Dust-shrouded Milky Way star cluster may be nearly as old as the universe

A new study has found that the star cluster VVV CL001, located near the center of the Milky Way, is about 13.4 billion years old, making it one of the oldest known star clusters in our galaxy. The cluster is hidden behind thick clouds of interstellar dust, which made its distance and age difficult to determine. The researchers used deep and high-quality near-infrared observations from the FourStar Infrared Camera to refine the cluster's distance and age. They found around 155 stars, including those in the horizontal branch (HB) and main-sequence turnoff (TO) stages. The turnoff point is the best marker for determining the cluster's age, and the team estimated its age at 13.4±0.4 Gyr. This places the cluster inside the galactic bulge and suggests it may represent an ancient stellar population that formed in place. The study also found the cluster's distance to be about 7.34 kiloparsecs, which is the smallest distance error reported in the literature to date.

• VVV CL001 is a metal-poor globular cluster near the center of the Milky Way.
• The cluster is hidden behind thick clouds of interstellar dust, making its distance and age difficult to determine.
• The researchers used deep and high-quality near-infrared observations from the FourStar Infrared Camera to refine the cluster's distance and age.
• The cluster's distance was estimated to be about 7.34 kiloparsecs, which is the smallest distance error reported in the literature to date.
• The cluster's age was estimated to be about 13.4 billion years, making it one of the oldest known star clusters in our galaxy.
• The study found around 155 stars, including those in the horizontal branch (HB) and main-sequence turnoff (TO) stages.
• The turnoff point is the best marker for determining the cluster's age, and the team estimated its age at 13.4±0.4 Gyr.
• The cluster is inside the galactic bulge and may represent an ancient stellar population that formed in place.
• The study also found that the cluster's distance is the smallest reported in the literature to date.
• The researchers are planning a high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up of the cluster to confirm the results using the cluster's chemical makeup.
• The study suggests that if the cluster was born here and is really this old, they may need to rethink the age of the galaxy, and possibly even of the universe.

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