RRaubach
AstroCowboy
Reged: 01/26/05
Posts: 2173
Loc: Douglas (Converse County),WY
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This was just a whim on my part--I thought it would be fun to see what CNers have done this year that stands out from all the everyday observing objects. Also, I am going to suggest that we all get one object per telescope to list.
Here are my *Trophy Observations*:
TMB 203 f/7: No competition here--Palomar 12 was without a doubt, the winner!
Discovery 12.5" f/5 Dobsonian (Newtonian). It only took 2 years and 3 different telescopes to log this one: NGC 7492! Globular cluster in Aquarius.This one is so faint that it was deleted from the second edition of Sky Atlas 2000
Happy observing and Clear Skies in the New Year to all of my AstroFriends here on CN!
  ;
And.... 
Edited by RRaubach (12/28/06 12:53 PM)
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AstronomyXtreme
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/27/06
Posts: 885
Loc: Maryland
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10x60s - Witches Head Nebula
ETX70 - Veil Nebula
90mm Refractor - Never really went deep yet.
5" Mak - NGC286(I think thats the number, Large planetary with several stars inside)
10" Coulter - Triple Cave(large dark nebula)
14.5" - Jones 1
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-CJ "The 15 year old astrofreak"
14.5" F/6 Truss
10.1" F/4 Odyssy Coulter
127mm 5" F/12.1 Starmax Mak Cassegrain
90mm 3.5" F/11 Celestron Refractor on EQ3/w drives
4.5" DS114 coverted to newtonian
ETX-70
60mm F/11 Sears Refractor
50mm F/12.5 Simmons Refractor
10x60 Konus APO binocs/w built in nebula filters
7x18 Meade Monocular
Fugifilm Funpix A500
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Jeremy Perez
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 1669
Loc: Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
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6" f/8 Newtonian: Barnard 34
This blot of dark nebulosity was a tough find against the soft glow of the Milky Way. But it really started to show some personality with prolonged examination.
10 x 50 Binoculars: C/2006 M4 SWAN and M13 setting behind a mountain crest
Not only an exceptional pairing, but the comet's very delicate tail was traceable to about 3.5 degrees, even after the coma had slipped below the treeline.
Naked Eye: 11-Star Pleiades Observation
My first attempt at a deep naked eye observation of this beauty. I picked up at least 11 and had a great time straining away at it.
Edited by Jeremy Perez (12/27/06 04:16 PM)
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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12" f/4.9: Thor's Helmet (NGC2359) with Lumicon UHC (runner-up: tie between NGC 2438 + M46 with Lumicon UHC and NGC 2362, tau CMa cluster, first observation ever)
6" f/8: only used once, so - M42 with 20mm Orion Expanse and Lumicon UHC
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Good Seeing!
Mark
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
VERY old Edmund 6" f/8 reflector
Assorted binoculars
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 4833
Loc: Wherever the boss sends me.
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Can I claim M104 in Rodgers TMB? 
Other than that my viewing this year has been sort of old hat.
Oh, I did bag 6207 near M13 in the the 17.5.
I wasn't really blessed with good sky this year when I was home and able to get some EP time.
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Scott.
My Gallery
12.5" f/8 EQ w/Byers gears
178ED/LXD750
102ED
100mm f/13 Carton refractor
PST
DSI, ST7
www.backyardobservatories.com
www.m1OASYS.com
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jack45
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/07/03
Posts: 2060
Loc: Lacey WA
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The Hickson 68 galaxy group, all five with my 16"f/4.5. Also NGC891 for the first time in two years of trying!
Clear Skies!
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16"f/4.5 Discovery Split Tube/TV Paracorr
12.5"f/5 Discovery PDHQ/TV Barlow
Orion SkyQuest f/4.9 XT12"Intelliscope
Orion 120mm F/8.3 Refractor
Burgess BV 24mm aperture/Siebert 4 pc OCA
BV Pairs:26mm,20mm,17mm,14mm,12.5mm
Tele Vue Smooth Side Plossl,10.5mm,13mm,21mm,26mm,TV 11mm
UO Abbe Set,40mm 5000s Plossl,31mm Axiom LX,26mm T/5,LX,23mm Axiom LX,20mm T/2,16mm T/2,15mm Panoptic,14mm Meade UWA,10mm Axiom LX!
