The Milky Way's largest globular star cluster, Omega Centauri, contains about 10 million stars, but probably no life.

Myriads of galaxies, visible only to those with medium-to-large telescopes, shine among the stars in the "Realm of the Galaxies." Study of the Coma Cluster of galaxies aided in the discovery of dark matter.

One of the most colorful regions of the sky, Rho Ophiuchi showcases clusters and nebulae galore.

The Pleiades star cluster - aka the Seven Sisters or M45 - is visible from virtually every part of the globe. It looks like a tiny misty dipper of stars.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is a petite galaxy visible with the unaided eye - all year round - for those in the Southern Hemisphere. This small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way is somewhere between spiral and irregular in shape.

You can see the Orion Nebula as a fuzzy spot on the night sky dome. It's really a vast cloud in space where new stars are forming. How to find the Orion Nebula in your sky tonight. Plus ... the science of this star factory in space.

If you have an extremely dark sky, you can see the nebula on as a fuzzy patch in the Milky Way. Binoculars show more ... and a telescope still more.

Messier 11 is a faint cluster of stars in a star-rich region of the night sky, in the direction of the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.

If you've never found a deep-sky object on your own before, M4 - a globular star cluster, one of the nearest to our solar system - is a grand place to start. It's near the bright red star Antares in the easy-to-spot constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. To spot it, you'll need a dark sky.

The Eagle Nebula - aka Messier 16 or M16 - is home to several well-known cosmic structures, including the stunning Pillars of Creation and Stellar Spire.