High-spatial resolution near-infrared ( NIR ) images of the central 24 \times 24 { arcsec ^ { 2 } } ( \sim 2 \times 2 { kpc ^ { 2 } } ) of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1052 reveal a total of 25 compact sources randomly distributed in the region .
Fifteen of them exhibit H \alpha luminosities an order of magnitude above the estimate for an evolved population of extreme horizontal branch stars .
Their H \alpha equivalent widths and optical-to-NIR spectral energy distributions are consistent with them being young stellar clusters aged < 7 Myr .
We consider this to be the first direct observation of spatially resolved star-forming regions in the central kiloparsecs of an elliptical galaxy .
The sizes of these regions are \lesssim 11 pc and their median reddening is { E } ( B - V ) \sim 1 mag .
According to previous works , NGC 1052 may have experienced a merger event about 1 Gyr ago .
On the assumption that these clusters are spreaded with similar density over the whole galaxy , the fraction of galaxy mass ( 5 \times 10 ^ { -5 } ) and rate of star formation ( 0.01 { M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } } ) involved , suggest the merger event as the possible cause for the star formation we see today .