Astronomy inside a globular cluster

Having just worked Larry Mitchell's globular cluster list at TSP, several
things come to my mind.

First, there are globs like M22 and M13 and there are globs like Pal 5. M22
and M13 have very huge and dense populations in at least the hundreds of
thousands of stars while Pal 5 is an older, sparsely populated (maybe
10,000 stars) glob that has been pulled apart by tidal interactions as it
has travelled a couple of times through the disk of our galaxy. There are
also globs which are way out at or beyond the edge of the halo of the milky
way (or at least the halo as we know it), and some which are very close to
the galactic core. Having said this, most of my comments are directly to
the M22 type of globular cluster that we have all grown to know and love.

Gravity interferometers may be in abundant use by astronomers there as well
since they would have a very rich environment of gravity interactions and
possibly deep nearby gravity wells (possibl singularities and neutron
stars).

In a similar vein to the above, gravity microlensing may be quite the
amateur astronomy sport.

Ultraviolet astronomy may the rage inside a globular cluster, since it would
be in terrific abundance (which means everyone there is either dying of
skin cancer or has really unbelievable tans). Radio astronomy may be
popular too, since it would cut through the field of stars. IR may be
somewhat challenged in specific ranges. XRay may be very interesting in
larger globs that may harbor neutron stars and singularities that would be
relatively close by.

This also actually begs the question of the differences between being inside
a globular cluster and being just on the outside edge.

I think the comments about being able to see the Milky Way from above
(assuming this is a globular not transiting through the disk or near the
galactic core) an intriguing thought. If it is a very high or distant
globular cluster, then the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies may be much
more apparent, as well, despite the density of the local stars.

There may not be any constellations for beings living on a planet in a
globular cluster... or there may be a multitude of constellations numbering
in the thousands.

Star classifications may have evolved in a slightly different fashion since
the most easily classifiable stars may fall into only 2 or 3 distinct
populations.

The issue of whether there might not even be a planet in a globular cluster
from where to observe is certainly a consideration since it does appear
that high concentrations of UV radiation seesm to inhibit proto planetary
formations around stars, but since this post is just for fun and idle
speculation anyhow, we just have to assume that this is one heck of a
planet we are observing from.

David Moody