Researchers from the University of Toronto’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics identified the distant star cluster after analyzing data from the space telescope’s first deep-field image. Dubbed ‘The Sparkler Galaxy’, thanks to the series of small yellow dots surrounding it, the cosmic object is about nine billion light-years away from Earth. The team believes that the flashes that give the galaxy its name are old globular clusters – ancient collections of stars that formed during a galaxy’s infancy and contain clues to the early stages of its formation and growth. Previously, using the Hubble Space Telescope – the predecessor of the James Webb Telescope, astronomers were unable to determine what the flashes surrounding the galaxy were. JWST’s increased resolution and sensitivity has now allowed them to analyze them in detail, including determining their age, for the first time. The analyzed data was captured by JWST’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which is able to detect incredibly faint objects using wavelengths of light that are invisible to the human eye. “Looking at the first images from JWST and discovering old globular clusters around distant galaxies was an incredible moment – one not possible with previous Hubble Space Telescope imaging,” said study co-author Dr Kartheik G .Iyer, of the Dunlap Institute. for Astronomy & Astrophysics. “Since we could observe the flashes over a range of wavelengths, we could model them and better understand their physical properties – such as how old they are and how many stars they contain. We hope that the knowledge that globular clusters can be observed from such great distances with JWST will further stimulate science and searches for similar objects.” Read more about the James Webb Space Telescope:
