The James Webb space telescope has captured a stunning super star cluster. The super star cluster known as Wanderlund-1 is located in our galaxy, and thus it is one of the closest star clusters to Earth. The superstar clusters contain more than 10,000 times the sun’s mass packed in a small volume and is located nearly 12,000 light years away from Earth.
Superstar clusters are one of the most extreme environments in space where stars and planets form. Our galaxy is much older, and it has passed the peak star formation phase; therefore, only some of these clusters exist in our galaxy.
Wasterland-1 has a large, dense, diverse population of evolved massive stars. “All stars identified in this cluster are evolved and very massive, spanning the full range of stellar classifications, including Wolf-Rayet stars, OB supergiants, yellow hypergiants (nearly as bright as a million Suns), and luminous blue variables,” said NASA in the article.
The image was captured as part of the Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey (EWOCS) with Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). This survey is a dedicated Webb program (GO 1905, PI: M. G. Guarcello) that aims to study star and planet formation and stellar evolution in starburst regions in Westerlund 1 and Westerlund 2.
About James Webb Space Telescope
James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25th, 2021. The telescope does not orbit the Earth like Hubble, but it orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point, or L2. It has been capturing stunning images and unfolding many mysteries since its launch. The telescope recently shared an image of two merging galaxies, which stunned astronomers throughout the world.
