Webb and Hubble Reveal the History of a Relic of Milky Way's Formation
Webb and Hubble found up to four stellar populations, showing Terzan 5 kept supernova material and formed stars over billions of years.
- On Tuesday, researchers presented findings at the 248th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, reclassifying Terzan 5 from a globular cluster to a "bulge fossil fragment" using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope.
- While astronomers long classified Terzan 5 as a globular cluster, new data proves it is a self-contained system with four distinct stellar populations, rather than the single ancient population typical of such clusters.
- Data revealed four generations of stars formed 12.5 billion, 4.7 billion, 3.8 billion, and 2.5 billion years ago, confirming the object survived as a massive, self-enriching system instead of merging into the Milky Way.
- University of Bologna professor Francesco R. Ferraro, principal investigator of the Webb observations, described the object as a "bulge fossil fragment" that resembles primordial clumps contributing to the Milky Way's bulge formation.
- Ferraro's team plans to examine between 40 to 50 additional globular clusters orbiting within the bulge to determine if they possess multiple stellar generations like this fossil fragment.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Webb and Hubble reveal the history of a relic of Milky Way's formation
Researchers using two of humanity's most powerful observatories—NASA's James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes—have definitively shown that Terzan 5 is not a globular star cluster, as it was once classified, offering new insight into how galaxies like our own form and evolve over time.
Discovering Four Generations of Stars in the Globular Cluster Tarzan 5: A Breakthrough by Astronomers
Globular clusters are traditionally known to host a single, ancient population of stars. However, groundbreaking data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed the presence of two distinct star populations within the ancient star system Terzan 5. Once classified merely as a globular cluster, Terzan 5 now [...] The post Discovering Four Generations of Stars in the Globular Cluster Tarza…
Astronomers Find Four Separate Generations of Stars in ‘Globular Cluster’ Terzan 5
New Webb and Hubble data not only confirm the existence of two distinct populations of stars in the ancient stellar system Terzan 5, once classified as a globular cluster, but also provides evidence for two more recent rounds of star formation. The post Astronomers Find Four Separate Generations of Stars in ‘Globular Cluster’ Terzan 5 appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
An anomaly at the heart of the Milky Way has been intriguing astronomers for decades. And the latest observations of the James-Webb Space Telescope have just turned curiosity into a real cosmic puzzle. What to change our vision of the formation of galaxies.
Webb Uncovers Survivor from the Milky Way's Chaotic Early Years, Confirms it as Prototype of Bulge Fossil Fragment
Astronomers have long studied dense collections of stars known as globular clusters scattered throughout the Milky Way. Most appear to have formed in one quick burst early on and then evolved quietly for billions of years. One object in the galaxy’s crowded central bulge always stood out a bit, though. New data has now shown [...]
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