Uncovering a Mysterious Ultra-Faint Metal-Poor Star Cluster
Recently, research from the University of California, Santa Cruz has identified an ultra-faint metal-poor star cluster, located in the very distant outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. This star cluster, known as the “Ophiuchus Cluster,” has a total stellar mass of only about 1,000 times the mass of our Sun, making it one of the faintest and most metal-poor star clusters ever discovered.
The Ophiuchus Cluster is located about 130,000 light-years away from our Solar System, and is one of the most ancient star clusters in our galaxy. Astronomers believe that the stars in the Ophiuchus Cluster formed around 13 billion years ago, which is only about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. This makes it one of the oldest structures in the Universe, and provides us with a glimpse into the early formation of the Milky Way.
source: Phys.org