BillBrowning
Vendor (Ideal Astronomy)
Reged: 05/03/05
Posts: 129
Loc: New York NY
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I remember mine was the Orion Nebula through a 4.5 newt when I was about 12!!!
What was yours ?
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16" MC telescope truss dob(sold)
C8 deluxe
4.5 newt
Orion ST 90
ETX 90 mak
Orion 80ed
10x50 Minolta binos
15x70 binos
PST
Canon 300d unmodded
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3376
Loc: In the doghouse.
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Exactly the same, M42 through a 4.5" reflector.
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Jason®
Phlog
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SaberScorpX
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/12/05
Posts: 4121
Loc: illinois, usa
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Does the Pleiades naked-eye count?
First Cub Scout camp event out in the boonies.
Stephen Saber
PAC/Astronomical League
http://www.geocities.com/saberscorpx/home.html
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basel10
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/15/05
Posts: 805
Loc: TN
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Mine was M 42 through a C8. in the 9th grade I had an English teacher that was an amateur astronomer. One night she setup her telescope for us. She even mixed astronomy with her class and is the reason I am interested in astronomy.
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www.knoxvilleobservers.org
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jack45
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/07/03
Posts: 2060
Loc: Lacey WA
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Mine was M51 I think!
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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John Jarosz
I'm being watched...
Reged: 04/25/04
Posts: 2192
Loc: Chicago area, IL
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Well the absolute first was probably M42 as well, but I really don't count it as it's really a naked eye object (sort of).
The first one I had to search for was M 57. Took me about 3 days back when I was 17. I remember the thrill of finding it.
John
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6" F4.6(w/Paracorr) GEM reflector, 8" F11 Dall Relay Scope
6" F5 RFT Refractor, Garrett Gemini 20x80 LW
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FirstSight
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/26/05
Posts: 2515
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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M13 many years ago through someone else's huge dob, which had to have been in the range of at least 16 inches in aperture. It was truly spectacular, and the persistent memory of that night was what kindled latent interest in astronomy that didn't get a chance to flower until 15-20 years later.
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Chris M., aka "First Sight"
Orion XT12i Dob with Moonlite CR-2 focuser
WO Megrez 90 refractor on UniStar Light mount
Nikon 10x50 Binoculars
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galaxyman
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/04/05
Posts: 1171
Loc: Limerick, Pa
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M-57 the Ring nebula in my new 6" f/8 Edmunds newt., in 1970.
Karl
22" f/4.5 Dob
12.5" F/4.8 Dob
8" f/9 refractor(soon)
4.7" F/5 Refractor
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So many galaxies, so little time!
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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Would have to have been M45. I logged it in a diary as either a plane or the Little Dipper, so little did I know then. Probably couldn't have located anything else way back when (1966, 3" f/10 Edmund reflector - $29.95)
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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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snorkler
Aperture Aficionado
Reged: 10/11/04
Posts: 8266
Loc: Bay Area, California
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Mine was M13 in Hercules. I found it with the setting circles on a 6" short tube reflector on an Orion SkyView Deluxe mount.
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Lotteries are a tax on people who don't understand math - Snorkler
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Acheron
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/07/05
Posts: 765
Loc: Croatia, Velika Gorica
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M42 through 20x50 binoculars but my first logged DS is M13. I was 16 at that time.
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I like sketching...
8" F6 Dob - "Betsy"
12" F5 Dob - "Tristac"
25x100 Binos
Messier Catalogue - done
Herschel 400 - 201 more to go
http://www.inet.hr/~vevrhova/english/index
Edited by Acheron (04/22/06 09:09 AM)
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David Pavlich
Postmaster
Reged: 05/18/05
Posts: 6539
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA 30.38 X 90....
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M57.  A very memorable night!
David
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A few scopes and mounts.
Proud Member; PAS NOLA,
Life expectancies would go WAY up if green vegetables smelled like bacon...
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Sgt
sage
Reged: 12/17/05
Posts: 367
Loc: Under the southern horn of the...
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pleiades thro a tasco, 50mm i think.
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Attila
member
Reged: 12/03/05
Posts: 66
Loc: Eatonville,Wa
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Another M42 through a 4.5" newt here.
About 18 yrs ago. I still have the scope too.
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Karl
Meade 4.5" Newt/reflector (model #4420)
Meade LightBridge 12" Deluxe
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AnthonyP
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/19/06
Posts: 1070
Loc: Toronto, Ontario
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It seems that the consensus is that M42 is everyones first DSO. I have to admit it was my first DSO that I observed and that was about 3 months ago.
