http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m033.html[對於觀察者而言,此星系能在特別好的情況下以裸眼瞥見; 對大部分的人來說,它是以裸眼觀察所能看得見的最遠天體 (有極稀少的報告指出: 在特別的條件下,一些目光銳利的觀星者能見到 M81,但是對所有的情況而言就太特例了)。 M33在一付好的雙筒望遠鏡中看起來相當顯著,但是當它的相當亮的總光度被相當平均地分佈到一個涵蓋近四個滿月的天區上時,它的表面光度就顯得非常地低了。 因此,人們很困難甚至不可能的在不允許低擴大倍率的望遠鏡中看到這一星系-最低的倍率對這一個天體是最適合的! 對現今作者而言M33 的最好影像是以一支 6 吋折射鏡擴大 25倍產生的. M33 也是 天文攝影者的一個最值得的目標,因為他[或她] 能用相當便宜的設備觀測出它的漩渦臂和星系裡較明亮的星雲。
更野心勃勃的觀星者使用大口徑的望遠鏡 (>40 cm 孔徑)可能可以找出一些 屬於M33''的 球狀星團; Rich Jakiel 曾經以一付 50 cm的 望遠鏡在 M33 中找到 5 個球狀星團。
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(For the observer, this galaxy can be glanced with the naked eye under exceptionally good conditions; for most people, it is the most distant object visible to the naked eye (there are rare reports that some eagle-eyed stargazers managed to see M81 under exceptional conditions, but this is exceptional with all respects). It is outstanding in good binoculars, but as its considerable total brightness is distributed quite evenly over an area of nearly four times that covered by the full Moon, its surface brightness is extremely low. Therefore, it is difficult to impossible to view this galaxy in telescopes which do not allow low magnification - lowest is best for this object ! The best view of M33 the present author had was with a 6-inch refractor at magnification 25. M33 is also a most rewarding target for the astrophotographer, who can track down its spiral arms and brighter nebulae with considerably inexpensive equipment.
More ambitious observers with large telescopes (> 40 cm aperture) may try to track down some of M33''s globular clusters; Rich Jakiel has tracked down 5 globular clusters in M33 with a 50-cm telescope. )