In this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, the glistening stars of the globular cluster NGC 6544 can be seen. Like all globular clusters, this tightly bound star cluster is more than 8,000 light-years away from Earth and contains tens of thousands of stars.
In addition to two distinct astronomical observations, this image of NGC 6544 incorporates data from two of Hubble’s instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys. The purpose of the initial observation was to locate a visible counterpart to the radio pulsar found in NGC 6544. A pulsar is the rapidly spinning remnant of a dying star that, like a huge astronomical lighthouse, emits two beams of electromagnetic radiation. Astronomers used Hubble to figure out how this pulsar in NGC 6544 evolved because of its rapid rotation.
Additionally, the objective of the second observation that provided data for this image was to locate the visible counterparts of objects that were detected at other electromagnetic wavelengths. Rather than matching up sources to a pulsar, in any case, space experts utilized Hubble to look for the partners of weak X-beam sources. Their findings may shed light on the evolution of clusters like NGC 6544 over time.
Provided by NASA
