Star Hopping to The Oldies
There's nothing more frustrating than being outside on a perfectly clear night and not being able to find anything with your new telescope. It's like the universe is conspiring to hide its treasure from you. Well, it doesn't need to be like that. Star hopping with a telescope can be easy and fun as long as you follow the three rules to successful star hopping outlined in this section.

Deep-sky Tours
Each season offers a unique collection of deep-sky treasures. These tours throw a spotlight on these magnificent objects. The tours include finder charts to help you locate each object. You can even print them for use at the telescope. There are sketches of each object to give you an idea how they might appear through a moderate aperture telescope. Go ahead, check out my favorite seasonal star tours.

Messier Objects
Many amateur astronomers begin their deep-sky adventure by observing the assorted nebulae, star clusters and galaxies in the Messier catalog. This section features my sketches and notes for all 110 of these celestial wonders. You'll also find my advice and tips on doing a Messier Marathon.

Herschel 400
William Herschel observed and cataloged nearly 2,500 star clusters, nebulae and galaxies during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Astronomical League has collected the best and brightest of these into an observing list they call the Herschel 400. This section includes links to observation notes and sketches for each star cluster, nebula and galaxy in the Herschel 400.

NGC/IC Objects
The NGC and IC include more than 10,000 deep-sky objects. Large aperture and dark skies are needed to see many of these distant, faint objects. However, there are thousands that can be observed with a telescope as small as 8-inches in aperture. The links on this page will take you to my sketches and notes for many of the best NGC/IC objects.