2026 Observing Olympics

10th Anniversary:

A few of the Best of the Olympic Years

Observing lists for 2026 will be available here when ready.

Telescopic Observing Olympics

A description of the 2026 list will be available here when ready.

Anyone who successfully finds 15 or more deep-sky objects during Convention is eligible to receive a pin commemorating that accomplishment

Binocular Observing Olympics

A description of the 2026 Binocular list will be available here when ready.

Find 15 objects out of the 20 on the list and you will be given a commemorative pin for your achievement.

The 2025 pins are shown above. The 2026 pins will be different and will be updated when available.

About the List Authors

For many years, Larry Mitchell has put together wonderful observing programs for the Stellafane Convention. Larry is an avid, experienced visual observer. He has observed so many objects that he decided to use the descriptions he wrote of deep-sky objects over the years and make a 3-volume book about them, Advanced Observing - Visual Mysteries of the Universe, recently published by the American Astronomical Society. It contains information about 200 little known, somewhat visually easy objects, and how to find them without resorting to a computer.

Larry is the Chairman of the Texas Star Party Advanced Observing Program. Its goal is to encourage people to visually observe objects they may have never heard of, or thought they could not see, and to successfully make their observations with modest-sized telescopes.

On Saturday at 4:00pm in the Pavilion, Larry will talk about the universe as it is, and was, and present discoveries about objects on the observing list.

Starting in 2018, each year Phil Harrington has created a Stellafane Binocular Observing Olympics (BOO) list, along with descriptions of each object. Phil is a very familiar writer to most amateur astronomers for his many articles and books on astronomy, including Touring the Universe Through Binoculars and Star Ware. He has spent countless hours observing objects in the sky using telescopes and binoculars, and frequently writes reviews about the astronomical equipment he used. He taught stellar and planetary astronomy at Suffolk Community College, Selden, NY.

This year Phil will be presenting “The 50th Anniversary of the Westport Astronomical Society”, the organization which Phil co-founded in 1975. His talk is scheduled for Saturday at 2:00pm in the Pavilion.

The 2026 Observing Rules:

The objects listed are visible from the 2026 Stellafane Convention in Vermont. All telescope objects should be visible in 8-inch and above telescopes under a sky with fairly good seeing and transparency. Deep-Sky Binocular Objects include Galaxies, Globular Clusters, Bright Nebulae, Dark Nebulae, Open Clusters, Asterisms, and Double Stars.

Any telescope or combination of scopes may be used, but the observations must be completed during the 2025 Stellafane Convention. The same rule applies to Binoculars.
Objects may be found by star hopping or by go-to.
To qualify for the observing pin, simply observe them and check off the objects on the Observing List.
The first 100 people successfully observing 15 or more of the listed objects will receive a Stellafane Observing Pin. Successful observers can obtain their pin at the Observing Olympics table located on the hill below the McGregor Observatory, on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, or Sunday morning at 10:30 AM.
For questions during Convention, please see Larry Mitchell regarding the Observing Olympics list, Phil Harrington regarding the Binocular Observing list, or Springfield Telescope Makers Eileen Myers.