A Globular Cluster Challenge.

[Xilman]

As noted at the Deep Sky Section of the BAA (https://britastro.org/section_front/12) globular clusters are  amongst the finest objects to observe in the night sky.

Over the last six months I have been collating a list of globular clusters and their properties, and have written an article which proposes three challenges for amateur astronomers. The first two challenges are now revealed to public view at http://www.astropalma.com/Wotnot/GCM/GC_Marathon.html and at https://britastro.org/node/25753. The lists are available in both HTML table format and as a spreadsheet, the latter being available at http://www.astropalma.com/Wotnot/GCM/GC_MW.ods

These challenges are to observe as many as possible of the globular clusters associated with the Milky Way galaxy, either all of them (the full challenge) or those which rise above your local horizon (the restricted challenge.)

There are 158 objects in the full challenge. A few of them are naked eye objects. A few are ferociously difficult targets, even for ambitious and well-equipped imagers. The great majority lie somewhere in between. An important aim of the challenge is for you to determine the present limits of your skill and technology and to spur you on to exceed those limits.

A forthcoming article and challenge extends these to extragalactic globular clusters, of which thousands are accessible to amateur imagers and a good number to visual observers --- one was catalogued by Messier!.