Would you question how the Milky Way Galaxy looked in its first days? Another universe discovered by astronomers with the Webb Telescope (JWST) is practically a mirror image of our world as a baby. It was nicknamed “The Sparkler.” It is because near it are more or less two dozen dazzling globular clusters. There’re additionally a couple of dwarf galaxies there that’re swallowed in place by the galaxies.
The JWST – view reveals the Sparkler as it looked when the Universe was just 4 billion years of age, or about one third of the current Universe’s age. This indicates that this galaxies began forming quite early in cosmic history, much like the Milky Way. In case the Sparkler follows the same development path as the Milky Way through galaxy mergers acquisitions, it ought to develop in the same Way the Milky Way did. It might look like our twin in around nine billion years.
A Distant, Early Proxy for Our Milky Way
Sparkler is located in the constellation Volans (in the southern hemisphere sky) in the path of the star. At a redshift of z = 1.38, it is very distant. That’s about 9 billion light-years and places it at a period several billion years following the big Bang. Much like the Milky Way, the Sparkler did not fully form from the cosmos. In the beginning of the universe, both galaxies began as “overdensities” of matter (similar to clouds of neutral hydrogen). You can think about them as little seeds in a galaxy that are drawn to each other by their gravitational pull. The globular clusters were most likely born in some of these clumps right prior to the galaxies was born. That is exactly why the stars tend to be older than their galaxies in certain globulars.
Then came an era of mergers and acquisitions, as the infant Milky Way (and perhaps the Sparkler) started cannibalizing nearby dwarf galaxies. That is a big evolutionary step. It is possible that at least half of the mass of our own universe resulted from these mergers. With time, all the material coalesced into the spiral disk, where the Sun and the majority of other stars are now.
The Sparkler’s Future Compared to the Milky Way
Could there be any possibility that the Sparkler will evolve in the same Way as the Milky Way? It appears to me that it is going to, from the JWST data. It is currently only a small fraction of the Milky Way mass – about 3 % – that will change as it goesbbles up other, smaller galaxies. At some point, it is going to match the Milky Way’s mass in the present-day universe.
This’s exciting because it will allow astronomers to better understand specifically how our galaxy developed. “We appear to be witnessing the assembly of this galaxies as it builds up its mass in the form of a dwarf galaxy and a number of globular clusters,” said Duncan Forbes, a physics Professor at Swinburne University in Australia. Along with Professor Aaron Romanowsky of San Jose State University, California, he analyzed the universe and its clusters. “We are thrilled by this unique opportunity to study the development of globular clusters as well as an infant Milky Way, at a time when the Universe was only 1/3 of its present age,” said he.
Clues to the Sparkler’s Early History in its Globular Clusters
Based on Romanowsky, JWST – observations of Sparkler may also answer a number of questions regarding globular clusters and their development. The origins of globular clusters is a long running problem, he added. “We are delighted the JWST is able to go back soon enough to observe them in their youth,” he said.
It seems the Sparker clusters have remarkable similarities with a few of the globulars of the Milky Way. A number of appeared to have developed quite early as well as the stars tend to be quite metal-rich. Which appears to suggest a very fast process of chemical enrichment in the early Universe. Clusters, despite being young versions of the Milky Way globulars A number of appeared to have developed quite early as well as the stars tend to be quite metal-rich. Which suggests a really fast process of chemical enrichment in the early Universe.
A number of clusters had stars which were somewhat older and metal poorer as compared to some other clusters. They most likely belong to a low-mass satellite galaxies which was inhaled into the Sparkler. The setting is quite similar to the Milky Way’s history of mergers all through its existence.
More Data Needed
So as to get a clear understanding of the evolutionary status of Sparkler along with its clusters, the two researchers stated that even more observations of similar clusters are needed around other distant galaxies in the universe. That might help determine if the Sparkler is typical of the merger style of galaxy evolution (similar to the Milky Way). If not, then the specifics of early galaxy evolution, chemical enrichment, mass growth as well as star cluster formation may need some revision.
