An extremely metal-deficient globular cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy

We report a massive GC in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), RBC EXT8, that is extremely depleted in heavy elements. Its iron abundance is about 1/800 that of the Sun and about one-third that of the most iron-poor GCs previously known. It is also strongly depleted in magnesium. These measurements challenge the notion of a metallicity floor for GCs and theoretical expectations that massive GCs could not have formed at such low metallicities.

Source: ScienceNOW - November 19, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Larsen, S. S., Romanowsky, A. J., Brodie, J. P., Wasserman, A. Tags: Astronomy reports Source Type: news