DETECTABILITY OF GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEMS IN DISTANT GALAXIES.

A simple modeling procedure is used to describe the appearance of distant globular cluster systems viewed against background fields at various limiting magnitudes. The 'detectability' of such cluster systems, as a function of magnitude and distance, is described numerically under conditions where the background consists of (1) only field stars, or else (2) all types of images (stellar and nonstellar) together. If faint star/galaxy image classification can be successfully carried out to BJlim approximately 26 (either from space or from ground-based telescopes with modern CCD detectors), the cluster systems around giant elliptical galaxies should be plainly detectable to distances approaching 100 Mpc.