A new study of globular clusters outside our Milky Way Galaxy has found evidence that these hardy pioneers are
more likely to form in dense areas, where star birth occurs at a rapid rate, instead of uniformly from galaxy to galaxy.
The study also found evidence that massive galaxies acquire at least some of their star clusters from small, nearby dwarf galaxies.
An international collaboration used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to identify over 11,000 globular clusters in
the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The study, led by Dr. Eric Peng (Department of Astronomy, Peking University),
used the sharp vision of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys to resolve star clusters in 100 galaxies of various sizes,
shapes, and brightnesses, even in faint, dwarf galaxies. The results appeared July 1 in The Astrophysical Journal.
This is by far the largest survey of old star clusters ever assembled, and these results show the first strong evidence
that star cluster formation depends on galaxy environment.
More news release please see:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/30/
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/05/1248082.aspx
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