Tag Archives: region

Scientists Discover the Genetic Region Responsible for Unsticking Blackberry Canes

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Stingless blackberries (Lubus subgenus Lubus) canes are highly favored by growers due to concerns regarding food and worker safety, as well as the potential damage to fruit caused by the mechanical injuries associated with stings.

John’s et al. We identified a single locus that regulates unstimulated cane. Image credit: Gerald Antonio Romero.

Blackberries represent a specialized crop that is capturing a larger portion of the fresh berry market.

The rising demand coupled with increasing production costs has created a need for cultivars adaptable to various environmental and management practices.

Stings pose a challenge in blackberry production systems, presenting food safety issues and causing mechanical damage to the fruit, thereby reducing its shelf life.

The primary aim of a fresh market blackberry breeding program is to introduce thornless cultivars. These terms are often used interchangeably in existing literature.

Stinging differentiates plant-based differentiation from thorns and spines due to the formation of cortical and epidermal cells.

“Blackberry breeders lacked the genetic information required to ascertain whether certain plants were devoid of what is technically called nausea, commonly referred to as thorns,” stated Dr. Margaret Worthington, a researcher with the Arkansas Agricultural Experimental Bureau.

“All fresh market blackberry varieties are Tetraploid, meaning they possess four copies of all chromosomes as opposed to the two copies found in humans.”

“The greater the number of copies, the more challenging it becomes to conduct genetic analyses.”

“Previously, the locus and positioning of genes on chromosomes linked to spine traits were unknown.”

The team’s findings introduced the first diagnostic markers related to any traits developed and documented in blackberries.

“These markers are the first publicly available tools developed for both fresh market and processed blackberries,” expressed Dr. Ellen Thompson, Global Rubus Breeding and Development Director at Hortifrut Genetics.

“Markers expedite the breeding process, saving time and resources, and facilitate faster decision-making before seedlings are introduced into the field.”

The authors utilized genome-wide association studies to pinpoint the loci responsible for the spineless traits.

They gathered DNA samples from a total of 374 blackberry varieties.

These samples underwent genotyping, which is a highly accurate method that scans and identifies genetic codes impacting stinging characteristics.

If these variants, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), show significant correlations with certain traits, it implies that genes in that area might influence those traits.

These SNPs, or markers, highlight regions associated with the characteristic in question.

“Genetic markers are currently being implemented in blackberries and raspberries, but the technology is more mature for row crops like rice and soybeans,” noted Dr. Worthington.

“Genetic markers are widely utilized in row crops to select for disease resistance, growth or flowering periods, and other desirable traits.”

Another significant discovery from this study indicates that the absence of genetic mutations around chromosome RA04 leads to linkage disequilibrium blocks, or regions where genetic markers are more likely to be inherited together than by chance.

For the genes that are spineless within this block, these traits are often inherited from parent to offspring along with various other genes, including those linked to high acidity, lack of cold resistance, and less desirable traits like canes that require support to remain upright.

“The focus on selecting for spineless plants has inadvertently resulted in the loss of genetic variation surrounding the locus,” Dr. Worthington commented.

“Crossbreeding with thorny plants can help restore this variation.”

The team’s paper has been published in the journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics.

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Carmen A. Johns et al. Genetic control of exhalation in tetraploid blackberries. G3: Genes, genomes, genetics Published online on March 20th, 2025. doi:10.1093/g3journal/jkaf065

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists claim that thousands of mounds in Mars’ Maurus Valley region were previously underwater.

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Study published in the magazine Natural Earth Science: Planetary researchers used high-resolution images and compositional data captured by orbiting satellites to understand the geology of thousands of kilometers of hills in the northern and western lowlands. Maurus Gorge, a plateau located on the highland side of the hemisphere bisection boundary of Mars.

Rising hundreds of meters above the surrounding lowlands, two Martian hills reveal bright areas rich in clay minerals. Image credits: ESA / TGO / CaSSIS / NASA / JPL / MSSS / Murray Lab.

A research team led by scientist Joe McNeil from the Natural History Museum in London found that the mounds are the remains of ancient highlands that retreated hundreds of kilometers after erosion carved out the landscape billions of years ago. .

These actions played a key role in shaping the Martian landscape, which separates the planet's low-lying northern hemisphere from its high-lying southern hemisphere.

This mound is made of layered deposits containing clay minerals, formed by water interacting with rock over millions of years.

These clay layers are sandwiched between older non-clay layers below and younger non-clay layers above, marking distinct geological events in Mars' history.

