Glorious GLOBULARS

From fuzzy blobs to star cities, Paul Money takes us on a tour of 15 of the best globular clusters to observe in this season's night skies

- Paul Money

Paul Money is an astronomy writer and broadcaster, and the reviews editor of BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Fuzzy blobs - that's often what new stargazers viewing a globular cluster think when they spot their first one. It's true that these concentrations of ancient stars, ranging in number from tens of thousands to millions, can be a bit lacking in their visual impact with smaller instruments, not quite resembling the stunning images you'll regularly see online or in our Gallery pages. Yet, with care, a little more aperture, and yes, by capturing the objects with an astrophoto, a globular cluster's own 'personality' - the detail that makes them interesting and enjoyable to view - shines through.

All about globulars

You could argue that the first globular cluster seen was Omega Centauri, listed by Johann Bayer in his Uranometria in 1603. But that very designation belies the fact it was visible to the naked eye and considered a star. The first globular defined as a 'nebula' was accidentally discovered by the German amateur astronomer Abraham Ihle in 1665, one we now know as M22 in Sagittarius. More were quickly discovered, but their nature was still not properly understood. They were still described as nebulous patches or round spots of cloud until 1764, when Charles Messier resolved stars in M4.

William Herschel coined the term 'globular cluster' in 1786, when he found he could resolve the objects into clouds of stars. Herschel's revelation may stem not just from his visual acuity but from the growing apertures of the instruments at his disposal, mainly reflectors he produced himself.