Globular clusters are some of the most impressive sights in the night sky. These 'decorative balls' include hundreds of thousands of stars and are found in the vicinity of galaxies. The Milky Way contains more than 150 such clusters, one of which is codenamed NGC 362, and was captured by the famous Hubble Space Telescope. This cluster, according to astronomers, is very unusual.
As a rule, during the life of stars, the elements in their cores merge, forming heavier and heavier metals. When these stars die, they 'flood' their surroundings with the material they have formed during their lifetime, enriching the interstellar medium with metals. Therefore, stars that form later contain higher proportions of metals than their older cousins.
By studying the various elements present in individual stars in NGC 362, astronomers have found that the cluster has a surprisingly high metal abundance, suggesting that it is younger than expected. Despite the fact that most globular clusters are much older than most of the stars in their main galaxy, NGC 362 is between 10 and 11 billion years old. Moreover, the age of the Milky Way is estimated at over 13 billion years.
Sources: spacetelescope
