The telescope of the POT, James Webb brings us another great discovery so as not to lose the habit of leaving us with our mouths open. In this case we are talking about the fact that he has been able to identify a galaxy very similar to the Milky Way but that represents how this was in its youth.
That is, we are talking about a galaxy which, according to data, is located 9,000 million light years from Earth, and which would give us an image of what the Milky Way was like in “its beginnings” of expansion. Named The Sparkler, it only has 3% of the mass of the Milky Way and only 24 globular clusters, which are a group of hundreds of thousands of gravitationally bound stars.
So that you can make a comparison, throughout his long life, the Milky Way it has been growing with more and more stars until it reaches its present mass, approximately 1.5 trillion times the mass of the Sun. Furthermore, at present It hosts about 200 globular clusters.
“We are excited about this unique opportunity to study both globular cluster formation and a young Milky Way at a time when the Universe was only 1/3 its current age.”they explain.
The Sparkler, the little brother of the Milky Way on which all eyes have been placed
It may seem like a shocking discovery from the James Webb but it goes no further. However, for NASA scientists it is really important, since could help astronomers understand how our galaxy came to bea new study has revealed.
And it is that, The Sparkler is currently a cannibal galaxy that feeds voraciously on nearby objects to grow more and more. To this we must add that, according to Aaron Romanowsky, co-author of the study: “The origin of globular clusters is an old mystery, and we’re excited that JWST can look back in time to see them in their youth”.
“It appears that we are witnessing, firsthand, the assembly of this galaxy as its mass increases, in the form of a dwarf galaxy and several globular clusters.”they declare.
And it is that this last aspect is something that scientists are focusing on since they are still not sure how the stars came to be grouped into globular clusters, but The Sparkler offers insight into this enigma at a younger age.
As for ensuring that both galaxies really show similarities, they explain that they have observed similarities between The Sparkler and our Milky Way. By analyzing the globular clusters surrounding Sparkler, the scientists found that they resemble younger versions of the 200 or so globular clusters discussed above around the Milky Way.
On the other hand, this voracious cannibalism is another striking resemblance to our galaxy’s monstrous past. Of course, the James Webb adds and continues to bring great joy to the world of astronomy and this is just another small step forward to get to know the vast universe that surrounds us.