We're celebrating Space.com's 25th birthday this week, and instead of pinning a tail on a donkey, we're staying on brand by pinning our telescopes to a bunch of cosmic marvels. If you'd like to follow along, here is our list of 25 tantalizing targets to wonder at in the night sky.
Be sure to check out our guide on the best stargazing apps to help you locate the cosmic wonders on this list. And if you want an up close look, don't miss our lists of the best binoculars and best telescopes to get you started. (1) The moon The most obvious celestial marvel, and of course the easiest to admire, is none other than our very own moon .
Dutifully showing up in the sky almost every night, Earth's reflective friend can certainly be witnessed with the unaided eye. However, if you're interested in more than just lunar phases, a telescope can allow lunar mare (large plains formed by lava) to come into focus and the moon's many impact craters to pop out. More powerful (and more expensive) scopes can really reintroduce to the orb you thought you knew.
The moon isn't merely a white sphere; it's a textured gray globe shaped by billions of years of impacts. (2) Jupiter I remember the first time I realized it's possible to see Jupiter without a telescope. I'd often spot a star in the sky at night and say: "Wow, that one is so bright!" Then, eventually, I used one of those cosmic-object-tracking apps to discern what star I was looking at.
It wasn't a star — it was Jupiter . I started doing this .