{"id":519339,"date":"2026-06-08T10:40:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/news\/uno-studio-fa-luce-sulla-nascita-delle-stelle-i-grandi-ammassi-stellari-emergono-piu-rapidamente-dalle-nubi-cosmiche\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:25:10","slug":"study-sheds-new-light-on-star-formation","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/study-sheds-new-light-on-star-formation\/","title":{"rendered":"Study sheds new light on star formation: massive star clusters emerge more rapidly from cosmic clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The most massive star clusters emerge more rapidly from the clouds of gas and dust in which they are born<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. This is the finding of a study published in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02857-y\"><b><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Nature Astronomy<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> and conducted by an international research team that includes <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Michele Cignoni<\/span><\/b> <b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">of the Department of Physics at the University of Pisa<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, who is also affiliated with the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Pisa section of the INFN<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThis work represents <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">one of the most extensive surveys of the earliest stages in the life of star clusters<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> and shows, on a statistical basis, that <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">their mass determines the time required to emerge from their natal cloud<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u201d explains Michele Cignoni. The research combined observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">analysing approximately 8,900 young star clusters in the galaxies<\/span><\/b> <b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">M51, M83, NGC 628 and NGC 4449<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-519301 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/41550_2026_2857_Fig1_HTML.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/41550_2026_2857_Fig1_HTML.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/41550_2026_2857_Fig1_HTML-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/41550_2026_2857_Fig1_HTML-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Thanks to the infrared sensitivity of JWST, the team reconstructed an evolutionary sequence ranging from the youngest clusters, still associated with ionised gas and dust, to clusters visible at optical wavelengths. According to the study, <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">the most massive clusters disperse the surrounding material in around five million years, whereas less massive clusters may take seven to eight million years<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The research also has important implications for understanding how galaxies evolve and how planets form<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. The findings help clarify how stars are born and how the youngest and most massive ones influence their surroundings through their intense radiation. The consequences also extend to planet formation: if<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> larger star clusters emerge earlier<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, the discs of gas and dust surrounding young stars are exposed more quickly to ultraviolet radiation, <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">reducing the time available for planetary growth<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The study published in <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Nature Astronomy<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> was led by Alex Pedrini and Angela Adamo of Stockholm University and is based on data from the FEAST programme (Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers), coordinated by Angela Adamo.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The research, published in Nature Astronomy, is based on observations from the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes and analyses around 8,900 young star clusters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":519302,"menu_order":2,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"tag-notizie-persone":[],"tags_news":[1222,2305],"categorie":[159],"class_list":["post-519339","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tags_news-department-of-physics","tags_news-research-en","categorie-unipinews-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Study sheds new light on star formation: massive star clusters emerge more rapidly from cosmic clouds ~ UNIPI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/study-sheds-new-light-on-star-formation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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