NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Provides Window Into Early Universe

The universe is carved by stars, yet their formation is still a mystery to scientists. Scientists looked to the Small Magellanic Cloud, a Milky Way satellite galaxy, to learn more about the frenzied "baby boom" of star creation that took place in the early history of the universe. This close galaxy resembles galaxies discovered in the earlier cosmos, when heavy elements were less prevalent, since it has a simpler chemical makeup than the Milky Way. It can therefore act as a stand-in for the early universe. Two separate research studies – the first with the Hubble Space Telescope, and the second with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope – recently arrived at the same conclusion. Using different techniques, the independent teams discovered young stars spiraling into the center of a massive star cluster called NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. This river-like motion of gas and stars is an efficient way to fuel star birth, astrophysicists say. The teams’ results demonstrate that the process of star formation in the Small Magellanic Cloud is similar to that in our own Milky Way.

NASA’s Hubble Finds Spiraling Stars, Providing Window into Early Universe

Nature is full with spirals, from the maelstrom of a cyclone to the immense expanses of spiral galaxies throughout our cosmos to the pinwheel-shaped protoplanetary discs around young stars. The Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, has a large cluster of young stars that are spiraling into its core. This discovery has left astronomers perplexed. This huge, oddly structured stellar nursery known as NGC 346 may be fuelling star production by a circulation of gas and stars akin to a river. According to scientists, this method of star birth fuel is effective. Compared to the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud has a less complex chemical makeup. It resembles galaxies that were discovered in the early cosmos when heavier metals were more common. The stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud burn hotter as a result, and as a result, they exhaust their fuel more quickly than those in our Milky Way. When the universe was experiencing a "baby boom" roughly 2 to 3 billion years after the big bang, the discovery of how stars develop in the Small Magellanic Cloud offers a new perspective on how a firestorm of star birth may have occurred early in the universe's history (the universe is now 13.8 billion years old).