parsecs (150 ly) across. Sagittarius B2 ( Sgr B2) is a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust that is located about 120 parsecs (390 ly) from the center of the Milky Way. A giant molecular cloud near the Milky Way's center Sagittarius B2 Molecular cloud

B2 cloud