“These mounds are incredibly interesting because they preserve the complete water history of this area within an accessible, continuous rock outcrop,” Dr. McNeil said.

“They are prime locations for future missions aimed at determining whether Mars once had an ocean and whether life could exist there.”

The authors also found that these mounds are geologically connected to nearby plains. Oxia Planum -ESA's Rosalind Franklin spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2028 searching for signs of past and present life.

“Mars' lack of plate tectonics means it still has much of its ancient geology, so Mars is a model of what early Earth was like,” McNeil said. the doctor said.

“The more missions that visit Mars, the more we will be able to dig deeper into our planet's history and discover how life began.”

“As part of the Natural History Museum's mission to transform natural history science, our research focuses on providing solutions from and for nature.”

“This research is part of our Planetary Origins and Evolution research theme, which explores the origins and systems that underpin the evolution of the Earth, Moon, and planetary systems.”

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JD McNeil others. Dichotomous regression and aquatic alteration of Noachian Mars are recorded in highland remnants. Nat. Earth Science published online on January 20, 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01634-8

This article is based on a press release provided by the Natural History Museum, London.

Source: www.sci.news

Ancient Shoreline Uncovered in Utopia Region of Mars

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Sedimentary mineral deposits discovered on the surface of Mars may be the remains of ancient oceans from 3.5 billion years ago. New results from China's Tianwen-1/Zhulong mission suggest the existence of landforms consistent with the coastline of the southern Utopian Plains, providing further evidence for the existence of a short-lived ocean early in the planet's history.

Shoryu landing site. Image credit: Wu others., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75507-w.

“The hypothesis of a Martian ocean in the northern lowlands remains an interesting unanswered question about the early stages of Mars' evolution,” said Bo Wu of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and colleagues.

“The presence of an ocean had a major impact on early Mars' climate and atmosphere and may have left a geological record of its existence.”

“China's Mars probe Zhulong, aboard Tianwen-1, successfully landed in the southern part of Mars' Utopia Plain in May 2021.”

“This area has long been hypothesized to be part of an ancient ocean that once covered the northern lowlands.”

In this study, Dr. Wu and his co-authors analyzed data from the Tianwen 1 orbiter and the Zhoulong rover to provide estimates of the surface age and mineral composition of materials found in the southern Utopia Plains. .

They identified distinct geomorphological features, such as valleys and sedimentary channels, consistent with near-shore zones, suggesting a possible formation event involving a flood about 3.68 billion years ago.

In this scenario, a short period of frozen ocean formed the coastline, and the sea surface may have froze and disappeared about 3.42 billion years ago.

“Different types of water-related geomorphological features were separated by specific topographic contours, suggesting different types of marine environments,” the researchers said.

“The area was subdivided into a foreshore highland-to-lowland transition unit, a shallow marine unit, and a deepwater unit.”

“In situ observations of sedimentary rocks, water-related lamination features, and subsurface sedimentary layers also indicate past water activity.”

“The results suggested an evolutionary scenario for the southern Utopian coastal zone: (i) the Late Noachian Utopian Plains flood reached the foreshore approximately 3.65 to 3.68 billion years ago; (ii) The formation of post-Flood shallow and deep marine units occurred during the early Hesperian, approximately 3.5 and 3.4 billion years ago, respectively. completed by 10 million years ago. (iii) Subsurface volatiles gradually disappeared during the Amazonian period.

of study appear in the diary scientific report.

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B. Wu others. 2024. Observations at the Turon landing site reveal an ancient coastal zone believed to be located in the southern part of Mars' utopia. science officer 14, 24389;doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75507-w

Source: www.sci.news

NGC 5248’s Starburst Region Uncovered by Hubble Space Telescope

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Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) has captured a striking new image of the grand design spiral galaxy NGC 5248.

This Hubble image shows the Grand Design spiral galaxy NGC 5248, located approximately 42 million light-years away in the constellation Bootes. The color images were created from separate exposures taken in the visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared regions of the spectrum using Hubble's WFC3 instrument. Six filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / F. Belfiore / J. Lee / PHANGS-HST team.

NGC5248 It is located in the constellation Bootes, about 42 million light years away.

This spiral galaxy, also known as Caldwell 45, LEDA 48130, UGC 8616, IRAS 13353+0908, and TC 830, has a diameter of 95,000 light years.

beginning discovered It was discovered on April 15, 1784 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel and is a member of the NGC 5248 galaxy group.

