Astronomers first studied the globular cluster of stars in a distant galaxy

Globular clusters are collections of tightly bound stars orbiting galaxies

.Astronomers perceive them as natural laboratories for studying the evolution of stars and galaxies. In particular, globular clusters can help researchers better understand the formation history and evolution of early-type galaxies, since their origins appear to be closely related to periods of intense star formation.

NGC 4546 located at a distance of about 45.6million light-years from Earth, is a lenticular (S0) galaxy, whose stellar mass is about 27 billion solar masses. According to a 2015 study, the total number of objects in the cluster is about 120. All of them are located at a distance of 163 thousand light years from each other.

To better study the cluster, the researchers conducted photometric observations with a GMOS camera mounted on a Gemini-South telescope in Chile.

Observations have shown that NGC 4546 is actuallyThere are about 390 objects. In addition, the researchers found vast irregular dust regions extending approximately 19.5 light-years along the semi-major axis of NGC 4546. According to the authors, this indicates a fusion or interaction in the recent past with an object of less mass than NGC 4546.

Previously, astronomers discovered a galaxy in which star formation ceased 12.5 billion years ago - just 1.3 billion years after the Big Bang.