ALMA and JWST Reveal 50 Hidden Star Clusters in Nearby Galaxies

These rings create conditions similar to those found in galaxies billions of years ago, when the universe was at its peak of star formation. The clusters in these rings are exceptionally efficient at turning gas into stars, using up most of their available gas reservoir.

Four Stages of a Star Cluster's Early Life

By decomposing the radio emission from each source into three components—thermal dust emission, free–free emission from ionized gas, and synchrotron emission from supernova remnants—the team identified four distinct evolutionary stages in the life of a young massive cluster:

1. Protoclusters: Dust-bright but radio-faint. These are the earliest stages, where the gas cloud has not yet begun forming stars in earnest.
2. Extremely young, buried clusters: Still encased in their natal cocoons. These show strong dust emission and ionized gas, but little to no supernova signal.
3. Clusters that have cleared their birth clouds: These show strong ionized gas emission but weak dust emission, indicating they have blown away their surrounding material.
4. Clusters with supernovae underway: Here, the most massive stars have already exploded, generating a synchrotron signal.

Remarkably, all four stages coexist within the same ring in both galaxies. This confirms that massive cluster formation is a continuous, ongoing process rather than a single synchronized burst.

Extreme Star-Forming Power

The most extreme example in the sample is a cluster in NGC 1097 with an ionizing power equivalent to roughly 1,200 of the most massive stars known. These clusters also form over a longer period than typical star-forming regions in the present-day universe, suggesting a sustained, rather than rapid, cluster-building process.

Why This Matters

This study provides one of the most detailed radio views to date of massive cluster formation in circumnuclear rings. It helps astronomers understand how stars form in extreme environments that mirror the conditions of the early universe, offering clues about how galaxies themselves evolved. By combining the unique capabilities of ALMA, the VLA, and JWST, researchers can now see through the dust that once hid these stellar nurseries from view, giving us a clearer picture of the universe's most prolific star-forming factories.