Globular star clusters as a research area focuses on dense, gravitationally bound stellar systems that orbit galactic halos and serve as laboratories for studying stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, and galactic formation and assembly. Research investigates their internal kinematics, mass functions, multiple stellar populations, chemical abundance patterns, and dynamical processes such as core collapse, mass segregation, and tidal stripping. Globular clusters are also key to constraining ages of galaxies, tracing dark matter distributions, and testing N-body simulations, stellar population synthesis models, and theories of star formation under extreme density and low-metallicity conditions.
An international team led by ICREA researcher Mark Gieles, from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), has developed a model that reveals ...
Astronomy
Nov 4, 2025
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Using ESA's Gaia satellite, astronomers have detected 87 stellar streams associated with globular clusters (GCs) in our Milky Way galaxy. The discovery, which doubles the number of known GC stellar streams, was detailed in ...
For centuries, astronomers have puzzled over the origins of one of the universe's oldest and densest stellar systems, known as globular clusters. Now, a University of Surrey-led study published in Nature has finally solved ...
Astronomy
Sep 10, 2025
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By analyzing the data from NASA's Chandra spacecraft, astronomers have conducted the first X-ray study of a globular cluster known as NGC 6528. Results of the study, published August 13 on the arXivpreprint server, yield ...
Ursa Major III, the faintest object in our galaxy, orbits the Milky Way at a distance of more than 30,000 light years. Until now, it was considered a dwarf galaxy, thought to consist mainly of dark matter due to its large ...
Astronomy
Aug 15, 2025
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Astronomers have studied the globular cluster 47 Tucanae extensively, but still have many questions. It may have an intermediate mass black hole in its center like Omega Centauri is expected to have. There are reasons to ...
Astronomy
Jul 8, 2025
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A previously unexplored globular cluster glitters with multicolored stars in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. Globular clusters like this one, called ESO 591-12 or Palomar 8, are spherical collections of tens of thousands ...
Astronomy
Jul 4, 2025
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Using the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, astronomers have performed a chemical study of a globular cluster known as ESO 280-SC06. As a result, they found that ESO 280-SC06 is a tidally disrupted ...
By analyzing the data from the DESI Legacy Imaging Survey, Chinese astronomers have investigated a globular cluster known as NGC 5634. Results of the new study, published June 5 on the arXiv pre-print server, provide more ...
Using the Magellan Clay Telescope, astronomers have performed a spectroscopic study of blue straggler stars in the globular cluster NGC 3201. Results of the new study, published May 21 on the arXiv preprint server, could ...
