What to photograph in January

The Beehive Cluster, also known as Praesepe, is one of the nearest open clusters, visible to the naked eye as a hazy patch in Cancer.

M48 is a large, bright open cluster in Hydra.

M47 is a bright, loose open cluster in Puppis, just west of M46.

M67 is one of the oldest known open clusters, around four billion years old, which is why it has survived when most open clusters have drifted apart.

M35 is a large, rich open cluster in Gemini, with a smaller, more distant cluster, NGC 2158, sitting right beside it.

M37 is the richest of the three Auriga open clusters, with thousands of faint stars giving it a salt-and-pepper look.

The Rosette Nebula is a ring of glowing hydrogen around a young cluster, NGC 2244, in Monoceros.

M46 is a rich, fairly faint open cluster in Puppis with a small planetary nebula, NGC 2438, that appears to lie inside it, though it is actually in front.

The Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster are part of a large star-forming region in Monoceros.

M50, the Heart-Shaped Cluster, is a rich open cluster in Monoceros set against the Milky Way.

NGC 2903 is a large, bright barred spiral in Leo, often overlooked because it sits near the better-known Leo galaxies.

Thor's Helmet is an emission nebula in Canis Major shaped like a winged helmet, created by the strong wind of a Wolf-Rayet star at its center.