Globular Clusters Archives - Astrodoc: Astrophotography by Ron Brecher https://astrodoc.ca/category/globular-clusters/ Astrodoc.ca - Images of the Universe Tue, 15 Jul 2025 19:48:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Messier 5 https://astrodoc.ca/messier-5/ https://astrodoc.ca/messier-5/#respond Fri, 20 Jun 2025 21:58:25 +0000 https://astrodoc.ca/?p=14236 Messier 5 Click image for full size version June 20, 2025 Messier 5 (M5) is a globular cluster. It lies about 25,000 light years away and is abouot 80 light years across. It's just bright enough to see as a dim star with the naked eye in a dark sky. The cluster is notable for [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/messier-5/feed/ 0 NGC 6712 https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-6712/ https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-6712/#respond Sun, 08 Jun 2025 14:59:25 +0000 https://astrodoc.ca/?p=14225 NGC 6712 Click image for full size version June 8, 2025 NGC 6712 is a relatively small globular cluster located in Scutum. Its mass is about 94,000 times the Sun's, and it lies about 26,400 light years from Earth. It is set in a nice, rich star field near open cluster M11. NGC 6712 is [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-6712/feed/ 0 NGC 5053 https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-5053/ https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-5053/#respond Sun, 01 Jun 2025 16:22:13 +0000 https://astrodoc.ca/?p=14217 NGC 5053 Click image for full size version June 1, 2025 NGC 5053 tends to be ignored by imagers and observers alike, including me until about 2015, because of its surroundings: NGC 5053 lies near a much brighter, richer globular cluster, M53. NGC 5053 contains only a few thousand stars, so it lacks the dense [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-5053/feed/ 0 Messier 56 https://astrodoc.ca/messier-56/ https://astrodoc.ca/messier-56/#respond Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:16:20 +0000 https://astrodoc.ca/?p=13909 Messier 56 Click image for full size version September 5, 2024 Globular cluster M56, in Lyra, the Harp, lies about 33,000 light years away. All together, its stars have a mass about 230,000 times that of the Sun. It sometimes goes unnoticed because it shares the general area of the sky with a few other [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/messier-56/feed/ 0 Messier 13 https://astrodoc.ca/messier-13/ https://astrodoc.ca/messier-13/#respond Sun, 09 Jun 2024 13:12:03 +0000 https://astrodoc.ca/?p=13774 Messier 13 Click image for full size version June 9, 2024 There are about 150 globular clusters orbiting the main part of the Milky Way, and they are common around other galaxies too.  These objects are star clusters of a few hundred thousand to a few million stars and they are very old objects. The [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/messier-13/feed/ 0 NGC 5466 https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-5466/ https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-5466/#comments Tue, 28 May 2024 08:15:22 +0000 http://astrodoc.ca/?p=8354 NGC 5466 Click image for full size version May 28, 2024 NGC 5466 is an ancient globular cluster. Its age is currently estimated to be 12.88 billion years. It lies about 52,000 light years from us in the constellation Boötes, and about the same distance from the centre of the Milky Way. Unlike some of [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-5466/feed/ 6 Messier 3 https://astrodoc.ca/messier-3/ https://astrodoc.ca/messier-3/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2024 07:58:14 +0000 http://astrodoc.ca/?p=11197 Messier 3 Click image for full size version April 25, 2024 Messier 3 (M3) is a bright globular cluster in the southernmost part of the constellation Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs). I have imaged this object several times, including May 2017 and May 2019.  However, the 14" telescope I'm using now gives it a whole new [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/messier-3/feed/ 1 M10 Globular Cluster https://astrodoc.ca/m10/ https://astrodoc.ca/m10/#comments Mon, 26 Jun 2023 06:00:26 +0000 http://astrodoc.ca/?p=9969 M10 Globular Cluster Click image for full size version June 26, 2023; previous image in Sky & Telescope, Sept. 2017 M10 is one of at least 14 globular clusters located in the constellation Ophiuchus. Other prominent ones that I have imaged are M12 and M14. Compared to most globular clusters, M10 is relatively loosely packed so is [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/m10/feed/ 3 NGC 6366 https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-6366/ https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-6366/#comments Thu, 08 Jun 2023 17:00:58 +0000 http://astrodoc.ca/?p=11731 NGC 6366 Click image for full size version June 8, 2023 Meet NGC 6366, one of more than 150 globular clusters orbit the Milky Way's core.  Each is a more-or-less spherical grouping of hundreds of thousands of stars tightly held together by gravity.  Some, like M13 are big, bright, tightly packed and spectacular.  Others... not so [...]

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]]> https://astrodoc.ca/ngc-6366/feed/ 2 Omega Centauri https://astrodoc.ca/omega-centauri/ https://astrodoc.ca/omega-centauri/#comments Sat, 23 Jul 2022 17:33:46 +0000 https://astrodoc.ca/?p=12811 Omega Centauri Click image for full size version July 23, 2022 NGC 5139 is better known as omega-Centauri, and it's the biggest, brightest globular cluster in the sky. This data was graciously provided to me by Carlos Sagan, from Chile. I really enjoy globular clusters, both at the eyepiece and in images. However, this one [...]

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