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wky46
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/12/05
Posts: 1401
Loc: State of Euphoria
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For the first time, I could make out the North American/ Pelican Nebulae as distinct, bright shapes and finally experienced and appreciate the awesome beauty of the dark nebulae and starfields of the summer Milky Way thanks to my newly aquired binoculars. Phil
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10" Meade SCT @ f/10
20x80 Garrett Gemini LW Binoculars
Class 4 Bortle / 6+ ZLM Skies (and getting brighter FAST)
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galaxyman
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/04/05
Posts: 1171
Loc: Limerick, Pa
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Rodger
This is an excellent idea for a post.
Hmmm , I would say since the Beast was born this year, I'll go with that scope for my observation of the year.
I could say doing a Virgo tour with a 18mm UWA (100x) was terrific. Also seeing a 14.8 Mag. galaxy with this 8" refractor was a high mark.
I will have to go with wide-field view of Ngc-4631, Ngc-4627, and Ngc-4656. Then looking at each with higher magnification. Those images are still fresh in my mind from last Spring.
Clear Dark Skies
Karl
E.O.H.
Chesmont Astronomical Society
22" f/4.5 Dob
12.5" f/4.8 Dob
8" f/9 refractor (The Beast)
6" f/6.5 refractor (Mini-Beast)
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So many galaxies, so little time!
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Posts: 6272
Loc: Pennsylvania, USA
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Here's a preliminary report:
Binoculars - The Pelican Nebula (Celestron 8x42 Nobles)
Small aperture - NGC 2438 (Vixen 80mm f/7.5 ED80Sf)
Large aperture - The Cone Nebula (18" f/4.5 Obsession)
Dave Mitsky
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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
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MikeRatcliff
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/12/04
Posts: 1107
Loc: Redlands, CA
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A great topic. I had some good nights in 2006.
The prize for my "Observation of the Year" goes to the WLM Galaxy. (Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte). A local galaxy in Cetus. Large and narrow, but broader than the typical edge-on in shape. Relatively easy to see on this great night, no averted vision needed. Brighter than IC10 and IC342 (which isn't saying much). SEDS lists at mag 10.9 with a size of 12' by 4'.
This was on a very dark and transparent night in the White Mountains of California. 16" f/4.9 dob.
Some honorable mentions:
NGC 246 Planetary nebula in Cetus, large, very pretty in dark skies.
IC 10 difficult galaxy in Casseiopia
Personal best views of M24, Veil, M4, North America nebula, Cocoon Nebula on a great night in July.
NGC's 7332/7339, a nice galaxy pair, two edge-on's.
Mike Ratcliff
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16" f/4.9 dob
Tele Vue Plossls 32,25,20,15,11
13 Nagler T6
10.5 Pentax XL
Brandon 32, 16
12.5 UO ortho, 9 Circle T ortho
2x TV Barlow
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stevecoe
Reged: 04/24/04
Posts: 2129
Loc: Arizona, USA
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Howdy all;
Binoculars--the "Golf Putter" asterism next to NGC 752 in ANDROMEDA.
4" RFT--The Pipe Nebula, a very detailed dark nebula in OPH.
Nexstar 11--on a night of excellent seeing and good transparency, seeing lots of detail at 440X in the Eskimo Nebula in GEM. Beautiful greenish disk with tiny dark markings and a bright middle.
Lots of fun;
Steve Coe
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150mm 6" f/8 Celestron Refractor on Sirius Mount
80mmED 3" f/7.5 Orion Refractor
Author "Deep Sky Observing" Springer-Verlag
Author "Nebulae and How to Observe Them" Springer
New Canon Xt astrocamera with Hutech modification
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snorkler
Aperture Aficionado
Reged: 10/11/04
Posts: 8266
Loc: Bay Area, California
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My objects were not difficult ones for any scope or optics. They were simply so spectacular, they'll remain memorable long after my observing notes rot away. Plus I won't see them from my backyard or normal observing sites.
