Top five astronomical targets for your new telescope
« Back to Article
Lunar map showing the major features of the Moon's surface (Photo: NASA)
Jupiter and its four largest moons roughly as they will appear in a small telescope (Photo: Don Stewart)
The Pleiades photographed using a 90 mm (3.5 in) telescope (Photo: Rochus Hess)
Orion's belt and sword. The bright fuzzy spot on the sword is the Orion Nebula, a diffuse nebula that appears about twice the size of the full moon
Close-up view of the Trapezium asterism within M42 (Photo: NASA)
The Andromeda galaxy, M31, also showing the satellite galaxies M32 and M110 (Photo: Adam Evans)
M33, the Triangulum galaxy, clearly showing the face-on spiral structure (Photo: Hewholooks)
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Note the enormous NGC104 globular cluster to the left of the SMC (Photo: ESO/S. Brunier)
Topographic maps of the Moon (Photo: Mark A. Wieczorek)
Apollo 15 picture of Messier and Messier A craters, clearly showing the long parallel ejecta plumes (Photo: NASA)
Jupiter as captured by the Cassini probe (Photo: NASA)
The four largest moons of Jupiter, as imaged by the Galileo spacecraft (Photo: NASA)
Star map of the Hyades star cluster (Image: Thuvan Dinh)
Hubble's view of the Pleiades including star names (Photo: NASA)
Hubble mosaic image of the Great Orion Nebula (Photo: NASA/ESA)
Star map showing the locations of M31 and M33 (Image: Torsten Bronger)
Close-up of the Large Magellanic Cloud, showing the reddish Tarantula Nebula above the left end (Photo: NASA)
Astrophoto of the Tarantula Nebula taken by a robotic telescope with an aperture of 24 in (0.6 m) (Photo: TRAPPIST/E. Jehin/ESO)
Close-up of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Note the globular cluster NGC104 at the bottom of the frame (Photo: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey II)
The core region of globular cluster NGC104 (Photo: ESO)
Gizmag's top five astronomical targets for small telescopes (Photo: Shutterstock)
Article Summary
If you received a telescope for Christmas, or bought one for your kids, your adventures in amateur astronomy are just beginning. Astronomy is the art and science of actually looking at the heavens and even a small telescope will let you find a host of celestial wonders. So where do you begin? Here are our suggestions for five of the most rewarding and spectacular objects with which to start your adventure in amateur astronomy ... plus some important tips on using a telescope.
« Back to Top five astronomical targets for your new telescope
Other Images from this Gallery
Related Articles
-
Spectacular 9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way released
29th October, 2012
-
Navigating the night-sky: Celestron's SkyScout Scope
7th January, 2008
-
Distant galaxy opens window into the early universe
24th September, 2012
-
Hubble discovers most distant galaxy ever observed
16th November, 2012
-
Hubble detects galaxy from the infancy of the universe
17th February, 2008
-
Planet seeking Kepler Spacecraft readies for launch
25th February, 2009