NGC 5248 has an apparent magnitude of 10, so it doesn't appear very bright, but it can be spotted with a small telescope.

The galaxy is noteworthy Because of the nuclear ring, which has “hot spots” of starburst activity.

“NGC 5248 is one of the so-called 'grand design' spirals, with prominent spiral arms extending from near the center through the disk,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“There is also a faint bar structure in the center between the inner edges of the spiral arms, which is less obvious in this visible-light portrait from Hubble.”

“Features like this that break a galaxy's rotational symmetry have profound effects on how matter moves through it and ultimately on its evolution over time.”

“They can supply gas from the outer reaches of the galaxy to the inner star-forming regions and even to the black hole at the center of the galaxy, where it can start an active galactic nucleus.”

“These gas flows have significantly shaped NGC 5248, with many bright regions of intense star formation spread throughout the disk and dominated by populations of young stars.”

“This galaxy has two very active ring-like starburst regions filled with young star clusters around its core.”

“While these 'nuclear rings' are noteworthy enough, nuclear rings usually tend to prevent gas from penetrating further into the center of the galaxy.”

“The fact that NGC 5248 has a second ring inside the first shows how powerful its flow of matter and energy is.”

“Due to its relatively close proximity and highly visible starburst region, this galaxy is a target for professional and amateur astronomers alike.”

Source: www.sci.news

Webb makes a groundbreaking discovery of a region on a centaur with active outgassing

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Centaur is a former trans-Neptunian object that has been moved within Neptune's orbit by the planet's subtle gravitational influence over the past several million years, and could eventually become a short-period comet.

29P/An artist's concept showing the gas release activity of Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 from the side. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Hustak, STScI.

Centaurs are transitional objects between primitive transsolar system objects and Jupiter-based comets.

Their composition and activity provide fundamental clues about the processes that influence the evolution of and interactions between these small celestial bodies.

“Centaurs are likely part of the remnants of the formation of our planetary system,” said Dr. Sarah Fudge, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and American University.

“Because they are stored at very low temperatures, they preserve information about the volatiles of the solar system's early stages.”

“The web really opened the door for us to impressive resolution and sensitivity. When we saw the data for the first time, we were excited. We had never seen anything like this before. I've never had one before.”

use Webb's NIRSpec (near infrared spectrometer) deviceDr. Fudge and colleagues observed 29P/Schwasmann Wachmann 1 (29P for short) is a centaur. known This is because very active, quasi-periodic explosions occur.

29P changes in intensity every six to eight weeks, making it one of the most active objects in the outer solar system.

They discovered a new jet of carbon monoxide and a jet of carbon dioxide gas never before seen, giving new clues about the nature of the centaur's core.

No signs of water vapor were detected in 29P's “atmosphere,” but this may be related to the extremely cold temperatures present on this object.

Based on the data collected by Webb, the researchers created a 3D model of the jet to understand its direction and origin.

Through modeling efforts, they discovered that the jets were emitted from different regions of the centaur's core, even though the nucleus itself could not be resolved by the web.

The angle of the jet suggests that the core may be a collection of separate objects with different compositions. However, other scenarios cannot be ruled out yet.

fudge others. collected data for 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 using Webb's spectrophotographic capabilities. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Hustak, STScI/S. Faggi, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and American University.

Dr. Jeronimo Villanueva, a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, said: “The fact that there are such dramatic differences in the abundance of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide across the surface of 29P means that 29P is This suggests that it may be possible.”

“The two parts probably merged to form this centaur, which is a mixture of very different objects that went through separate formation paths.”

“This challenges our ideas about how primitive objects are created and stored in the Kuiper belt.”

The reasons for 29P's brightness outburst and the mechanisms behind its outgassing activity through carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide jets remain two major areas of interest that continue to require further investigation.

In the case of comets, scientists know that their jets are often driven by the release of water gas.

However, Centaur's location means that the nature of its outgassing activity is different from that of comets, as it is too cold for water ice to sublimate.

“We only had time to look at this object once, and it was like a snapshot in time,” said Dr. Adam McKay, a researcher at Appalachian State University.

“I would like to go back and look at 29P over a longer period of time. Is the jet always pointing in that direction? Perhaps there is another carbon monoxide jet that turns on at a different point in the rotation cycle? Is there one?”

“Looking at these jets over time will give us better insight into what is causing these explosions.”

of the team paper Published in a magazine nature.

