Overview
- The FEAST team, publishing in Nature Astronomy on Wednesday, reports that the heaviest clusters clear their birth gas in about five million years.
- The survey combined Webb’s infrared view with Hubble’s optical and ultraviolet data to age-date nearly 9,000 clusters in M51, M83, NGC 628, and NGC 4449.
- Lighter clusters took seven to eight million years to emerge, revealing a clear link between cluster mass and the time it takes to disperse their natal clouds.
- The authors say the rapid escape of ultraviolet light from massive clusters likely made them important drivers of cosmic reionization in the early universe.
- Faster clearing means young planet-forming discs in massive clusters face harsh ultraviolet radiation sooner, which can limit how much material they gather to build planets.