How Much Deep Sky Detail Can My Telescope Show Me?

The “arm’s-length” size of the globular cluster images above will vary depending on the resolution to which your computer screen is set. They were created using a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels and will appear approximately life-size in an eyepiece only when displayed on a computer screen set for that resolution. Lower screen resolutions (e.g. 800 x 600) will display the images larger than you will actually see M13 through a telescope at 150x, but the relative differences in the detail visible will remain approximately correct. Keep in mind that these are generalized eyepiece impressions only (which can be affected by telescope quality, seeing conditions, eyepiece quality, the observer’s visual acuity, etc.) They are not a guarantee of the performance of any particular telescope or telescope aperture. Individual telescopes may perform better or worse than the corresponding image might indicate.