Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Bound star clusters observed in a lensed galaxy 460 Myr after the Big Bang

Nature (2024)Cite this article

We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

Abstract

The Cosmic Gems arc is among the brightest and highly magnified galaxies observed at redshift z ∼ 10.21. However, it is an intrinsically UV faint galaxy, in the range of those now thought to drive the reionization of the universe2–4. Hitherto the smallest features resolved in a galaxy at a comparable redshift are between a few hundreds and a few tens of parsecs5,6. Here we report JWST observations of the Cosmic Gems. The light of the galaxy is resolved into five star clusters located in a region smaller than 70 parsec. They exhibit minimal dust attenuation and low metallicity, ages younger than 50 Myr and intrinsic masses of ∼ 106 M⊙. Their lensing-corrected sizes are approximately 1 pc, resulting in stellar surface densities near 105 M⊙ /pc2, three orders of magnitude higher than typical young star clusters in the local universe7. Despite the uncertainties inherent to the lensing model, they are consistent with being gravitationally bound stellar systems, i.e., proto-globular clusters (proto-GCs). We conclude that star cluster formation and feedback likely contributed to 3 shape the properties of galaxies during the epoch of reionization.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Larry D. Bradley, Eros Vanzella

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astronomy Department, Stockholm University & Oskar Klein Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, Stockholm, Sweden

    Angela Adamo, Adélaïde Claeyssens & Augusto E. Lassen

  2. Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Larry D. Bradley,  Abdurro’uf, Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao & Dan Coe

  3. Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, INAF, via Gobetti 93/3, Bologna, Italy

    Eros Vanzella & Matteo Messa

  4. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, 4296 Stadium Drive, College Park, USA

    Brian Welch & Massimo Ricotti

  5. Astrophysics Science Division, Code 660, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Brian Welch & Jane R. Rigby

  6. Instituto de Física de Cantabria, (CSIC-UC), Avda. Los Castros s/n., Santander, Spain

    Jose M. Diego

  7. STAR Institute,Quartier Agora - Allée du six Août, 19c, Liège, Belgium

    Guillaume Mahler

  8. Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University, South Road, Durham, UK

    Guillaume Mahler

  9. Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, UK

    Guillaume Mahler

  10. Center for Frontier Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan

    Masamune Oguri

  11. Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan

    Masamune Oguri

  12. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 S. University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Keren Sharon

  13. Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles St., Baltimore, MD, USA

    Abdurro’uf, Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao, Dan Coe & Tom Resseguier

  14. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, USA

    Xinfeng Xu

  15. Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Northwestern University, 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL, USA

    Xinfeng Xu

  16. Instituto de Física, Departamento de Astronomia, Universe Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Augusto E. Lassen

  17. Observational Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, Uppsala, Sweden

    Erik Zackrisson

  18. Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Linneanum, Thunbergsvägen 2, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

    Erik Zackrisson

  19. Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Copenhagen, Denmark

    Gabriel Brammer

  20. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 128, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Gabriel Brammer

  21. Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) for the European Space Agency (ESA), STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Dan Coe

  22. Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, Groningen, Netherlands

    Vasily Kokorev

  23. Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva, Israel

    Adi Zitrin

  24. Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Seiji Fujimoto

  25. Department of Physics, School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

    Akio K. Inoue

  26. Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

    Akio K. Inoue

  27. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, (CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n., Granada, Spain

    Yolanda Jiménez-Teja

  28. Observatório Nacional, (MCTI), Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Yolanda Jiménez-Teja

  29. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Rogier A. Windhorst

  30. Division of Physics, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Takuya Hashimoto

  31. Tomonaga Center for the History of the Universe (TCHoU), University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Takuya Hashimoto

  32. Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo, Chikusa, Nagoya, Japan

    Yoichi Tamura

Authors
  1. Angela Adamo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Larry D. Bradley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eros Vanzella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Adélaïde Claeyssens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Brian Welch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jose M. Diego
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Guillaume Mahler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Masamune Oguri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Keren Sharon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Abdurro’uf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Xinfeng Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Matteo Messa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Augusto E. Lassen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Erik Zackrisson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Gabriel Brammer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Dan Coe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Vasily Kokorev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Massimo Ricotti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Adi Zitrin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Seiji Fujimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Akio K. Inoue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Tom Resseguier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Jane R. Rigby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Yolanda Jiménez-Teja
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Rogier A. Windhorst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Takuya Hashimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Yoichi Tamura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angela Adamo.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Adamo, A., Bradley, L.D., Vanzella, E. et al. Bound star clusters observed in a lensed galaxy 460 Myr after the Big Bang. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07703-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07703-7

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing