Globular Cluster

globular cluster, a large group of old stars that are closely packed in a symmetrical, somewhat spherical form. Globular clusters, so called because of their roughly spherical appearance, are the largest and most massive star clusters.

Though several globular clusters, such as Omega Centauri in the constellation Centaurus and Messier 13 (M13) in the constellation Hercules, are visible to the unaided eye as hazy patches of light, attention was paid to them only after the invention of the telescope. The first record of a globular cluster, in the constellation Sagittarius, dates to 1665 (it was later named Messier 22); the next, Omega Centauri, was recorded in 1677 by the English astronomer and mathematician Edmond Halley. Investigations of globular clusters greatly aided the understanding of the Milky Way Galaxy. In 1917, from a study of the distances and distributions of globular clusters, the American astronomer Harlow Shapley, then of the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, determined that its galactic centre lies in the Sagittarius region.