Catalogs

Charles Messier listed the fuzzy things a comet hunter should not mistake for a comet. They are bright, most of them sit well in a small telescope's field, and it is the list most imagers finish first.

• Galaxies40
• Nebulae12
• Clusters56
• Other2

Patrick Moore gathered 109 bright objects Messier left out, numbered by declination from the far north to the deep south. The Veil, the Helix and the Double Cluster are on it, and some of it only rises from the southern hemisphere.

William Herschel found about 2,500 objects with his telescopes. Around 1980 the Ancient City Astronomy Club in St. Augustine, Florida, picked the 400 brightest and best, and the Astronomical League made them an observing program. It is the usual next step once Messier is done.

In 1959 Stewart Sharpless listed 313 H II regions, clouds of hydrogen lit up by the hot young stars inside them, from the red plates of the Palomar Sky Survey. Some are famous, the Lagoon, the Heart and the Orion Nebula among them; most are faint and large, and want a hydrogen-alpha filter and long nights.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's Observer's Handbook lists the 110 finest objects of the NGC that are not in Messier's catalogue, compiled by Alan Dyer: a companion to Messier with no overlap. Galaxies, clusters, planetary nebulae and the Veil are all here, bright enough for a modest telescope.

Starbook's own list of small targets: objects that fill a 1.3°-wide frame, the one the Seestar S50 and the Dwarf Draco see. Galaxies, nebulae and clusters that reward a few hours on a smart telescope.

Starbook's own list of large targets: big nebulae, galaxies and star fields for the wide-field smart telescopes: the Seestar S30, S30 Pro and S50 Pro, and the Dwarf 3, Dwarf II and Dwarf Mini. On a Seestar S50 or a Dwarf Draco, shoot these as a mosaic or frame part of the object.