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Small Telescope Targets for Summer 2026

 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.
Venus   Planet -4 80 million miles (varies) Throughout the summer, Venus will be a brilliant beacon in the west after sunset, although in September it will be low in the sky for northern hemisphere observers, requiring a good western horizon to observe it.
Saturn   Planet 0.5 900 million miles (varies) This year, Saturn's rings will appear narrow but are slowly opening up from our viewpoint. Saturn rises in the east around midnight in July, around 10 pm in August, and shortly after sunset in September.
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.
Albireo pdf Double star 2.9, 5.5 400 light years This famous double star has contrasting gold and blue components. Use medium power to see the beautiful pair.
Messier 6, the Butterfly Cluster pdf Open cluster 4.2 1600 light years This nice open cluster can be seen dimly with the naked eye, and it is not hard to visualize the butterfly shape through a small telescope.
Messier 7, Ptolemy's Cluster pdf Open cluster 3.3 980 light years Messier 7 is easily visible to the naked eye on a dark night, just east of the tail of Scorpius. It is a great target for binoculars or a small telescope with a wide-field eyepiece.
Messier 13, the Hercules Cluster pdf Globular cluster 5.8 23,000 light years Through binoculars or a small telescope, this cluster looks like a hazy ball with a bright center. With a 6-inch telescope, some individual stars can be resolved, and with larger scopes it is a spectacular sight.
Messier 17, the Swan Nebula pdf Diffuse nebula 6.0 5000 light years Through binoculars, this nebula looks a little like a check mark (which is one of its nicknames). It is bright enough to be seen nicely through small telescopes, and has the shape of a swan floating on a pond in profile.
Messier 27, the Dumbbell Nebula pdf Planetary nebula 7.5 1360 light years This is a large and bright planetary nebula. Through a small telescope, its dumbbell or hourglass shape is not difficult to discern.
Messier 24 pdf Star cloud 4.6 several thousand light years This is a bright patch of the Milky Way, easily visible with the naked eye on a dark night. Through any telescope with a low-power eyepiece, many thousands of stars can be seen in this area of the sky.