WHILE OUR UNDERSTANDING of the origin of the Milky Way's globular clusters is still shrouded in mystery, that's not the case with their knowing distances from Earth. In fact, thanks to the most recent data from the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft, we know how far away they are to within an accuracy of a few percent. The data reveal that roughly three-quarters of all known globulars in our galaxy are less than 50,000 light-years from us.
In our last issue, Contributing Editor Ted Forte took readers on an extensive tour of these ‘star cities’ (AS&T: May/Jun 2023, p. 56). He visited a bunch globular clusters, with the most distant being about 50,000 light-years away. This month's tour is going to be different since the nearest ones we'll chase down all lie farther out! So grab your telescope — but don't forget your binoculars as these dozen distant denizens are brighter than you think.
Up, up and away!
Our first target, NGC 2419 in Lynx, is an absolute must-see at the right time of the year. By carefully star-hopping 7° due north of Castor, with averted vision it's just visible through my 8×56 binoculars as a tiny, dim smudge immediately east of 7.2-magnitude HD 60771. The view doesn't improve much even through my 15×70s.
Through my 13cm (5.1-inch) reflector at 72x, the cluster's broad central glow and hints of a far-reaching outer halo resemble an elliptical galaxy. At 300x through my 40cm (16-inch) f/4.5 Dobsonian, NGC 2419 has a smooth, uniform appearance, but with a slightly brighter core.
Harlow Shapley drew attention to this Lynx globular in
