IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v636y2024i8042d10.1038_s41586-024-08293-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Formation of a low-mass galaxy from star clusters in a 600-million-year-old Universe

Author

Listed:
  • Lamiya Mowla

    (Wellesley College
    Independent University Bangladesh)

  • Kartheik Iyer

    (Columbia University)

  • Yoshihisa Asada

    (Saint Mary’s University
    Kyoto University)

  • Guillaume Desprez

    (Saint Mary’s University)

  • Vivian Yun Yan Tan

    (York University)

  • Nicholas Martis

    (Department of Mathematics and Physics)

  • Ghassan Sarrouh

    (York University)

  • Victoria Strait

    (Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
    University of Copenhagen)

  • Roberto Abraham

    (University of Toronto)

  • Maruša Bradač

    (Department of Mathematics and Physics)

  • Gabriel Brammer

    (Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
    University of Copenhagen)

  • Adam Muzzin

    (York University)

  • Camilla Pacifici

    (Space Telescope Science Institute)

  • Swara Ravindranath

    (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

  • Marcin Sawicki

    (Saint Mary’s University)

  • Chris Willott

    (NRC Herzberg)

  • Vince Estrada-Carpenter

    (Saint Mary’s University)

  • Nusrath Jahan

    (Shahjalal University of Science and Technology)

  • Gaël Noirot

    (Saint Mary’s University)

  • Jasleen Matharu

    (Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
    University of Copenhagen)

  • Gregor Rihtaršič

    (Department of Mathematics and Physics)

  • Johannes Zabl

    (Saint Mary’s University)

Abstract

The most distant galaxies detected were seen when the Universe was a scant 5% of its current age. At these times, progenitors of galaxies such as the Milky Way were about 10,000 times less massive. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) combined with magnification from gravitational lensing, these low-mass galaxies can not only be detected but also be studied in detail. Here we present JWST observations of a strongly lensed galaxy at zspec = 8.296 ± 0.001, showing massive star clusters (the Firefly Sparkle) cocooned in a diffuse arc in the Canadian Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS)1. The Firefly Sparkle exhibits traits of a young, gas-rich galaxy in its early formation stage. The mass of the galaxy is concentrated in 10 star clusters (49–57% of total mass), with individual masses ranging from 105M⊙ to 106M⊙. These unresolved clusters have high surface densities (>103M⊙ pc−2), exceeding those of Milky Way globular clusters and young star clusters in nearby galaxies. The central cluster shows a nebular-dominated spectrum, low metallicity, high gas density and high electron temperature, hinting at a top-heavy initial mass function. These observations provide our first spectrophotometric view of a typical galaxy in its early stages, in a 600-million-year-old Universe.

Suggested Citation

  • Lamiya Mowla & Kartheik Iyer & Yoshihisa Asada & Guillaume Desprez & Vivian Yun Yan Tan & Nicholas Martis & Ghassan Sarrouh & Victoria Strait & Roberto Abraham & Maruša Bradač & Gabriel Brammer & Adam, 2024. "Formation of a low-mass galaxy from star clusters in a 600-million-year-old Universe," Nature, Nature, vol. 636(8042), pages 332-336, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:636:y:2024:i:8042:d:10.1038_s41586-024-08293-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08293-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08293-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-024-08293-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:636:y:2024:i:8042:d:10.1038_s41586-024-08293-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.