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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteYes—you can photograph some globular clusters in other galaxies with backyard equipment. Start with bright targets in Andromeda (M31) or Triangulum (M33), where published amateur examples include clusters imaged with a 3-inch telescope. At that distance, however, a cluster will generally look like a pinpoint, not a resolved ball of individual stars. Confirm any candidate against a catalog or annotated chart before identifying it as a globular cluster.
Choose a bright, practical target
Not every globular cluster beyond the Milky Way is within reach of amateur equipment. The following targets and aperture examples come from Rod Pommier’s Astronomy.com guide to imaging star clusters in other galaxies. They describe the author’s experience, not guaranteed results or minimum specifications.
| Host galaxy | Distance or context | Target | Reported aperture example | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M31, Andromeda | About 2.5 million light-years, according to NASA | G76; also G279 | G76 imaged with a 3-inch scope in Pommier’s account | Best starting point in the guide. G76 lies above the star cloud NGC 206. |
| M33, Triangulum | About 2.8 million light-years, according to Pommier | C39 | C39 captured with a 3-inch scope in Pommier’s account | Other candidates can be harder to distinguish against the galaxy’s spiral-arm background. |
| M81 | Nearly 12 million light-years, according to Pommier | GC1 | GC1 described as imageable with a 5-inch scope | More difficult than M31 or M33. |
| M104 | About 30 million light-years, according to Pommier | Several candidates | Medium aperture; exact size not stated by Pommier | Some halo objects that resemble clusters are planetary nebulae. |
| M87 | 55 million light-years, according to Pommier | Several bright halo candidates | Not stated by Pommier | Pommier counted more than 150 starlike objects in his image; he identified nearly all as globulars, with a few planetary nebulae. This is his count, not an independently verified census. |
Plan the image around your conditions
Aperture matters, but it is not a stand-alone prediction of success. Pommier says results vary with aperture, sky conditions and exposure time. His examples include imaging through a 17-inch f/6.8 telescope under Bortle 7 skies; that is a report of his own experience, not a controlled test or a requirement for capturing these objects.
Sky brightness, seeing, image scale, exposure, tracking, camera and processing all affect what an image records. The cited guide does not provide a reproducible camera-setting recipe or a controlled comparison, so there is no evidence-based universal exposure time or camera configuration to prescribe here. Treat its 3- and 5-inch examples as demonstrations for particular targets, not guarantees for every site.
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M31 is large in the sky. Pommier divided it into north, center and south frames at his chosen focal length rather than treating the entire galaxy as one field. Consider your telescope’s field of view when planning a composition; the target cluster and enough surrounding galaxy context may not fit together in a single frame.
Understand what the image shows
At backyard-image resolution, an extragalactic globular cluster is generally a point of light. That is detection, not resolution: the image does not show the cluster’s individual member stars. NASA notes that Hubble can resolve individual stars in M31. Its PHAT mosaic of the galaxy combined 7,398 exposures from 411 telescope pointings and revealed more than 100 million stars and thousands of clusters in the imaged section—an observatory-scale effort, not a benchmark for backyard imaging.
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For scale, NASA describes M31 globular cluster G1, also called Mayall II, as containing at least 300,000 old stars. That figure is from NASA’s page for the object, released April 24, 1996, and updated August 17, 2025.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Verify a candidate before labeling it
A pinpoint in a galaxy field is not self-identifying. It could be a foreground Milky Way star, a star or open cluster within the host galaxy, a planetary nebula or a distant background galaxy. Compare the object’s position with a reliable astronomical catalog or annotated chart before describing it as a globular cluster.
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Scientific identification goes beyond appearance. Pommier describes candidates being evaluated with B, V and R photometry and then spectroscopy. In that account, a B–V color index of at least 0.6 supports a globular-cluster identification; a V–R index similar to Milky Way globulars adds support; a redshift consistent with the host galaxy helps distinguish the object from a distant background galaxy; and low iron-to-hydrogen abundance is consistent with an old cluster. These are research criteria, not visual tests that a backyard photograph alone can perform.
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A practical workflow
- Pick a target: Start with M31 G76 or M33 C39, the guide’s examples of bright clusters imaged with a 3-inch scope. Check an up-to-date chart or catalog for the precise field and object position.
- Check the field of view: Work out whether the cluster and useful galaxy context fit in one frame. For M31, a wider galaxy view may require multiple fields.
- Plan for your sky and equipment: Account for aperture, sky brightness, seeing, tracking and the exposure time your setup can achieve. Do not assume the published aperture example will produce the same result from your location.
- Capture and inspect the image: Look for the candidate at the cataloged position, but treat a point-like appearance as a detection candidate rather than proof of identity.
- Cross-check before sharing: Compare the position with a reliable catalog or annotated chart, and describe the object as a candidate if its identity is not confirmed.
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