Globular Cluster Systems of Spirals

Abstract

Recent observational results on the globular cluster systems of spiral galaxies are summarized. Although the number of spirals with well-studied GCSs is still small, new studies promise to increase it rapidly in the next few years. New telescopes and technology have contributed to increasingly detailed studies of GCs in Local Group galaxies like M31 and M33, and more distant spirals like M81 and M104 are finally getting the attention they deserve. The Milky Way GCS looks to be reasonably typical of spirals, and still has a lot to tell us about the history of the galaxy.