Star Party – June 5th!

Posted on by June 1, 2026

After a winter recess, the Valmont Observatory Group is pleased to announce our first viewing event of 2026. Current weather forecasts good viewing conditions. The Star Party is scheduled to start at 9:30 PM MDT on Friday, June 5th. Heavenly highlights include several galaxies in the Virgo Super Cluster of Galaxies.

  • M87 (NGC 4486) — Giant elliptical (E0), central galaxy of the Virgo Cluster; one of the brightest in the supercluster (B ≈ 9.6).
  • M49 (NGC 4472) — Giant elliptical (E2), one of the most luminous in Virgo (B ≈ 9.4).
  • M60 (NGC 4649) — Giant elliptical (E2), very bright (B ≈ 9.7).
  • M86 (NGC 4406) — Elliptical/lenticular (E3/S0), bright (B ≈ 9.7).
  • M58 (NGC 4579) — Barred spiral (SAB(rs)b), bright spiral member (B ≈ 10.2).
  • M59 (NGC 4621) — Elliptical (E5), bright (B ≈ 10.3).
  • M90 (NGC 4569) — Spiral (SAB(rs)ab), bright and blue (B ≈ 10.2).
  • M100 (NGC 4321) — Grand-design spiral (SAB(s)bc), bright (B ≈ 10.2).
  • M84 (NGC 4374) — Elliptical/lenticular (E1/S0), bright (B ≈ 10.2).
  • M85 (NGC 4382) — Lenticular/elliptical (S0/E2), bright (B ≈ 10.0).
  • M104 (NGC 4594, the Sombrero) — Sa spiral with large bulge; technically in the Virgo region (B ≈ 9.0)though often listed near the Southern extension of the Virgo Cluster.

Later in the evening, the Constellation Sagittarius will be in view, and many Nebula and Star Clusters toward the middle of the Milky Way will be featured.

Star clusters

  • M22 (NGC 6656) — bright globular cluster, visible to naked eye (m≈5.1).
  • M28 (NGC 6626) — globular cluster (m≈6.8).
  • M54 (NGC 6715) — globular cluster; lies in front of/associated with Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (m≈7.6).
  • NGC 6522, NGC 6553 — additional notable globulars in the bulge region.

Nebulae and star-forming regions

  • Lagoon Nebula (M8, NGC 6523) — large emission nebula and H II region.
  • Trifid Nebula (M20) — emission + reflection nebula with dark lanes.
  • Omega Nebula (M17, the Swan/Checkmark Nebula) — bright H II region.
  • Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24) — rich Milky Way star field.

Photos of many of these Messier Objects may be found in our Gallery of Photos page of this website. https://valmontobservatory.com/gallery-of-astro-photos

In addition to viewing in our 11″ Telescope, we will be viewing and photographing from our 6″ RASA video telescope.

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