The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is a vast cloud of glowing hydrogen about 2½° long and ¾° wide. – Coordinates: RA: 07h 38m 08.51s | Dec: +38° 52’ 54.9” – Distance: 444 light-years Up there, in the northern hemisphere, they do have their vacations and it's summer. Except for the brightest magnitude objects, most galaxies will appear white/gray because they are too dim to activate the cone (color-sensing) cells in our eyes. Head in that direction just another 2 or 3 degrees, and you’ll find the Dumbbell Nebula, an object first discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. The Summer Triangle, with the stars visible to the naked eye illustrated here, along with the seven ... [+] deep-sky objects that every skywatcher with reasonably dark skies and any sort of telescope at all can enjoy seeing during the summer months. What I was thinking is collecting the brightest deep sky objects that peak in each season (on the Northern hemisphere), and pick the twelve most impressive ones. Its brightest stars form an asterism known as the Northern Cross, which is prominent in the evening sky in the summer months. For example, Sagittarius contains … These are the brightest and most interesting galaxies listed in the Messier Catalog. Spanning nearly 145 light years, M13 is just at naked eye visibility in good seeing conditions, but a small telescope will reveal a tightly packed ball of stars that at 11.65 billion years old is nearly as old as the Universe itself. While binocular views of the Helix nebula will reveal a distinct, bright patch of light, small scopes of 5-inch aperture and larger will reveal a conspicuous, dark centre “punctuated” by the remains of the progenitor star, – Constellation: Cepheus Cepheus (pronounced ˈsiːfiəs, -fjuːs) is the Latin name of a large constellation (in fact it extends itself for about 46 degrees across the sky) situated close to the northern celestial pole.As such, it is visible for most part of the year from the northern hemisphere. – Object type: Supernova remnant 800 Bright Deep Sky Objects By Paul Markov, January 14, 2002. Some of the best known ones are the open star clusters Messier 36, Messier 37 and Messier 38, the Eskimo Nebula, the Christmas Tree Cluster, the Cone Nebula and the Rosette Nebula.. Camelopardalis is the largest and northernmost of the February constellations. – Other designations: NGC 7293, C63, Also known as the Eye of God, no doubt because it looks like a celestial eye, the Helix Nebula is not only one of closest planetary nebula to Earth, being only about 700 light years away, it is also one of largest, spanning about 2.5 light years. Hercules is best viewed from the northern hemisphere in the summer months during a new moon. It will be lost to dawn twilight around 06:36, 38° above your western horizon. Given below is a list of a few DSO’s that are visible in peak summer months and offer enough detail to make for a good stargazing session: 1. Is that really what astronomers call it? – Distance: 29.35 million light years Andromeda Galaxy, M31 – Spiral Galaxy. The center of our galaxy is in this direction. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 02:59, 61° above your southern horizon. 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