OutilsTools
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Click the map or drag the marker.
Tell where you are, the night you are interested in and your instrument: the list gives what will be high and bright enough, in the order to observe it (what sets first comes first). Each object opens on the interactive atlas.
Darkness starts when the Sun sinks below −18° (astronomical night) and ends when it climbs back. Each object is followed every ten minutes: it is kept if it spends at least half an hour above the minimum altitude, where the atmosphere blurs the view less.
The instrument sets the limiting magnitude for stars (about 2 + 5 log₁₀ of the aperture in millimetres). A spread-out galaxy or nebula looks much fainter than a star of the same magnitude: it must be two to three magnitudes brighter than that limit, more when the Moon lights up the sky.
Beginner: showpieces that are easy to find (planets, Moon, M31, M42, the Pleiades, the Hercules cluster…). Intermediate: the rest of the Messier catalogue and bright NGC objects. Expert: faint or small objects that need a good sky and patience.