SKY · DEEP-SKY · VIETNAM
Deep-Sky Objects Tonight — Ho Chi Minh City
Tonight from Ho Chi Minh City, the best-placed deep-sky showpiece is M3 Globular Cluster (M3), riding about 72° up in the northern sky. Here's the full list of galaxies, nebulae and clusters worth hunting from Ho Chi Minh City tonight — and how dark a sky each one needs.
The Moon is nearly out of the way — dark skies for faint objects.
Best placed over Ho Chi Minh City tonight
Ranked by how high each climbs in tonight's dark sky from Ho Chi Minh City. The higher an object is, the less atmosphere you look through — and the better it shows.
A bright spring globular with half a million stars — a fine binocular and small-scope target. In Canes Venatici.
A dense, rich open cluster shaped like a flight of ducks — lovely in binoculars. In Scutum.
A tiny, perfect smoke ring — the glowing shell of a dying star; a small-telescope favourite. In Lyra.
An edge-on galaxy with a dark dust lane like a hat brim — a small-telescope classic. In Virgo.
Home of the famous "Pillars of Creation"; the surrounding cluster is an easy binocular sight. In Serpens.
The finest globular cluster for northern observers — a fuzzy ball of hundreds of thousands of stars. In Hercules.
A bright planetary nebula, an easy and rewarding binocular and small-scope target. In Vulpecula.
A delicate nebula split by dark dust lanes, near the Lagoon in the rich Sagittarius star fields. In Sagittarius.
A bright nebula in the heart of the Milky Way — superb in binoculars from a dark southern-sky view. In Sagittarius.
One of the brightest globular clusters, low in the south for northern observers. In Sagittarius.
A face-on spiral with a companion — its spiral arms are visible in a modest telescope from a dark site. In Canes Venatici.
A bright, sprawling star cluster low in the southern Milky Way — naked-eye from dark skies. In Scorpius.
A compact, bright autumn globular cluster, easy to find off the Great Square of Pegasus. In Pegasus.
A swarm of stars filling a binocular field; a faint haze to the naked eye under dark skies. In Cancer.
A bright spiral galaxy near the Big Dipper, paired with M82 in the same binocular field. In Ursa Major.
The nearest big galaxy — a faint elongated smudge to the naked eye from a dark sky, the most distant thing most people ever see unaided. In Andromeda.
Out of reach from Ho Chi Minh City tonight
These showpieces are either below Ho Chi Minh City's horizon during tonight's dark hours, or never rise from this latitude at all — useful to know before you go looking.
Ho Chi Minh City right now
Faint galaxies and nebulae need a genuinely dark, cloudless, Moonless sky — a quick check of tonight's cloud cover and the stargazing verdict for Ho Chi Minh Citytells you whether it's worth the trip out of town.
More sky over Ho Chi Minh City
SEE IT ON THE MAP
Watch the day/night line over Ho Chi Minh City to plan your dark-sky window.