Naked eye - the Emu dark nebula. Not in the books, it's a dark portion of the Milky Way with the Coalsack as its head
Pentax PF-80ED spotting scope - Eta Carinae Nebula from a remote sheep station in South Australia. Eta Carinae is outstanding with any and all magnifications. You can pour on the magnification and you just keep seeing more and more. Go high and see the Homunculus. Go low and see an object much larger and brighter than M42
JMI NGT-18 - Tarantula Nebula
Meade 8X42 binos - California Nebula. My lone northern hemisphere object
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Lotteries are a tax on people who don't understand math - Snorkler
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2121
Loc: San Diego, CA
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6" f/6 Newt: Dissecting the heart of M-31.
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
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RRaubach
AstroCowboy
Reged: 01/26/05
Posts: 2173
Loc: Douglas (Converse County),WY
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Quote:
A great topic. I had some good nights in 2006.
The prize for my "Observation of the Year" goes to the WLM Galaxy. (Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte). A local galaxy in Cetus. Large and narrow, but broader than the typical edge-on in shape. Relatively easy to see on this great night, no averted vision needed. Brighter than IC10 and IC342 (which isn't saying much). SEDS lists at mag 10.9 with a size of 12' by 4'.
This was on a very dark and transparent night in the White Mountains of California. 16" f/4.9 dob.
I have a *suspected* observation of WLM, too. Now you need to get WLM-1, the brightest GLOBULAR CLUSTER in WLM. Of course, it's the ONLY globular in the galaxy. 
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Rodger
Meade SN-10 (UHTC) on Tak EM-200 mount/Antares rotating rings. Moonlite focuser.
Parallax 14.5" Newtonian on HD 200 mount (arriving soon!) w/ conical Royce mirror.
TMB 203 f/7 APO refractor on Tak NJP-160 mount.
Discovery 12.5" PDHQ
Schneider 18x80 "Flakfernrohr" binoculars/tripod mounted. Canon 15x50 IS binoculars
Unihedron Sky Quality Meter
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Phillip Creed
Idiot Seeking Village
Reged: 07/25/06
Posts: 1032
Loc: NE Ohio
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Here's my two cents' worth for observations of the year (nice topic for a thread, BTW):
Naked-Eye: Seeing the Zodiacal Band prominently and M81 naked-eye when it was 40 degrees above the horizon (Calhoun County Park, WV)
10x50 binoculars: Detecting the Flame Nebula (Calhoun County Park, WV)
25x100 binoculars: There are three that stick out in my mind. The first is seeing M31 from the dark skies of Zaleski State Forest in SE Ohio. The dust lanes stood out so well that night I can't put it in words.
The second would be visually detecting the Horsehead from Calhoun County Park WITHOUT filters.
The third would be visually detecting Barnard's Loop on the same night, also without filters.
12.5" Dob - NGC 2477 from Calhoun County Park.
18" Dob (c/o Brad Hoehne, Columbus Astronomical Society) - NGC 253, with mottling galore. (Yes, this one was also from Calhoun County Park).
Clear Skies,
Phil
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"Why suffer from insanity when you can revel in it?"
Wilderness Center Astronomy Club member since 1995
ICQ Comet Observer Code: CRE01
*****
16" f/4.5 Truss Dobsonian (FOR SALE!!)
Orion 120mm ST Refractor
23mm Axiom LX
13mm Nagler Type 6
9mm Nagler Type 6
1.75X Siebert Barlow
*****
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kestrel0222
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/21/06
Posts: 2337
Loc: Milford, Michigan
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Mine would have to be observing the Orion Nebulae with my 12" scope! This was also the first time that my father ever looked through a telescope! My mother and father came all the way from Massachusetts to Michigan to visit earlier this year. The combination of the two will always be a "special" time for me.
I have many others, but that would have to be my favorite one. I also have a "soft spot" for M13.
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Tom
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Cygnus_x1
Sketcher Extraordinaire
Reged: 11/17/04
Posts: 2119
Loc: Isle of Wight, England
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The observations I made at TSP this year, the standout one for me was VV172 (aka Hickson 55) in Draco, observed with a 36" Obsession. Also, with the same scope, Herbig-Haro 555 deep in the Pelican Nebula. Very exotic and insanely difficult.
