2800+ Observable
Deep Sky Objects for
Binoculars and Telescopes
These Observing Lists
provide a range of difficulty suitable for beginning astronomers to
seasoned experts.
Most objects in the "easier" lists such as the
Stars, Lightweight Guides and
Messier Telescope can be observed from suburban and
near city sites although even some of these objects may require a fairly dark sky.
The lists
Middleweight, Heavyweight, Deep Sky Binocular, Herschel 400, Arp Peculiar
Gx's, Shapley-Ames and Hickson Galaxy clusters lists will
require a dark to very dark sky site, transparent
atmosphere and steady upper air.
The 2800+ objects found in all the various lists
cover most of the object types such Stars,
Asterisms, Galaxies, Double Stars, Reflection &
Emission Nebulae, Star Clusters, Globular Clusters,
Planetary Nebulae and Galaxy Clusters that are
normally observed by Amateur Astronomers
You might want
to check out some sites that I use Dark
Sky Sites
All
Observing Guides are in the Adobe PDF format
to maintain the integrity of the document on
all platforms. In order to view and
print a guide you must first have the Adobe
Reader installed on your computer. If
you don't currently have the program you can
download it for free from Adobe by clicking
on the following URL.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html
If you would like to
familiarize yourself with the column headings used
in all of the Deep Sky Guides please click on this
Terminology
link, or the "Terminology" GoTo Button on the
left I hope you find the Deep Sky Guides
useful.
Thanks for stopping by
This
Guide set is a compilation of the largest and
brightest objects in the sky. Objects can
easily be viewed by medium to larger binoculars
and smaller telescopes. The casual observer
should have little difficulty locating most of
these objects and a good many of them can be
viewed from partially light polluted skies.
This Guide set is
compiled mostly of objects with a magnitude range of 8 through 10 and will be useful for
observers with some eyepiece experience at near city sites with at least a magnitude
5.0 sky.
This Guide set is
for the experienced amateur observer. Objects in this list generally have a
magnitude range of 11 through 14. A magnitude 6 sky, good transparency and
reasonable seeing will be necessary to view the faintest objects. Telescopes of 10
inch and larger aperture will have the best success.
The Stars Guide is a
simple compilation of double and triple stars,
asterisms and even a few of the most attractive
single stars. No particular ranking or set of
qualifications had to be met for inclusion on this
list, just enjoyable objects to observe
This Guide set is the
Astronomical League's Deep Sky Binocular list,
compiled by John Wagoner. It is composed of 60
non-Messier objects all of which were originally
observed with 7X50 binoculars, although 80mm binos
make the acquisitions a lot easier. Many
objects require a dark sky site and and good
transparency. Objects are grouped by
constellation and right ascension and all are
brighter than 9th magnitude.
This Guide set contains
110 of the finest objects observable from
mid-northern latitudes. The list is published
by the Astronomical League and the Messier Club
Chair Person reports all objects can be acquired by
instruments with an aperture of three inches, or
more. The list is made up entirely of deep sky
objects. Click on the month
button for the Guide you need
This Guide set is the
Herschel 400 as compiled by the Ancient City
Astronomy Club of St. Augustine, Florida and
published by the Astronomical League. The list is
made up of objects first observed and recorded by
William Herschel and listed in the New General
Catalog circa 1888. The ACAC reports each
object can be acquired with telescopes of 6 inch
aperture.
This Guide set
lists the 338 peculiar galaxies compiled by Dr. Halton C. Arp in his
Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. In
addition to the primary 338 objects, this Guide also contains the
253 companion galaxies to make a
total of 591 individual objects. An asterisk "*" at end of object
number indicates it is a primary galaxy and a component of the
338 object object set.
This
Guide Set is segmented into increments of 2 hours of Right
Ascension.
