Overview
- A Nature Astronomy paper reports that the most massive star clusters clear their birth gas in about 5 million years, while lower-mass clusters take roughly 7 to 8 million years.
- The FEAST team examined nearly 9,000 clusters across four nearby galaxies, tracking systems from deeply embedded newborns to fully revealed clusters, with the same trend seen in each galaxy.
- Researchers paired Webb’s infrared view, which penetrates dust, with Hubble’s ultraviolet and optical data to estimate each cluster’s mass and age and to infer how long clusters spend in each stage.
- Faster emergence in massive clusters boosts their early ultraviolet output, supporting the idea that such clusters could have powered much of the universe’s reionization.
- Quick gas dispersal exposes young planet-forming disks to harsh radiation sooner, giving them less time to gather gas and changing where and how planets can grow.