In the 1950’s the Palomar Observatory conducted a photographic survey of the northern sky using the large 48″ Schmidt-Camera Telescope. One of the results of this survey was the discovery of 12 heretofore very faint globular clusters which have come to be known as the “Palomar Globular Clusters”. These globular clusters escaped previous recognition due to their being either very faint due their great distance, or being partially obscured by dust, or in an advanced stage of dissolution which made their identification as a globular cluster difficult.

They are very challenging visual targets for amateurs, usually requiring large scopes of 14 inches or greater aperture and very dark skies. Even using photographic techniques, resolving individual stars in these clusters is difficult.

The photos below are my best efforts to capture these elusive objects using my largest telescope which has a modest 9.25 inch aperture. To date I have only photographed 7 of the 15 Palomar Globulars. I encourage you to do a GOOGLE search and compare my modest efforts to the images obtained by the Hubble or Webb Space Telescopes.