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S.Fudge others. Inhomogeneous outgassing regions were identified in active centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. Nat Astronpublished online on July 8, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02319-3

This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Observation by Hubble of the central region of the Trigonum Galaxy

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Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to capture a detailed image of the spectacular centre of the Triangulum Galaxy.

The Triangulum Galaxy is the third largest galaxy in our galaxy group. Image credit: NASA/ESA/M. Boyer, STScI/J. Dalcanton, University of Washington/Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.

The Triangulum Galaxy, also known as Messier 33, M33, and NGC 598, is a spiral galaxy located about 3 million light-years away.

Under very dark sky conditions, the galaxy can be seen with the naked eye as a faint, fuzzy object in the constellation Triangulum, and its ethereal glow makes it a fascination for amateur astronomers.

The galaxy is a notable member of the Local Group, a collection of more than 50 galaxies bound together by gravity. It is the third largest galaxy in the Local Group, but it is also the smallest spiral galaxy in the group.

The Triangulum Galaxy is only about 60,000 light years in diameter, and the Andromeda Galaxy is 200,000 light years in diameter. The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter, placing it halfway between these two extremes.

“The Triangulum Galaxy is a known hotbed of star birth, forming stars at an average rate ten times higher than in the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“Interestingly, its well-ordered spiral arms indicate that it has few interactions with other galaxies, so galactic collisions are not driving rapid star formation as they do in many other galaxies.”

“The galaxy has an abundance of dust and gas to produce stars, and it also has many clouds of ionized hydrogen, also known as HII regions, that give rise to phenomenal star formation.”

“Researchers present evidence that high-mass stars form in collisions between giant molecular clouds in the Triangulum Galaxy.”

This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a reddish cloud of ionized hydrogen dotted with dark dust bands that make the image look grainy but are actually a swarm of stars.

“The Triangulum Galaxy is one of fewer than 100 galaxies close enough that a telescope like Hubble can resolve individual stars, as revealed here,” the astronomers write.

“It is known that this galaxy does not have a central bulge, and there is no evidence of a supermassive black hole at its center. This is odd, given that most spiral galaxies have a central bulge made of densely packed stars, and most large galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers.”

“Galaxies with this type of structure are called pure disk galaxies, and studies suggest that they make up about 15-18 percent of galaxies in the universe.”

“The Triangulum Galaxy could lose its streamlined appearance and peaceful state in a dramatic way, potentially colliding with both the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies.”

“The image was taken as part of an investigation of the Triangulum Galaxy to refine theories on topics such as the physics of the interstellar medium, star formation processes and stellar evolution.”

Source: www.sci.news

Clues from ancient canoes suggest thriving trade in the Mediterranean region 7,000 years ago

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Canoes are up to 10 meters long and are made by hollowing out trees.

Gibaja et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0

More than 7,000 years ago, skilled craftsmen built wooden canoes to probably transport people, animals, and goods across the Mediterranean.

Scientists identified five boats with evidence of advanced navigation techniques, such as lateral bracing and towing attachments. The canoe, found in a freshwater lake and inadvertently kept secret for decades, likely enabled trade and transportation between Mediterranean farming communities during the Neolithic period. Niccolo Mazzucco At the University of Pisa, Italy.

Along with the well-preserved village where they were discovered, the canoes “opened a window into the past,” he says.

In 1989, Italian researchers discovered a site buried beneath a lake slightly northwest of Rome, 38 kilometers upstream from the west coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and named it La Marmotta. In addition to several wooden buildings, a dugout canoe made by burning and hollowing out wood was also found.

Despite these discoveries, the language barrier prevented it from becoming internationally famous, and almost all relevant information was only published in Italian, it said. Mario Mineo At the Museum of Roman Civilization in Rome, which took part in the discovery.

Now, Mazzucco, Mineo, and their colleagues have made new observations of these canoes using modern methods and shared their findings in English.

Lasse Sorensen David, from the National Museum of Denmark, who was not involved in the study, said he was unaware of these boats, despite having done extensive research on dugout canoes in Scandinavia.

He is particularly intrigued by a wooden T-shaped device attached to the canoe. Holes drilled in them suggest that they were probably used for ropes, implying that the boat was being towed. That way, Sorensen said, he would have been able to transport “more people, more animals, more goods.” “So these details are very important because they provide evidence of how they were actually able to transport large quantities of goods.”

Using the latest carbon dating techniques, the research team dated each ship to 6,000 BC. The two oldest ships were built in 5620 BC, and the newest in 5045 BC. Carbon dating of one of the T-shaped accessories revealed that it was made around 5470 BC.

