The strongly-lensed $z\sim 6$ Sunrise galaxy offers an incredible opportunity to investigate star formation in the early universe on parsec or smaller scales. The highly magnified object Earendel within the Sunrise was previously identified as a candidate star or binary due to size constraints placed by the lensing magnification, however recent works have suggested this constraint may be relaxed to even the size of star clusters. Here, we explore the hypothesis that Earendel may actually be a star cluster, and simultaneously evaluate other star clusters within the host galaxy. Leveraging deep, archival James Webb Space Telescope NIRSpec PRISM spectroscopy, we determine a spectroscopic redshift for the Sunrise galaxy $z=5.926 \pm 0.013$, and we fit simple stellar population (SSP) models from three premier libraries to evaluate the physical parameters of Earendel and another distinct star cluster in the Sunrise dubbed `$1b$'. We find the rest-UV through optical continuum of Earendel to be well-described by an SSP, nearly equivalently to $1b$ which is confidently a star cluster. We infer they have intermediate ages $t_{\rm age}\sim 30$--$150\,$Myr, are metal poor ($Z_\star\lesssim10\%\,Z_\odot$), and are consistent with the formation age-metallicity trend seen in local globular clusters. Such intermediate age clusters are seldom probed spectroscopically in the high redshift universe, and we explore the extent to which these clusters can be characterized via the spectroscopic continuum.
#NASA and #jameswebbspacetelescope finds the most distant star #Earendel
It's name means wandering dawn/ personification of the dawn star in the proto Germanic; fitting for both the way we've found it and it being the most distant star from us.
This is so exciting as we've entered into a new era of #spaceexploration
In one hand we being the process of colonization and development, in the other our scientific tools pave the way for our understanding of the universe and ourself.
#astronomy #stars #galaxies #JWST #Earendel
Two articles, one published in "The Astrophysical Journal" and one in "The Astrophysical Journal Letters", report various aspects of a study of Earendel, the most distant single known star. Two teams of researchers with several members in common used observations conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope to obtain new details of this star.
scinexx - das wissensmagazin
Bernd von Mallinckrodt 🦋
Il colonnello
Kuuke's Sterrenbeelden
Futura
AlcorNews
Daniel Fischer
Steven Saus [he/him]
Joseph
Massimo Luciani