What to photograph in April

M5 is among the oldest and brightest globular clusters in the sky, a rich ball in Serpens that is easy to pick out near a naked-eye star.

M3 is often named among the finest globular clusters in the northern sky.

The Black Eye Galaxy is a bright spiral in Coma Berenices with a dark band of dust crossing one side of its core, which looks like a black eye.

M106 is a large, bright spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici with an active core.

The Needle Galaxy is a spiral seen almost exactly edge-on, a long thin streak crossed by a dark dust lane, in Coma Berenices.

The Whale Galaxy is an edge-on spiral in Canes Venatici with a distorted, whale-like outline.

M53 is a distant globular cluster in Coma Berenices, far out in the halo of the Milky Way, away from the dust of the disc.

The Sunflower Galaxy is a spiral in Canes Venatici with a bright core and many fine, woolly arm segments.

M94, the Croc's Eye Galaxy, is a compact spiral in Canes Venatici with an exceptionally bright core and a bright inner ring of star formation, surrounded by a much fainter outer ring.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is a face-on spiral caught in the act of colliding with a smaller companion, NGC 5195.

M90 is a large spiral galaxy in Virgo, tilted toward us and noticeably oval.

M98 is a nearly edge-on spiral galaxy at the northern edge of the Virgo Cluster.

M49 is one of the brightest elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.

M86 is a large elliptical or lenticular galaxy in the middle of the Virgo Cluster.

The Sombrero Galaxy has a bright central bulge and a crisp dark dust lane cutting across its edge-on disc, giving it the look of a wide-brimmed hat.

M85 is a lenticular galaxy at the northern edge of the Virgo Cluster, in Coma Berenices.

M60 is one of the largest elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, sitting beside a smaller spiral galaxy, NGC 4647, that overlaps its edge.

M88 is a tilted spiral galaxy with well-defined, tightly wound arms, one of the brighter spirals in the Virgo Cluster region of Coma Berenices.

M100 is a large, face-on grand-design spiral in Coma Berenices, with two prominent arms and many smaller ones.

M109 is a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, close to the bowl star Phecda (Gamma Ursae Majoris), whose glare can complicate imaging.

M87 is the giant elliptical galaxy at the heart of the Virgo Cluster, and the home of the first black hole ever imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope.

M58 is a barred spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, one of the brighter galaxies in this packed region.

M61 is a face-on spiral galaxy in Virgo with well-defined arms and a bright core, and has hosted several supernovae.

M59 is an elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, a smooth oval, sitting close to M60.

M84 is a lenticular galaxy in the heart of the Virgo Cluster, forming part of Markarian's Chain with its neighbor M86.

M99, the Coma Pinwheel, is a face-on spiral galaxy with noticeably lopsided arms, probably distorted by a past encounter with another galaxy.

The Spindle Galaxy (NGC 5866) is usually identified as M102.

M89 is a nearly perfectly round elliptical galaxy in Virgo, with a smooth halo.

The Pinwheel Galaxy is a big, face-on spiral in Ursa Major, nearly as wide as the Moon.

M91 is a faint barred spiral in Coma Berenices that went missing for a time because of an error in Messier's catalog.