So far, a total of 162 globular clusters have been discovered in our Milky Way galaxy.
Many of the recent globulars that have been discovered are either heavily obscured by intervening interstellar matter at visible wavelengths (and thus detectable only in the infrared), or they are so diffuse that they are difficult to detect against the field stars.
Here’s a list of the 88 constellations, and how many globulars have been found in each.
46 of the 88 constellations harbor globulars (52%). Sagittarius contains the most globular clusters, 36, representing nearly 22% or about 1/5 of the total. This is perhaps not surprising as the center of our Milky Way galaxy (Sgr A*) is located at a distance of 26,673 ± 72 ly from our Solar System in the direction of Sagittarius near the Sagittarius-Ophiuchus-Scorpius border.
Only two other constellations host more than 5 globular clusters: Ophiuchus is in 2nd place with 25, and Scorpius comes in 3rd with 20. Together these three adjacent constellations, Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius, contain a total of 81 globular clusters, exactly half (50%) of all the known Milky Way globulars! Truly, then, the Sagittarius+Ophiuchus+Scorpius region can be called the “Realm of the Globulars”.
The northernmost globular cluster is Palomar 1 (Cepheus, α2000 = 3h33m19s, δ2000 = +79°34’55”), and the southernmost globular cluster is IC 4499 (Apus, α2000 = 15h00m19s, δ2000 = -82°12’50”).
Apus
NGC 6101
IC 4499
Aquarius
NGC 6981 (M72)
NGC 7089 (M2)
NGC 7492
Aquila
NGC 6749
NGC 6760
Palomar 11
Ara
NGC 6352
NGC 6362
NGC 6397
ESO-SC06
FSR 1735
Auriga
Palomar 2
Boötes
NGC 5466
Canes Venatici
NGC 5272 (M3)
Capricornus
NGC 7099 (M30)
Palomar 12
Carina
NGC 2808
Centaurus
NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri)
NGC 5286
Ruprecht 106
Cepheus
Palomar 1
Cetus
Whiting 1
Chamaeleon
ESO 37-01 (E3)
Columba
NGC 1851
Coma Berenices
NGC 4147
NGC 5024 (M53)
NGC 5053
Corona Australis
NGC 6541
Crater
Crater (Laevens 1)
Delphinus
NGC 6934
NGC 7006
Laevens 3
Eridanus
Eridanus
Hercules
NGC 6205 (M13)
NGC 6229
NGC 6341 (M92)
Palomar 14
Horologium
NGC 1261
Arp-Madore 1
Hydra
NGC 4590 (M68)
NGC 5694
Arp-Madore 4
Lepus
NGC 1904 (M79)
Libra
NGC 5897
Lupus
NGC 5824
NGC 5927
NGC 5986
Lynx
NGC 2419
Lyra
NGC 6779 (M56)
Musca
NGC 4372
NGC 4833
Van den Bergh-Hagen 140 (BH 140)
Norma
NGC 5946
FSR 1716
Lynga 7
RLGC 1
Ophiuchus
NGC 6171 (M107)
NGC 6218 (M12)
NGC 6235
NGC 6254 (M10)
NGC 6266 (M62)
NGC 6273 (M19)
NGC 6284
NGC 6287
NGC 6293
NGC 6304
NGC 6316
NGC 6325
NGC 6333 (M9)
NGC 6342
NGC 6355
NGC 6356
NGC 6366
NGC 6401
NGC 6402 (M14)
NGC 6426
NGC 6517
IC 1257
HP 1
Palomar 6
Palomar 15
Pavo
NGC 6752
Pegasus
NGC 7078 (M15)
Palomar 13
Puppis
NGC 2298
Pyxis
Pyxis
Sagitta
NGC 6838 (M71)
Palomar 10
Sagittarius
NGC 6440
NGC 6522
NGC 6528
NGC 6540
NGC 6544
NGC 6553
NGC 6558
NGC 6569
NGC 6624
NGC 6626 (M28)
NGC 6637 (M69)
NGC 6638
NGC 6642
NGC 6652
NGC 6656 (M22)
NGC 6681 (M70)
NGC 6715 (M54)
NGC 6717
NGC 6723
NGC 6809 (M55)
NGC 6864 (M75)
2MS-GC01
2MS-GC02
Arp 2
Van den Bergh-Hagen 261 (BH 261)
Djorgovski 2 (Djorg 2)
Palomar 8
Sagittarius II (Laevens 5)
Terzan 5
Terzan 7
Terzan 8
Terzan 9
Terzan 10
Terzan 12
UKS 1
VVV-CL001
Scorpius
NGC 6093 (M80)
NGC 6121 (M4)
NGC 6139
NGC 6144
NGC 6256
NGC 6380
NGC 6388
NGC 6441
NGC 6453
NGC 6496
Djorgovski 1 (Djorg 1)
ESO 452-SC11
FSR 1758
Liller 1
Terzan 1
Terzan 2
Terzan 3
Terzan 4
Terzan 6
Tonantzintla 2 (Ton 2)
Sculptor
NGC 288
Scutum
NGC 6712
Mercer 5
RLGC 2
Serpens (Caput)
NGC 5904 (M5)
Palomar 5
Serpens (Cauda)
NGC 6535
NGC 6539
IC 1276
Sextans
Palomar 3
Telescopium
NGC 6584
Tucana
NGC 104 (47 Tuc)
NGC 362
Ursa Major
Palomar 4
Vela
NGC 3201
Virgo
NGC 5634
References
Fundamental parameters of Galactic globular clusters (as of May 2021)
https://people.smp.uq.edu.au/HolgerBaumgardt/globular/
Accessed: November 29, 2021
A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty
The GRAVITY Collaboration, R. Abuter, A. Amorim, M. Bauböck, J. P. Berger, H. Bonnet, W. Brandner, Y. Clénet, V. Coudé du Foresto, P. T. de Zeeuw
A&A, 625 (2019) L10