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Visual Deep Sky Observing
Visual Astronomy blog
Fotopic astronomy gallery My photos from astronomy events, etc
8x42 binoculars 'light thimble'
4" refractor and 4" Meade SCT 'light cups'
12" Dobsonian 'light bucket'
Various TeleVue eyepieces
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rocco13
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 1546
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
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In my earlier post my excitement when seeing M42 through my 12" for the first time is one of my best highlights.
Link
Noticing (in a photo) smaller, fainter NGC3077 close to M81, then laying eyes on it later that night.
And my first glimpse of the Eskimo Nebula certainly made me gasp in awe!
[Edited to shorten the link -- Steph  ]
Edited by StarAngel (12/28/06 09:57 PM)
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frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 3037
Loc: Illinois
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Early morning of June 1, 2006 my daughter and I were overnight observing at Kitt Peak National Observatory using the 20" RC and we visually spotted both stars inside the dark center of M-57.
Frank McCabe
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samurai
member
Reged: 11/05/06
Posts: 40
Loc: Las Vegas, Nv
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This is a tough one. For me it is a toss up between M1 and M 78. Both were seen for the first time by me within a week of getting my new scope (a little more than a week ago!). I have been observing mostly with <4" refractors for 8+ years under moderate light polution, and have never seen these ghostly characters. I almost gave up.
After I recieved my 12", things started to look better. That and a UHC filter helped to ease some of the difficulties of light pollution.
The satisfaction of *finally* seeing M1 and M78 was both exciting and a relief. M78 was with a UHC, and M1 was just with my 31mmT5. So it's not so much of a "WOW look at that!" as much as a "I FINALLY GOT YOU" feeling here.
Aperture definately helps! And filters... And a Nagler or 2... 
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------------------
Tim
N8UH
AR-5/LXD-55
U.O. Orthoscopics
31mm t5 "Terminagler"
Zhumell 12" Dob
A hole in my wallet
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Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 556
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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Finally found NGC 7331 in my backyard in very bad light pollution! I found NGC 7331 about 10 years ago at my parents' house where the sky is dark but I can't find it in my backyard for a few years until I found it as a faint fuzzy blob at 92X! I found NGC 7335 and NGC 7337 near NGC 7331 at my parent's house also tiny fuzzy blobs Stephan's Quintet! I always forget to see if I can find NGC 6207, just north of M13! I wrote my list that I will try to find NGC6207 next year!
M27, M17 and M8 look great with an Orion narrowband filter from my 10" dobsonian!
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Astronomer since 1975!
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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AstronomyXtreme
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/27/06
Posts: 885
Loc: Maryland
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Quote:
I always forget to see if I can find NGC 6207, just north of M13!
If you can barely see NGC7331 from your very light polluted skies, Don't bother NGC6207. You might seen the bright star thats exactly in the center, Acting like a core. The galaxy is pretty faint. Even in my mag 6 skies. I'd save it for your parent's house.
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-CJ "The 15 year old astrofreak"
14.5" F/6 Truss
10.1" F/4 Odyssy Coulter
127mm 5" F/12.1 Starmax Mak Cassegrain
90mm 3.5" F/11 Celestron Refractor on EQ3/w drives
4.5" DS114 coverted to newtonian
ETX-70
60mm F/11 Sears Refractor
50mm F/12.5 Simmons Refractor
10x60 Konus APO binocs/w built in nebula filters
7x18 Meade Monocular
Fugifilm Funpix A500
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Cosmosphil
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/04/05
Posts: 1026
Loc: So. California
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1. IC443 was actually found and seen after about 25 yrs of trying! All it took was a perfect night last March, 15" of aperture and a good OIII filter.
2. Staring at the Double Cluster for about half an hour with the TV102 at about 25x. Totally unbelievable. 
3. The best view of B33 so far with the 15" last month using a 28mm UWAN, Astronomik H-beta filter and Orion right at the meridian in perfect conditions. Oh, and NGC2024 wasn't half bad that night either.
