Your first 10 telescope targets

How to use this list

These ten targets suit a small telescope with an aperture, the width of the main lens or mirror, of about 2.8 to 5 inches (70–130 mm). All are bright enough for a suburban sky at about 40° north, such as Madrid, Ankara or New York, and together they cover the year.

Each entry gives the best season, a short star-hop and an honest view. Star-hopping means moving from a bright star you know to the target in small steps. Find every object with your lowest-power eyepiece, then step up; our guide to magnification and eyepieces explains the numbers.

The Moon, Jupiter and Saturn

1. The Moon. Any month, in the evening from a few days after new Moon to a few days after first quarter. Look along the terminator, the line between lunar day and night, where long shadows make craters stand out. Near full Moon the surface looks flat and glaring. Try 30x for the whole disk and 100x to 150x for craters on steady nights.

2. Jupiter and its moons. As of 2026, Jupiter rules the winter evening sky and reaches opposition, when it is closest and up all night, on 10–11 February 2027. It is the brightest steady point in the eastern sky after dark. Expect a small cream disk with two dark cloud belts and up to four moons in a line, which change places every night. Use 50x to 150x.

3. Saturn's rings. Saturn reached opposition on 4 October 2026 and stays in the evening sky into winter as a steady yellowish point. The rings show in even the smallest telescope at about 25x. As of late 2026 they are tilted only about 7.5° toward us, so they look like a thin ellipse. The small star nearby is often Titan, its largest moon. Use 25x to 150x.

Winter: the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula

4. The Pleiades (M45). Best from November to early spring. Follow Orion's Belt up and to the right past orange Aldebaran; the small dipper-shaped cluster lies just beyond. These young blue-white stars are about 440 light-years away. The cluster is wider than many telescope views, so use your lowest power, around 15x to 30x; the blue haze in photos will not show.

5. The Orion Nebula (M42). Best from December to March. Below Orion's Belt hangs a short row of fainter stars, the Sword; its fuzzy middle star is M42, about 1,350 light-years away. A small scope shows a mottled mist with four tiny stars, the Trapezium, at its heart. Most people see it in gray, some with a faint green tint. Use 40x to 75x.

Spring and summer: doubles and a globular cluster

6. Mizar and Alcor. Best on spring evenings, when the Big Dipper is high; from 40° north it never sets. Mizar is the middle star of the Dipper's handle, and sharp eyes see faint Alcor about 12 arcminutes away. In the telescope Mizar itself splits into two white stars 14 arcseconds apart. Both lie about 80 light-years away. Use 30x to 100x.

7. The Hercules Cluster (M13). Best from late spring through summer. The Keystone, a four-star shape in Hercules, lies about a third of the way from Vega to Arcturus; M13 sits on its Arcturus side, between Eta and Zeta Herculis. It is a ball of hundreds of thousands of stars about 22,000–25,000 light-years away, at magnitude 5.8. A small scope shows a round glow, brighter at the center, perhaps grainy at the edges on a dark night. Use 50x to 150x.

8. Albireo. Best from July to October. It marks the head of Cygnus the Swan, the foot of the Northern Cross, inside the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair. A telescope splits it into a golden star and a blue companion, magnitudes 3.1 and 5.1, about 35 arcseconds apart; here color is obvious. Use 25x to 60x.

Autumn: Andromeda and the Double Cluster

9. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Best from September to January. From Alpheratz, the corner of the Great Square of Pegasus, step to the star Mirach, then follow a line from Mirach through fainter Mu Andromedae and continue about as far again. This galaxy is about 2.5 million light-years away. In a suburban sky it is an oval glow with a bright core; the spiral arms in photos are beyond the eye. Use your lowest power, 15x to 40x.

10. The Double Cluster. Best on autumn and winter evenings, though visible most of the year from 40° north. Sweep between Cassiopeia's W and Perseus; from a dark site it shows as a faint hazy patch even to the eye. A small scope shows two rich star clusters side by side, about 7,500 light-years away, one of the finest low-power views in the sky. Use 20x to 40x to fit both in one field.

Getting the most from each target

Give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes in the dark, use only a dim red light and try averted vision: look slightly to one side of a faint glow, because the edge of your vision is more sensitive to dim light. Save galaxies and nebulae for the week around new Moon, and bright Moon nights for planets and doubles.

Keep a short log of each target and what you saw. Never point the telescope or its finder at the Sun unless a purpose-made solar filter for telescopes covers the front. Eclipse glasses meeting ISO 12312-2 are for the naked eye only, never for use behind a telescope; our guide to observing the Sun safely explains the options.