Researchers from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Center for the Study of Physics of the Cosmos of Aragon (CEFCA) have discovereda massive near-Earth star cluster. The new cluster, called Masgomas-1, hasabout 20,000 solar masses, twice the mass of Trumpler 14, the closest known star cluster to our planet. In the Milky Way, only a dozen of these massive clusters of the hundred that are estimated to exist are currently known. They are the ones who mark thepace of wake training activityr.
Masgomas-1 is a massive open cluster containing more than 60 young, massive stars held together by the force of gravity. It is located in the Milky Way 11,500 light years from Earth, in the direction of the galactic center, in the arm of Shield-Centaurus (Scutum-Centarus) and somewhat away from the base that joins that arm with the bar of the galaxy.
The star clusters aregroups of stars that formed at the same time from the same molecular cloud of gas and dust. Open clusters, such as the recently discovered one, contain fewer and younger stars, they are less dense than the other type of existing clusters, globular ones, with higher density and hundreds of thousands of old (evolved) stars. An open star cluster that can be seen with the naked eye from Earth are thePleiades.
Until recently, our galaxy, the Milky Way, was supposed to be forming stars at a slower rate than it should be due to its size and characteristics. It was, in terms of star formation, “a lazy galaxy”, as described by IAC astrophysicist Artemio Herrero. This situation began to change in the mid-1990s, when data collected in the infrared spectrum began to proliferate. “Infrared light is capable of passing through the dust clouds that obscure the plane of our galaxy, where the formation of new stars is concentrated. This formation is revealed by means of the most massive stars, which live little, and therefore mark the place where stars have recently formed, or are still forming, “explains Herrero.
The discovery of Masgomas-1 was made thanks to observations with the LIRIS infrared spectrograph, installed at the William Herschel telescope at the IAC’s Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, in La Palma. Infrared data from recent years have revealed new young star clusters and indicate that the Milky Way is actually a very efficient machine for forming new stars. As described by Ramírez Alegría, also an astrophysicist at the IAC, “ourgalaxy is vigorous and full of activity“You will not know how active the Milky Way is until you have a complete idea of how many clusters it contains.
