Astronomers believe they have stumbled across birthing of a globular star cluster

ASTRONOMERS have stumbled across an incredible event in space. They say it ‘could have been plucked straight out of the early universe’.

ASTRONOMERS believe they have stumbled across the birthing of a globular star cluster for the first time in known history.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), stargazers found an extremely large and dense cloud of molecular gas that they believe is the embryonic form of a globular star cluster.

Astronomer Kelsey Johnson said they had dubbed the groundbreaking discovery as “Firecracker”.

“We may be witnessing one of the most ancient and extreme modes of star formation in the universe,” she said in a statement.

“This remarkable object looks like it was plucked straight out of the very early universe.

“To discover something that has all the characteristics of a globular cluster, yet has not begun making stars, is like finding a dinosaur egg that’s about to hatch.”

This image highlights the clouds of molecular gas between the two galaxies.

The object was discovered between two interacting galaxies located 50 million light-years away from Earth.

Ms Johnson said the discovery was fascinating because it was extraordinary mass with an apparent lack of stars — unlike all other global clusters found by astronomers that are brimming with stars.

“Until now, clouds with this potential have only been seen as teenagers, after star formation had begun,” she said.

“That meant that the nursery had already been disturbed. To understand how a globular cluster forms, you need to see its true beginnings.”

Ms Johnson said because Firecracker contains 50 million times the mass of the Sun in molecular gas, she believes it will have a good chance of successfully developing.

“The survival rate for a massive young star cluster to remain intact is very low — around one per cent,” she said.

“Various external and internal forces pull these objects apart, either forming open clusters like the Pleiades or completely disintegrating to become part of a galaxy’s halo.”