Easily visible to the naked eye late on Moon-free summer nights as a smudge of light larger than the Moon, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is one of the most beloved and most frequently observed and photographed deep-sky objects. Even a small telescope transforms that smudge into a beautiful misty oval, and larger instruments can show not just tantalising hints of its spiral structure, but its pair of fainter satellite galaxies and its bright, curdled core.
© ESA/Hubble & NASA
It’s easy to spend a whole night just looking at Andromeda, but close to it you can find many other deep-sky objects worthy of your telescope’s attention. They are much more challenging to see because they are much smaller and fainter, but because they are so different to big, brash M31, they are definitely worth tracking down.