The length of the boat is up to 10 meters. Its size suggests it was used at sea, Mazzucco said. Recent tests of replicas of these canoes confirmed that The original would have been seaworthy. Foreign grains, livestock remains, and stones found in the village indicate that the villagers were trading across the Mediterranean region.

To identify the wood used to build the boats, the team cut nine thin wood samples from each canoe. After analyzing them under a microscope, the researchers determined that two of the boats, including the oldest, were made from alder wood, which is lightweight and resistant to splintering and cracking. The newest boats were made of durable and rot-resistant oak, while the other two were made of poplar and beech.

“They probably had a good knowledge of wood types and their properties, so they selected them and used them based on those properties,” Mazzucco says. “They worked with wood with the same knowledge as today's carpenters, just with different tools.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

New study reveals hundreds of thousands of young stars in Sagittarius C region with solar mass

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Sagittarius C is located just 300 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

This image of the Sagittarius C region from ESO's Very Large Telescope includes hundreds of thousands of stars. Image credit: ESO/F. Nogueras-Lara.

The center of the Milky Way is the most prolific star-forming region in the entire galaxy.

But astronomers have discovered only a fraction of the young stars they had expected. There is “fossil” evidence that many more stars than we actually see were born recently.

This is because heading to the center of the Milky Way is not an easy task. Clouds of dust and gas block the light from the star, obscuring visibility.

“On average by volume, the galactic center stands out as the most prolific star-forming environment in the galaxy,” said ESO astronomer Francisco Nogueras Lara.

“Over the past 30 million years, we have witnessed the formation of about 1 million stars.”

“But crowding and high extinction rates have hampered their discovery, and so far only a fraction of the young star's expected mass has been confirmed.”

By studying the stellar population of Sagittarius C, Dr. Lara aimed to detect young stars hidden in the galactic center.

In his research, he analyzed the following data: HAWK-I infrared measuring instrument ESO's Very Large Telescope.

He found that Sagittarius C is much richer in young stars than other regions of the galactic center.

“We found that Sagittarius C contains the solar mass of hundreds of thousands of young stars,” Dr. Lara said.

“We compared our results to a recently discovered population of young stars in Sagittarius B1, located at the opposite end of the nuclear star disk.”

“The young stars in Sagittarius C are estimated to be about 20 million years old and likely represent the next evolutionary step for the slightly younger stars in Sagittarius B1.”

“Our discovery contributes to addressing the discrepancy between the expected number of young stars at the center of galaxies and the number of detected stars, and sheds light on their evolution in this extreme environment.”

“As a secondary result, we discovered that Sagittarius C has a population of intermediate-aged stars (approximately 50% of the mass of stars between 2 billion and 7 billion years old), which is composed of a nuclear stellar disk. It does not exist in the innermost region of the world (which is dominated by stars older than 7 billion years).

“This confirms the existence of an age gradient, driving the formation of an inside-out nuclear star disk.”

of findings appear in the diary astronomy and astrophysics.

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F. Nogueras-Lara other. 2024. Hunt young stars at the center of the galaxy. Solar masses of hundreds of thousands of young stars in the Sagittarius C region. A&A 681, L21; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202348712

Source: www.sci.news

Soum, a re-commerce marketplace, secures $18 million to expand in the MENA region.

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The global recommerce market is poised to grow as consumers more and more Some settle for second-hand goods to save costs and observe conscious consumption. The global recommerce market is expected to continue into the future. growth Markets like Saudi Arabia are growing rapidly soom aims to reach users in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Soum was founded in 2021 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is currently aiming to expand its growth to other MENA countries, starting with the United Arab Emirates. The plan is fueled by recent $18 million Series A funding.

The round was led by Saudi Arabia’s Jahez Group, with participation from New York-based Isometry Capital, along with existing investors Khwarizmi Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, and Outliers Venture Capital. This follows the acquisition of $4 million in seed funding in 2021.

Beyond expansion, the startup, which features electronics in its top list, is also increasing the categories it covers by including products such as cars and collectibles.

“We are expanding into different regions and are looking at the entire MENA region.To realize our vision of being the place to sell everything from mobile phones to cars, we are developing new We have also started testing categories.” Fahad Al Hassanco-founder of Soum bader al mubarak and Fahad Albassam.

“We want to make buying and selling easier and accessible to everyone,” said Al Hassan, who previously worked as a consultant at PwC and as a strategic manager at the Saudi Ministry of Internal Affairs and Reform. .