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Phil Agins
15" Discovery TD
10" Discovery PDHQ
5.7" Ceravolo Mak-Newt HD145
TeleVue-102 / TEC 140 (on order)
Vixen ED80Sf
Coronado PST
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MikeRatcliff
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/12/04
Posts: 1107
Loc: Redlands, CA
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Quote:
Quote:
A great topic. I had some good nights in 2006.
The prize for my "Observation of the Year" goes to the WLM Galaxy. (Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte). A local galaxy in Cetus. Large and narrow, but broader than the typical edge-on in shape. Relatively easy to see on this great night, no averted vision needed. Brighter than IC10 and IC342 (which isn't saying much). SEDS lists at mag 10.9 with a size of 12' by 4'.
This was on a very dark and transparent night in the White Mountains of California. 16" f/4.9 dob.
I have a *suspected* observation of WLM, too. Now you need to get WLM-1, the brightest GLOBULAR CLUSTER in WLM. Of course, it's the ONLY globular in the galaxy.
Oh sure I saw that too, resolved to the core! Well, maybe next year, thanks for the tip!
Mike
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16" f/4.9 dob
Tele Vue Plossls 32,25,20,15,11
13 Nagler T6
10.5 Pentax XL
Brandon 32, 16
12.5 UO ortho, 9 Circle T ortho
2x TV Barlow
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Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 556
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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AstronomyXtreme,
I will check NGC 6207 at my parent's house and thanks for save my time!
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Astronomer since 1975!
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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RRaubach
AstroCowboy
Reged: 01/26/05
Posts: 2173
Loc: Douglas (Converse County),WY
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Mike-
The globular WLM-1 is probably my #1 target for the new 14.5" Parallax reflector (coming soon; only *next year*?).
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Rodger
Meade SN-10 (UHTC) on Tak EM-200 mount/Antares rotating rings. Moonlite focuser.
Parallax 14.5" Newtonian on HD 200 mount (arriving soon!) w/ conical Royce mirror.
TMB 203 f/7 APO refractor on Tak NJP-160 mount.
Discovery 12.5" PDHQ
Schneider 18x80 "Flakfernrohr" binoculars/tripod mounted. Canon 15x50 IS binoculars
Unihedron Sky Quality Meter
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John Kocijanski
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/22/03
Posts: 1487
Loc: Monticello, NY
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Great views of both parts of the Veil Nebula thanks to the two inch Orion OIII filter I acquired a few months ago.
All the "new' globulars I found in Sagittarius this past summer.
--------------------
John
Deep Space Observer 10 * SPC-8 * C102 HD f/10 * XT 4.5 * AT1010N * PST *
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Bill Weir
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 892
Loc: Metchosin (Victoria), Canada
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Man, this is like asking me which is my favorite son. You are also asking me to search through well over 200 pages of notes as I've been out with some sort of optical aide 168 times so far this year.
There was one observation made that stands out strictly from a conceptual point of view. This was observing the Quasar, QSO 0957+561 A/B with an estimated distance of 9.1 billion ly. Sure it was only stellar in appearance, but the idea that the light had been traveling twice the age of our Solar System gave me something to truly marvel at. The observations were made using the 25" eq Newtonian at the school observatory and with my friends 16" dob. There were several failed attempts with my 12.5: dob, but I haven't given up yet.
Another highlight was tracking and sketching the various components of Comet 73P/ Schwassman Wachmann as they moved across the sky and conjuncted with several DSOs. The RASC Journal published a full page of some of these sketches.
I guess there was also watching over a week in May the Mars, M44, Saturn conjunction. Over 8 days I managed a series of 6 sketches to mark its progression.
Finally I think watching in November, part of the transit of Mercury, in both H-Alpha and white light was a good capper to the year.
Bill
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6'' Orion SkyQuest
12.5'' f/5 Custom Truss Dob
William Optics 80mm ZenithStar II ED Doublet
f/5 25" newtonian on a giant GEM, any time I want
Observing sessions grand total for 2007, 171.
So far in 2008, 115
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ForgottenMObject
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/11/04
Posts: 3585
Loc: Maryland, US
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