Deep Sky Binocular Observing List: 60 Objects Beyond Messier

See all 60 in binoculars to earn the certificate and pin

• Observe all 60 objects with binoculars. Binocular telescopes and bino-viewers do not count.
• Any binoculars are allowed; 50 mm to 80 mm objectives are recommended.
• Log the object, date and time, latitude and longitude, seeing and transparency, the binoculars, and a short note on what you saw.
• The League suggests finishing the Binocular Messier program first, though it is not required.

The full Deep Sky Binocular list, in the League's order, with a page for each object

Sort any column, or type a name or constellation. The type buttons above the map also filter this table. Best is the month the object is highest at 9 pm. Also on lists the other observing lists the object belongs to, so one observation can count toward more than one program where the League allows it.

34 of the 60 are best in winter: plan the list by month

Each bar counts the objects highest in the sky at 9 pm in that month. An object is also well placed in the month before, late in the evening, and the month after, early in the evening.

52 of the 60 are on another list you may already be working

• Urban: 39 of the 60
• Herschel 400: 35 of the 60
• Open Cluster: 16 of the 60
• Caldwell: 12 of the 60
• Herschel II: 3 of the 60
• Bright Nebula: 3 of the 60
• Southern Sky Telescopic: 2 of the 60
• Globular Cluster: 1 of the 60

Mostly open clusters, the objects binoculars do best

None of the 60 is a Messier object, and none lies south of -35°, the declination of M7, so the whole list can be seen from the northern United States. 55 of the 60 are open clusters, the objects binoculars show best; the others are the galaxies NGC 253 and NGC 2403, the globular cluster NGC 6934, and Kemble's Cascade, a chain of stars in Camelopardalis.

More Astronomical League observing programs on Go Astronomy

• Herschel II: 400 more of William Herschel's objects, after the Herschel 400
• Binocular Messier: any 50 Messier objects with binoculars
• Urban: 100 objects for light-polluted city skies
• Bright Nebula: emission, reflection and supernova-remnant nebulae of both hemispheres
• Globular Cluster: any 50 of 190 globular clusters, with their concentration class
• Open Cluster: 100 or 125 open clusters, sketched and classified
• Planetary Nebula: 110 planetary nebulae, from the Ring to 16th-magnitude Abell shells
• Southern Skies Binocular: any 50 of 73 southern objects with binoculars
• Southern Sky Telescopic: 50 of 100 southern objects, most south of -48°
• Messier objects: the Messier Observing Program, the League's first, since 1967
• Caldwell objects: the Caldwell Observing Program
• Herschel 400: the step before Herschel II