Globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy
tl;dr - Since our big telescope is away for maintenance, we are currently working with a small refractor. On 3 October 2026, we took advantage of its short focal length to take a deep-sky image of the Andromeda Galaxy and searched it for globular clusters. Using an online catalogue we were able to identify almost 500 of them. In August, during the school holidays, our big Ritchey-Chrétien (RC) telescope left us for a well-deserved break. Its journey south brought it close to Venice, back to its manufacturer's workshop, where it will spend several months for overdue maintenance work. However, we had prepared for its absence. We replaced it with a small yet beautiful refractor, which now sits on our massive GM2000QCI mount – admittedly, quite an odd couple. The refractor's aperture of only 106 mm means that over the coming months to come we will have to cope with 16 times less light-gathering power. On the other hand, we will benefit from a shorter focal length and thus a signif...