GALAXY
SEASON
CHALLENGE
2026
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Get the Best Shots from Your DWARF SCOPE! - Free Newsletter
Challenge Goal:
Challenge Goal:
The mission is simple but ambitious: Capture all 22 official DSOs using your DWARF II, DWARF 3, or DWARF mini and show us your best Post-Processed shots. The Contest will run until June 30th, 2026.
Post your shots to the official DwarfLabs Facebook Groups: DWARF II or DWARF 3 & MINI, & in the post tag us @DWARFVISION
Prizes
Prizes
Galaxy Season Challenge Rewards
Galaxy Season Challenge Rewards
We're working one defining these, stay tuned!
The Official Target list
The Official Target list
Set I - The Local & M81 Galaxy Groups
Set I - The Local & M81 Galaxy Groups
T1 - M13
Hercules
The Great Globular
The Great Globular
25,000 light-years out
Within the "Halo" of our Milky Way galaxy, 25,000 light-years out, lies M13—the Great Globular Cluster of Hercules. This ancient "star city" swarms with hundreds of thousands of suns packed into a tight gravitational sphere only 145 light-years across. Its core is so dense that stars at the center are a thousand times more crowded than in our own solar neighborhood. This is our gateway to the deep cosmos.
T2 - M53 & NGC 5053
Coma Berenices
Globular & Alien Core
Globular & Alien Core
25,000 light-years out
In the spring constellation of Coma Berenices, sits a rare gravitational pairing: the brilliant Messier 53 and its spectral neighbor, NGC 5053. These "Satellites of the Milky Way" form a unique binary cluster, connected across 6,000 light-years of space by a tidal bridge of stars. NGC 5053 is an enigma; its metal-poor chemistry suggests it is a remnant stripped from a dwarf galaxy consumed by our own—the surviving core of an ancient, extra-galactic system.
T3 - UGC 9749
Ursa Minor
Spheroidal Dwarf
Spheroidal Dwarf
220,000 light-years out
UGC 9749 is technically one of our closest intergalactic neighbors—physically closer than the Small Magellanic Cloud—yet it remains one of the most elusive "ghosts" in the northern sky. As a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, it lacks flamboyant spiral arms or glowing gas clouds, existing instead as an ancient fossil of the early universe composed of aging stars and a massive, invisible halo of dark matter.
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as "M13"
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as "M53" or "NGC 5053"
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as "Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy"
T4 - Leo I
Leo
Leo I Dwarf
Leo I Dwarf
820,000 light-years out
Before leaping across the intergalactic void, we encounter one final, elite challenge at the absolute edge of the Milky Way’s reach: the Leo I Dwarf Galaxy. Sitting 820,000 light-years away, this ancient satellite is legendary not just for its distance, but for its location in the literal glow of Regulus. The glare of this first-magnitude star acts like a cosmic floodlight, blinding sensors to the faint galaxy hiding beside it.
T5 - NGC 2403 (Caldwell 7)
Camelopardalis
Little Triangulum
Little Triangulum
8 million light-years out
Sitting on the “near shore” of the M81 group, NGC 2403 is the closest major spiral beyond our Local Group and a foundational anchor of the cosmic distance ladder. It was here that Edwin Hubble identified Cepheid variables—stellar "metronomes" whose rhythmic flickering allowed him to calculate their true distance and prove the universe extended far beyond the Milky Way.
T6 - IC 2574
Ursa Major
Coddington’s Nebula
Coddington’s Nebula
12 million light-years out
IC 2574. Known as "Coddington’s Nebula," it was mistaken for a local gas cloud in 1898, but is actually a massive dwarf irregular galaxy sitting 12 million light-years away. This "living fossil" mimics the earliest galaxies in the universe; 90% of its mass is an invisible envelope of dark matter, the visible portion is violently alive—peppered with glowing pink and blue super-bubbles blown apart by ancient supernovae.
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as "Leo I"
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as "C7"
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as "IC 2574"
T7 - NGC 4236 (Caldwell 3)
Draco
Fantom Spiral
Fantom Spiral
14.5 million light-years out
NGC 4236—the ethereal "Fantom Spiral" of Draco. This nearly edge-on barred spiral is defined by its exceptionally low surface brightness, appearing as a spectral, elongated smudge that haunts the northern sky. Despite its ghostly reputation, the galaxy is a massive structure punctuated by vibrant HII star-forming regions, serving as a profound example of the ancient, diffuse systems that populate our local cosmic neighborhood.
T8 - M83
Hydra
Southern Pinwheel
Southern Pinwheel
15 million light-years out
Messier 83, the "Southern Pinwheel," serves as the vibrant powerhouse of the M83/Centaurus A Group. It is an exceptionally active barred spiral defined by explosive star-forming vitality; often called a "supernova factory," M83 has hosted six observed stellar explosions in the last century alone. Its structural perfection features a massive central bar that funnels gas into a starburst core, igniting the spiral arms with brilliant H-alpha knots that resemble scattered cosmic rubies against the dark void of intergalactic space.
T9 - M94
Canes Venatici
Croc’s Eye
Croc’s Eye
16 million light-years out
Messier 94 is the bright, gravitational anchor of the Canes Venatici I Group. It is a structural masterpiece that resembles a celestial bull’s-eye—an appearance created by a spectacular inner starburst ring where gas is compressed into new stars at a frantic rate. This "Croc’s Eye" glows with intense brilliance against the more diffuse regions of the galaxy. Beyond this high-intensity core lies a "double-ring" mystery: a massive, incredibly faint outer ring.
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as C3
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as M83
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as M94
T10 - M106
Canes Venatici
Megamaser Galaxy
Megamaser Galaxy
23 million light-years out
Messier 106 is the undisputed titan of the Canes Venatici II Group. While it appears as an elegant spiral, it hides one of the most exotic energy engines in the cosmos: a central supermassive black hole surrounded by a disk of water vapor that acts as a naturally occurring "Megamaser." This microwave laser beams out concentrated energy millions of times more powerful than anything in our own galaxy.
T11 - M63
Canes Venatici
Sunflower Galaxy
Sunflower Galaxy
29 million light-years out
Messier 63 is a prominent member of the M51 Group. Famously known as the "Sunflower Galaxy," it is the quintessential example of a flocculent spiral—a galaxy where the arms are not continuous, but instead consist of a shimmering tapestry of short, patchy segments. These "petals" are crowded with young, blue star clusters and intricate dust lanes that mimic the Fibonacci seed patterns of a giant sunflower.
T12 - NGC 2903
Leo
LOST Messier Galaxy
LOST Messier Galaxy
30 million light-years out
NGC 2903 is famously known as "The Lost Messier Galaxy." Despite being one of the brightest and most detailed spirals in the northern hemisphere, it was somehow overlooked by Charles Messier, only to be "recovered" by William Herschel in 1784. This brilliant barred spiral is a powerhouse of activity, featuring a starburst core defined by an exceptional rate of new star formation.
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as M106
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as M63
✅ In the DwarfAtlas as NGC2903
GALAXY SEASON CHALLENGE 2026 Set 2 - Coming May 1st
GALAXY SEASON CHALLENGE 2026 Set 2 - Coming May 1st
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