Binocular Messier: Every Messier Object Rated for Binoculars

See any 50 Messier objects in binoculars to earn the certificate and pin

• Observe any 50 of the 110 Messier objects with binoculars. Bino-viewers and binocular telescopes do not count.
• Any binoculars are allowed; 20 mm to 80 mm objectives are recommended.
• With 20 mm to 50 mm binoculars, the League suggests the 42 easy objects and 8 of the 18 tougher ones. With 56 mm to 100 mm binoculars, all 50 can come from the 58 easy objects.
• Log the date and time, binoculars, seeing and transparency, and a short description of each object. Observations used here cannot be used again for the telescopic Messier program.

The full Binocular Messier 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.

41 of the 110 are best in spring: 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.

82 of the 110 are on another list you may already be working

• Urban: 41 of the 110
• Globular Cluster: 29 of the 110
• Herschel 400: 17 of the 110
• Open Cluster: 14 of the 110
• Southern Sky Telescopic: 12 of the 110
• Bright Nebula: 7 of the 110
• Planetary Nebula: 4 of the 110

Two sizes of binoculars, two sets of ratings

The ratings come from the program's two appendices. In small binoculars, 20 mm to 50 mm, 42 objects are easy, 18 are tougher and 16 are a challenge; the other 34 are not rated, because they are too faint or too small. In large binoculars, 56 mm to 100 mm, 58 are easy, 23 tougher and 21 a challenge, leaving 8 unrated.

The unrated objects are mostly the faint galaxies of the Virgo Cluster and small planetary nebulae such as M76.

More Astronomical League observing programs on Go Astronomy

• Herschel II: 400 more of William Herschel's objects, after the Herschel 400
• 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
• Deep Sky Binocular: 60 non-Messier objects for binoculars, the step after the Binocular Messier
• 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