During the 18th century, astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier wanted to distinguish the ‘faint fuzzies’ he observed from any potential new comets. As a result, Messier cataloged 110 objects in the night sky, ranging from star clusters to galaxies to nebulae. These items are designated by the letter ‘M’ and a number. For example, the Orion Nebula is Messier 42 or M42, and the Pleiades are Messier 45 or M45. These are among the brightest ‘faint fuzzies’ we can see with modest backyard telescopes and some even with our eyes. Here are some others to look for this season:

Messier 44 in Cancer: The Beehive Cluster, also known as Praesepe, is an open star cluster in the heart of the Cancer constellation. Use Pollux in Gemini and Regulus in Leo as guide stars.

A pair of binoculars is enough to view this and other open star clusters. If you have a telescope handy, pay a visit to two of the three galaxies that form the Leo Triplet - M65 and M66. These items can be seen one hour after sunset in dark skies.

Messier 3 Canes Venatici: M3 is a globular cluster of 500,000 stars. Through a telescope, this object looks like a fuzzy sparkly ball. You can resolve this cluster in an 8-inch telescope in moderate dark skies. You can find this star cluster by using the star Arcturus in the Boötes constellation as a guide.

Messier 87 in Virgo: Located just outside of Markarian’s Chain, M87 is an elliptical galaxy that can be spotted during the late evening hours. While it is not possible to view the supermassive black hole at the core of this galaxy, you can see M87 and several other Messier-labeled galaxies in the Virgo Cluster using a medium-sized telescope.

When gearing up for a long stargazing session, remember to plan your equipment, location, and provisions. Scout everything beforehand, and check the weather. You can see all 110 items and their locations with NASA’s Explore the Night Sky interactive map and the Hubble Messier Catalog, objects that have been imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.