Globular star clusters are a symmetrical collection of ancient stars (up to a million such stars) which are bound together gravitationally.
Recent estimates indicate that about 150-200 globulars exist throughout our galaxy with only three being readily visible to the naked eye
(the Andromeda Galaxy has been estimated to contain approximately 500 globular clusters). Since most of the globular clusters are more common
in the southern hemisphere, scientists have deduced that our sun must lie away from the galactic core of the Milky Way. One of the most
beautiful such globular clusters is M13 in Hercules.
Note: A survey of the POSS (Palomar Observatory Sky Survey) plates during the 1950's by various astronomers
including Edwin Hubble, Halton Arp and George Abell revealed fifteeen new globular clusters which are diverse in both apparent diameter (1.8'
to 10.9'x8.8') and magnitude (9.2 to 15.1). Some of the Palomar globulars (ex. PAL 6-7, 9-11) are typical in both size and distance but dim
due to intervening galactic dust; other clusters, such as PAL 3-4 and 14, are significantly larger but lie at the outer limits of our galaxy.
Similar to the Abell catalog of planetary nebulae, this particular list of
globular clusters is a popular target of observers with large-aperture instruments such as Dobsonians and including an annual
"Palomar marathon".
Note: PAL 3 in Sextans is a globular cluster with a very weakly concentrated core and as indicated by the image
below and its Trumpler classification of "XII". It is characterized with a surface brightness of 15.9 mag/arc-min2 with its
brightest star being only of magnitude 18, thus making it one of the dimmest globular clusters within the PAL catalog along with PAL 4 in
Ursa Major. Its apparent diameter of approximately 2.8 arc-minutes makes PAL 3 also one of the smallest members of the PAL catalog. PAL 3
lies at a distance of 302,350 light-years away, thus making it the third most distant globular clusters within the Milky Way (PAL 4 in UMa
is 356,000 light-years away and Arp-Mador 1 in Hor is 397,590 light-years away).
The image below is characterized with a number of small and dim galaxies including PGC 1161666 at mag 18.1 ("A"), PGC 1161836 at mag 17.0
("B"), PGC 1159022 at mag 17.7 ("C"), PGC 1156340 at mag 18.1 ("D"), PGC 1153731 at mag 18.4 ("E"), PGC 1153866 at mag 17.9 ("F") and
PGC 1152964 at mag 16.1 ("G").
Please click on the image below to display in higher resolution (1200 x 900)