Palomar 11

Gcl 114

Globular Cluster

Aquila

R.A. 19h45m14.0s

Dec. -08°00'24" (2000)

Magnitude: 9.80

Size: 10.0

Class XI

Palomar 11 was one of 15 globular clusters discovered on the POSS plates taken with the 48” Schmidt
on Mt Palomar. It is a normal sized globular cluster but is heavily obscured by dust in the Milky Way.
Pal 11 was first found by A.G. Wilson in 1955 and included in a paper published by George Abell in the
same year, although this first list only contained 13 objects. The paper is
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1955PASP...67..258A It is suggested that Palomar 11 has an age of
about 10.5 billion years and lies at a distance of about 14 kpc from us. It appears to lie about 3.9 kpc
below the plane of the galaxy.

pall1plt.jpg

Pal 11 appears to be a metal rich cluster that is similar in age and
metallicity to both 47 Tuc and NGC 5927. Pal 11 does not appear to be associated with any of the past
merger populations and streams discovered using the GAIA data and would appear to be a globular
cluster that is actually one of the Milky Way’s own.

pal11pan.jpg

Palomar 11 has always been a challenge to observe from my latitude at about 52N as both myself and
a colleague were unable to see it with large telescopes (22" and 24") however on a trip to La Palma
observing at around 900m we were able to pick it up with a 12” (30cm) telescope as a faint fuzz. We
could not resolve any stars though. This unfortunately shows the quality of the skies in the UK as it
rises to almost 30 degrees so should have been easily visible. The cluster is quite large and spread
out which makes it quite difficult to see and is probably best observed with a medium to low power
eyepiece. I imagine that those at lower latitudes where it rises higher in the sky will have less trouble
finding it.

As always give it a go and let us know how it goes