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Small Telescope Targets for Spring 2024

 Star hopping home
These are a few of many good targets for small scopes. To help you find the deep-sky objects, click on the name of the object for a star-hop chart, or get a printer-friendly version. For a longer, searchable list of star hops for deep-sky objects, click here. For a beginner's introduction to the technique of star hopping, click here.

Object

Printable Chart

Type

Magnitude

Distance (approx.)

Notes
Moon     About -3 (crescent) to -12.7 (full) 240,000 miles The Moon is always fascinating, and it changes night by night.  Look for craters, mountains, plains, ridges, etc. The best views are those at the edge between day and night (the “terminator”) where the long shadows show more details.
Jupiter   Planet About -2 530 million miles Catch Jupiter and its four brightest moons in the west soon after sunset in March and early April. After that it will be too close to the Sun to be seen.
Mizar and Alcor pdf Double star 2.2, 4.0 86 light years These two stars at the bend in the handle of the Big Dipper are visible to the naked eye. Through a telescope, Mizar (the brighter star) can itself be seen as a close pair of stars.
Cor Caroli pdf Double star 2.9, 5.5 115 light years Cor Caroli is a wide double star, with a bright white primary star and a dimmer companion. The brighter star is called a "magnetic star" because it has an intense magnetic field.
Messier 44, the Beehive Cluster pdf Open cluster 3.1 610 light years This large cluster can be seen dimly with the naked eye, and it is an ideal target for binoculars or a telescope at low power.
Messier 67 pdf Open cluster 6.9 2,600 light years Messier 67 is a fairly bright open cluster of some 200 stars. It is not as well known as the nearby Beehive Cluster (Messier 44), but it is quite an attractive object when viewed with a small telescope at low power.
NGC 3242, the Ghost of Jupiter pdf Planetary nebula 7.3 3,600 light years This planetary nebula is a disk about the size of Jupiter, but it is much dimmer and a distinct blue color. Use high magnification to see its shape.
Messier 13, the Hercules Cluster pdf Globular cluster 5.8 23,000 light years Usually considered a summer target, M13 is visible in the eastern sky by early May. Through a small scope it appears as a hazy ball. Through larger scopes it is an amazing sight, showing thousands of individual stars.
Messier 81 and 82 pdf Galaxies 6.8, 8.0 12 million light years Visible for much of the year, this is probably the most-frequently viewed pair of galaxies in the sky. Through a telescope, M81 is a fuzzy oval, and M82 has a long rectangular shape that gives it the nickname the Cigar Galaxy.
Messier 94 pdf Galaxy 8.1 16 million light years We view this spiral galaxy almost face-on, and its bright central region makes it easy to find in a small telescope. The bright core is surrounded by tightly wound arms, and some of the spiral detail can be seen through larger scopes.
Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy pdf Galaxy 8.3 29 million light years This bright galaxy is a good target for springtime viewing. Its bright center and pointy arms that give the galaxy its nickname are fairly easy to see in most telescopes.