Deep sky challenge - Little-known treasures of Taurus

There’s more to the Bull than the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters – just look a little deeper

On frosty January nights, Taurus’ glittering Hyades and Pleiades star clusters, two of the most famous and beloved deep-sky objects in the whole of the sky, demand attention. Peering into their telescopes, clapping their hands together for warmth, many deep-sky observers are happy just to gaze at the picture-perfect pair through their telescopes, ignoring the rest of the sky. But if you take a moment to look away from them, there are plenty of other fascinating things to look at around those two famous clusters.

The supernova remnant of the Crab Nebula (Messier 1) is a popular target for deep-sky observers throughout the winter months, even if it bears only a passing resemblance to the scuttling creature it is named after and is a lot fainter and more challenging to see than many inexperienced observers expect when they look for it for the first time.