Naked eye and binocular targets

Find spiral galaxies that lie many light years away

5 The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101)

One of the most observed galaxies in the sky, Messier 101 is known as the ‘Pinwheel’ because of its almostperfect spiral shape. It is thought to be twice the size of our own Milky Way, and is more than 27 million light years away. It is visible in binoculars as a faint patch of light.

4 The Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51)

This beautiful spiral galaxy, the same size as our own Milky Way, contains more than 160 billion suns and lies more than 23 million light years from Earth. It looks like a very small, round patch in binoculars close to the star marking the tip of the Great Bear’s tail.

3 Arcturus (Alpha Boötis)

The fourth-brightest star in the entire sky, magnitude -0.05 Arcturus is a giant star almost 30-times wider than our Sun. Only 37 light years away – close in cosmic terms – its nickname is ‘the Bear Watcher’ due to its proximity to Ursa Major (the Great Bear).

2 Polaris (the Pole Star)

Second-magnitude Polaris is the 48th-brightest star in the sky. It is directly above Earth’s rotational axis, which means it is the only star that stands still in the sky. Its nickname is ‘the Pole Star’, but it won’t be that forever – by the year 14,500, Vega will become our new north star.

1 Mizar and Alcor

One of the most famous double stars in the sky, Mizar and its close companion Alcor were once used as a test of good eyesight. Today we know they are actually six stars orbiting around each other, more than 78 light years from Earth.