Lamiya Mowla

Abstract The most distant galaxies detected were seen when the Universe was a scant 5% of its current age. At these times, progenitors of galaxies such as the Milky Way were about 10,000 times less massive. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) combined with magnification from gravitational lensing, these low-mass galaxies can not only be detected but also be studied in detail.

NEWS AND VIEWS 12 August 2024 Observations might have uncovered star clusters that existed when the Universe was just 460 million years old. If this timing is accurate, the discovery provides valuable clues about how and when the first stars formed. Star clusters are collections of thousands to millions of stars bound together by gravity — and many can be observed in the night sky with binoculars or a small telescope.

Despite being the subject of very active research for decades (see, e.g., reviews by Harris & Racine 1979; Freeman & Norris 1981; Brodie & Strader 2006; Forbes et al. 2018), we do not know when, or understand how, globular clusters form. We do know that most globular clusters in the Milky Way (MW), and those around nearby galaxies, are very old.