Unknown Population of Stars Discovered

Central region of the Milky Way in infrared light. NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Solovy (Spitzer Science Center/Caltech) - Near the centre of the Milky Way there exists a heretofore unknown population of stars that exhibits characteristic properties. It was discovered by an international research team under the direction of Dr Manuel Arca Sedda of Collaborative Research Centre "The Milky Way System" (CRC 881) of Heidelberg University. The scientists identified as the origin of these stars a globular cluster that made its way into the centre of our home Galaxy a long time ago. There is a supermassive black hole at the innermost centre of the Milky Way. It is surrounded by one of the densest collection of stars in the known universe - a nuclear star cluster (NSC).