How do stars form and evolve inside globular clusters? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers conducted a groundbreaking examination of star populations that reside within globular clusters, which consists of a densely packed group of stars pulled together by gravity, with the densest part in the center of the cluster. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of stars and star populations in these unique environments throughout the cosmos.
For the study, the researchers conducted a 3D kinematic analysis of stars and star populations within 16 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) to determine the movements of stars and star populations within these clusters and how this causes the cluster to evolve over time. Since astronomers hypothesize that globular clusters are almost as old as the universe itself, they offer a unique opportunity to study some of the oldest stars in the universe, as well. In the end, the researchers found the rotation and orbital behaviors of stars were based on their light properties.
Composite of the 16 globular clusters examined for the study. (Credit: ESA/Hubble - ESO – SDSS)
"In this work, we analyzed in detail the motion of thousands of stars within each cluster," said Alessandro Della Croce, who is a PhD student at INAF in Bologna and a co-author on the study. "It quickly became clear that stars belonging to different populations have distinct kinematic properties: stars with anomalous chemical composition tend to rotate faster than the others within the cluster and progressively spread from the central regions to the outer ones."
This new understanding of globular clusters provides incredible insight into the formation and evolution of these unique structures, which could help astronomers better understand the formation and evolution of stars dating back to the beginning of the universe.
What new discoveries will researchers make about star populations in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Astronomy & Astrophysics, EurekAlert!