Amateur astronomers love best-sights lists. For instance, although it wasn't compiled for that purpose, the Messier Catalog is a fair approximation of the best 109 (or 110) deep-sky objects visible from mid-northern latitudes. Many other best-sights lists have been published, notably the Astronomical League's Observing "Clubs". But all of these lists are fairly specialized: best double stars, best lunar sights, and so on.

In the recently published book The 50 Best Sights in Astronomy, S&T contributing editor Fred Schaaf takes a new approach to this old subject. Schaaf emphasizes the essential unity of astronomy by listing the 50 best astronomical sights of any kind. He organizes them by what instrument you need to see them, starting with the numerous (though often overlooked) naked-eye splendors, and concluding with objects that are only visible through telescopes at high magnifications.

Schaaf's 50 best are listed below, but you will have to read his book to appreciate the insights that make his list so valuable. Please let us know below what you think of his list, his book, and this whole method of organizing astronomical splendors.

Field of View: 180 degrees (all sky) to 100 degrees (naked-eye scan)

1. The Starry Sky
2. Total Eclipse of the Sun
3. Meteor Shower or Storm
4. Fireball Meteor
5. The Northern Lights or Aurora
6. Bright Satellite or Spacecraft
7. The Milky Way

Field of view: 100 degrees to 50 degrees (widest fixed naked-eye field)

8. The Big Dipper and the North Star
9. The Orion Group of Constellations
10. The Summer Triangle Region

Field of view: 50 degrees to 15 degrees (moderately wide naked-eye field)

11. Venus or Mercury at Greatest Elongation
12. Venus, Jupiter, or Mars at Brightest
13. Bright Comet with Long Tail
14. Sirius, the Brightest Star
15. Other Bright Stars
16. Orion
17. Other Prominent Constellations

Field of view: 15 degrees to 1 degree (narrow naked-eye field, binoculars field, wide telescopic field)

18. Total Eclipse of the Moon
19. Total Eclipse of the Sun Close-Up
20. The Moon at Full and Other Phases
21. Very Thin Crescent Moon
22. Lunar Conjunctions and Occultations
23. Planetary Conjunctions
24. Bright Comet Close-Up
25. The Hyades Star Cluster and Aldebaran
26. The Pleiades
27. Other Very Bright, Large Open Star Clusters
28. Orion’s Belt and Sword
29. Algol, Mira, and Other Dramatic Variable Stars
30. Novae, Supernovae, and Supernova Remnants
31. Starriest Fields
32. The Sagittarius Milky Way Region
33. The Great Andromeda Galaxy
34. The Realm of the Galaxies

Field of view: 1 degree to 1/10 degree or less (medium to narrow telescopic field)

35. Overall Telescopic Views of the Moon
36. Close-Up Views of Lunar Craters and Other Features
37. Sunspots and Other Solar Features
38. Partial Eclipses of the Sun
39. Transits of Mercury and Venus
40. Venus Near Inferior Conjunction
41. Jupiter and Its Moons
42. Saturn and Its Rings and Moons
43. Mars at Closest in Telescopes
44. Uranus, Neptune, and Other Dim But Important Worlds
45. A Colorful or Otherwise Striking Double Star
46. The Great Orion Nebula
47. A Rich Open Cluster
48. A Bright Globular Cluster
49. A Bright Planetary Nebula
50. A Bright and Structured Galaxy