Abdulaziz Alhouti, chief investment officer of Jahez Group, the parent company of Jahez, a Saudi food delivery platform that went public in 2021, commented on the round to TechCrunch: It’s a good job, but as the digital age advances, we need something more convenient, frictionless, sustainable, and reliable. This is the preposition that Soum brings to the table. ”

Soum manages the entire process from listing to delivery. Shipping is supported by third-party logistics partners. To list a product, sellers must submit images of the product for pre-approval. The startup also processes and holds payments until the buyer confirms receipt as a fraud precaution.

Al Hassan said that most products take three to four days to be delivered, and if users are not satisfied with the product, they can initiate a return within 24 hours. The company plans to extend the return period for some products to one week or even one month.

The startup makes money through commissions every time a product is sold. Prices are determined based on a variety of factors, including supply and demand.

“The commission is 10-20% of the product price. The more valuable the product, the lower the percentage, and the more frequent the seller, the lower the percentage. Therefore, multiple factors are taken into account,” Al Hassan He said, adding that more than 30,000 properties are listed on Sumu every month. iPhones and laptops are the best-selling products.

Al Hassan expects further growth for the company as the adoption of indigenous solutions continues and Saudi Arabia promotes local solutions to break away from dependence on international markets. Additionally, the country is said to be in the midst of a technology boom, with data showing a rapid increase in the number of e-commerce transactions. business and the spread of electronic services.

Source: techcrunch.com

Three new young stars found in the central region of the Milky Way galaxy by astronomers

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According to some researchers, the oldest of these stars is 1.5 billion years old, while the youngest is only 100 million years old. paper Published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

This infrared image from Hubble shows the Milky Way Core Cluster, the densest and most massive star cluster in our galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / T. Do & A. Ghez, UCLA / V. Bajaj, STScI.

The center of our Milky Way galaxy is located about 27,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius and is a crowded place.

This region is so dense that it’s equivalent to a million stars crammed into the space between the Sun and Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light-years away.

This nuclear cluster surrounds Sagittarius A*, a 4.3 million solar mass black hole at the center of the galaxy.

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In general, many nuclear star clusters coexist with supermassive black holes, which are found in more than 70% of galaxies with masses greater than 100 million to 10 billion solar masses.

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“In previous work, we hypothesized that these particular stars in the middle of the Milky Way may be unusually young,” said Lund University astronomer Rebecca Forsberg.

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“Now we can confirm this. Our study shows that three of these stars are relatively young, at least as far as astronomers are concerned, ranging in age from 100 million years to about 1 billion years. We were able to determine the age.”

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“This is equivalent to the age of the Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old.”

This panorama shows the central region of the Milky Way galaxy. It builds on previous surveys by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, and extends Chandra’s high-energy field of view further up and down the galactic plane than previous imaging campaigns. The X-rays from Chandra are orange, green, and violet, indicating different X-ray energies. Radio data from MeerKAT is gray. Image credits: NASA / CXC / UMass / QD Wang / NRF / SARAO / MeerKAT.

In this study, Dr. Forsberg and colleagues used high-resolution data from the Keck II telescope in Hawaii. This Keck II telescope is one of the largest telescopes in the world with a 10 meter diameter mirror.

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For further verification, they measured the amount of iron, a heavy element, in the stars

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This element is important in tracking the development of galaxies. This is because astronomers’ theories about star formation and galaxy development show that the formation of heavy elements increases over time in the Universe, so younger stars contain more heavy elements.

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To determine iron levels, astronomers looked at the star’s spectrum in infrared light. Infrared light is a part of the light spectrum that can more easily illuminate dust-dense parts of the Milky Way compared to optical light.

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Researchers say there is considerable variation in iron levels.

“The very wide spread in iron levels could indicate that the innermost parts of the galaxy are incredibly heterogeneous, or unmixed,” said Dr. Brian Thorsbro, an astronomer at Lund University. Stated.

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“This is something we didn’t expect, and it tells us something not only about what the center of a galaxy looks like, but also about what the early universe looked like.”

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“Personally, I think it’s very exciting that we can now study the galactic center itself at such a detailed level,” Dr. Forsberg said.

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“While these types of measurements have been standard for observations of our own galactic disk, they have been an unattainable goal in more remote and exotic parts of the galaxy.”

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“Studies like this can teach us a lot about how our home galaxy formed and developed.”

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B. Thorsbro other. 2023. The range of old metallicities of stars in nuclear clusters is wide. APJL 958, L18; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad08b1

Source: www.sci.news