Globular Clusters

A globular cluster is a spherical bundle of stars that orbits a galaxy as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly gravitationally bound, which gives them their spherical shape, and extremely dense (in relative terms) towards their core.

Globular clusters are usually composed of hundreds of thousands of old stars, thus exhibiting very red colors. They are are fairly numerous; there are about 150 currently known globulars of the Milky Way (with perhaps 10-20 more undiscovered)

Below are 4 globular clusters taken with the Danish 1.5m telescope in Chile

M9

M9
M9 was discovered by Charles Messier and added to his catalogue in 1764. It is one of the globular clusters closest to the nucleus of our Galaxy, being only 5500 light years from the centre.

M14

M14
M14 is a globular cluster in the Ophiuchus constellation. At a distance of about 30,000 light years, it contains several 100,000 stars. In 1938, a nova appeared in this globular cluster.

M53

M53
M53 is a globular cluster in the Coma Berenices constellation. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1775 . M53 is one of the more outlying globular clusters, being about 60,000 light years away from the Galactic Center, and almost the same distance (about 58,000 light years) from the Solar system.

NGC4833

NGC4833
This is the last globular cluster. It's just that I promised Johan to take these images to use for various bachelor projects.