Learn about the sky

The innermost planet — always low, close to sunrise or sunset.

Intermediate

The brightest planet — often mistaken for an aircraft light.

Beginner

The red planet — its colour is unmistakable to the naked eye.

Beginner

The largest planet — and the easiest to see with real telescopic detail.

Beginner

Famous for its rings — one of the most memorable sights in a small telescope.

Beginner

A pale-blue ice giant, just at the edge of naked-eye visibility.

Intermediate

The most distant major planet — always requires a telescope.

Challenging

Earth's only natural satellite — the easiest and most rewarding beginner target.

Beginner

The brightest star in the night sky — impossible to miss when it is above the horizon.

Beginner

A brilliant blue-white summer star and one of the corners of the Summer Triangle.

Beginner

The current northern pole star — its position barely changes over the night.

Beginner

A vast red supergiant — one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye.

Beginner

A brilliant blue supergiant marking Orion's foot.

Beginner

The brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere — a warm orange.

Beginner

A brilliant yellow star at the top of a winter constellation — actually a system of four stars.

Beginner

A close, fast-spinning star — the southern corner of the Summer Triangle.

Beginner

The 'eye of the Bull' — an orange giant in Taurus.

Beginner

A red supergiant marking the heart of Scorpius — its name means 'rival of Mars'.

Beginner

The nearest large galaxy — and one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye.

Beginner

A face-on spiral galaxy interacting with a smaller companion.

Intermediate

A famously faint face-on spiral — the classic 'photograph is much easier than eyepiece' target.

Challenging

The brightest emission nebula visible from Earth — a stellar nursery in Orion's Sword.

Beginner

A tiny smoke-ring in Lyra — the classic amateur planetary nebula.

Intermediate

A bright, easy planetary nebula shaped like a dumbbell or apple core.

Beginner

A tight naked-eye cluster of blue-white stars — the 'Seven Sisters'.

Beginner

The finest globular cluster in the northern sky — hundreds of thousands of stars in a single ball.

Beginner