RBC EXT8 tagged posts

Anemic Star Cluster breaks Metal-Poor Record

The RBC EXT8 globular cluster orbits the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy, a close companion to our Milky Way Galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years from Earth. Credit: ESASky/CFHT

In a surprising discovery, astronomers using two Maunakea Observatories — W. M. Keck Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) — have found a globular star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy that contains a record-breaking low amount of metals.

The stars in the cluster, called RBC EXT8, have on average 800 times less iron than our Sun and are three times more iron-poor than the previous globular cluster record-holder. RBC EXT8 is also extremely deficient in magnesium.

The study, led by Søren Larsen of Radboud University in the Netherlands, is published in today’s issue of the journal Science...

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