by Ann » Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:26 am
Interesting video.
Two things make Terzan 5 stand out. One, it contains ~12 billion year old stars as well as ~5 billion years old ones. That is certainly mysterious.
Two, it appears to be located relatively deep inside the Milky Way's disk.
Let's star with 2), the location of Terzan 5. I can't believe this globular has spent most of its life well inside the disk of the Milky Way. If it had been colliding with giant molecular clouds and other stuff in the disk for the better part of 12 billion years, I can't believe that Terzan 5 would still have existed as a cluster. That's why I think that Terzan 5 is just passing through.
Is it possible, though, that Terzan's probable passages through the disk of the Milky Way may have injected new gas into Terzan 5 and triggered star formation?
I'm reminded what I read about globular cluster NGC 6397 passing through the disk of the Milky Way, thereby possibly triggering the formation of massive open cluster NGC 6231.
But of course, a globular cluster forming new stars in itself is not the same thing as triggering star formation elsewhere.
Globular cluster NGC 6397.
Photo: ESO.
Open cluster NGC 6231.
Photo: Josef Pöpsel, Stefan Binnewies of Capella Observatory.
Ann
Interesting video.
Two things make Terzan 5 stand out. One, it contains ~12 billion year old stars as well as ~5 billion years old ones. That is certainly mysterious.
Two, it appears to be located relatively deep inside the Milky Way's disk.
Let's star with 2), the location of Terzan 5. I can't believe this globular has spent most of its life well inside the disk of the Milky Way. If it had been colliding with giant molecular clouds and other stuff in the disk for the better part of 12 billion years, I can't believe that Terzan 5 would still have existed as a cluster. That's why I think that Terzan 5 is just passing through.
Is it possible, though, that Terzan's probable passages through the disk of the Milky Way may have injected new gas into Terzan 5 and triggered star formation?
[url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AAS...203.1006R]I'm reminded what I read[/url] about globular cluster NGC 6397 passing through the disk of the Milky Way, thereby possibly triggering the formation of massive open cluster NGC 6231.
But of course, a globular cluster forming new stars in itself is not the same thing as triggering star formation elsewhere.
[float=left][img2]https://cdn.eso.org/images/thumb300y/eso0630a.jpg[/img2][c][size=85]Globular cluster NGC 6397.
Photo: ESO.[/size][/c][/float] [float=right][img2]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pR51L0yfzjc/ThyDTCSAIWI/AAAAAAAAAF4/i2FTtDgzi3s/s640/NGC6231.jpg[/img2][c][size=85]Open cluster NGC 6231.
Photo: Josef Pöpsel, Stefan Binnewies of Capella Observatory.[/size][/c][/float]
Ann