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Globular clusters are very old, tight clusters of stars. Some think they may be remnants of captured galaxies.
There are about 180 GCs in the Milky Way. Most of the stars are metal poor since they were formed before other stars
had produced heavy elements that are in stars like our Sun.
| Globular cluster M14 in Ophiucus |
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| 23,000 ly away, has 70 variable stars, 400,000 times the Sun's brightness |
| M2 in Aquarius, f5, LRGB, 10/28/08 |
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| About 150k stars (count them) and 13 billion years old, core is small - 3.7 ly across, H2 halo |
| M15, in Pegasus, f5, LRGB, 10/28/08 |
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| One of the densest globulars, about 40k ly, 3rd rank in variable stars (112), small collapsed core |
| M92 in Hercules, LRGB, taken in west Tx |
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| Mass of 330k suns, moving toward us at 65k mph, Earth wobble brings close to North Celestial Pole |
| M10 in Ophiuchus, Lum only |
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| One of the brighter GCs in Ophiuchus. Only 3 variable stars. About 14.3k ly away. |
| M12 in Ophiuchus, Lum only |
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| Similar to nearby M10 but a bit dimmer and less dense in core. Brightest stars are mag 12. |
There are quite a few GCs in Ophichus because they tend to orbit around the Milky Way.
| M30 in Capricornus, Lum only |
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| About 26k ly away and very dense. Has undergone a core collapse. Mag 7.2 |
Taken in west Texas but I had misnamed the file. A forum member on AAS identified it for me. If you
think it's a different GC, let me know. I imaged Uranus about 8 minutes later and M30 is quite close to Uranus
this year.
| M22 in Sagittarius, Lum only, taken 6/25/08 |
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| One of the brightest GC's. Only 10k LY from us. Awesome visually - made my telescope worth it! |
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