Now that its starting to set, I'm off to look for more.
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- Antares 105mm x 660mm Refractor
- Baader Hyperion 24mm
- Baader Hyperion 8mm
- Baader Hyperion 3.5mm
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2121
Loc: San Diego, CA
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M-45 through a pair of 7x35 binos, probably about 27 years ago. Through a telescope, my first was M-7 through a 6-inch f/5 Newt almost 25 years ago.
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
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dgs©
Postmaster
Reged: 03/29/04
Posts: 13899
Loc: West Monroe, Louisiana
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M42 for me as well, in my 8"Ø the night of first light back in Feb 2003.
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- david
8"Ø Newtonian on SVP, Moonlite CR2, Telrad
PST Oberwerk Ultra 15x70 Orion Ultraview 10×50
Hand-me-down Sears Refractor (Discoverer) 60mm×900mm
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world, remains and is immortal." --Albert Pike
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JoeF
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/18/05
Posts: 1112
Loc: 'Sunny Loftus' - N E England
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M42 in Nov 04, followed by a long search in vain for M31 in severe light pollution.
Joe
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Orion Optics 200mm f6 & Accufocus on GP/E Mount
Opticron BGA 10x50 Binos
NELM 5.2 rural skies
Under tripod canine footwarmer
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RGM
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/15/03
Posts: 643
Loc: Burks Falls, Ontario, Canada
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M42 through a RV6 about 35 years ago. I still remember the view.
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Bob
Tak FS78
C8 SCT XLT ASGT
10" LightBridge
Denk Standards and Power Switch diagonal
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csa/montana
Astro Ambassador
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 28576
Loc: montana
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M42 last year with my 8" Dob (first year of observing). I will never forget how beautiful it was.
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
AstroTech 66ED / Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Tak LE 5mm B/TMB 3.2
7mm Pentax XL, 10mm Pentax XW
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
22mm Pan, 35mm Pan
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
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Jim Nelson
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/10/05
Posts: 718
Loc: Hanover, New Hampshire
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With a scope, I'm pretty sure it was M42 (this was a while ago - 12y.o., 60mm refractor), although I had tracked down quite a few of the brighter Messier objects with binoculars before I ever got a scope.
Lots of people get their scope around Christmas time, so M42 is well placed for viewing - and easy to find. And well known.
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Orion XT6
Orion Starblast
Swift 8x42 Ultra Lite
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Mine was M5, seen through 11x50s on June 22, 1998. 
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 *Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery
8"SCT ~ 120achro ~ 90Mak ~ 80ST ~ 11x70s ~ 22x100s
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MikeRatcliff
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/12/04
Posts: 1107
Loc: Redlands, CA
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M57 for me. First one I found on my own was M7.
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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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thelittleman
Vendor (Peter's Actions)
Reged: 05/21/05
Posts: 4077
Loc: Hampshire, UK
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Well, there is a bit of a story...
I hadn't been in astronomy for very long, and all I had done up to that point was look at the moon and Jupiter and some stars (which kept me entertained for a while).
I had been really quite good and I had learned my way around the stars. It was a little later than this time of year, so arcturus was just beginning to dip down, and Vega was high in the sky.
I had invited two friends around to have a look (they were only just over the road). I asked them to come after 10 minutes so I could set up.
I showed them Jupiter and a few stars, but then came the question 'what else is there?'
I had absolutely no idea, but I had printed off my CN Star chart and had a look. I found the constellation Lyra on it and there was a little circle named M57. I had heard of it, but I didn't know what to expect, how to find it or what it would look like through the scope.
I then spent the next 10 minutes staring at the star atlas trying to work out how on earth I would find it. In the end, I just pointed my scope and looked. I swept left and then right, and I caught a small fuzzy blob - I had found it!
I was so pleased  Both of my friends had a look and then we zoomed in and in a bit more, so you could tell the shape of it and just see that it was a ring rather than a blob.
Well, thats my story!
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Clear Skies,
Peter
Photoshop Tutorials and Actions! New actions now added
Preprocessing in Iris Tutorial
http://peter-morris.magix.net/
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 10466
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Mine was M-39 in Cygnus. Why? Because it was the first object that had star hopping instructions for it in the Sam Brown booklet I got with my Edmund Scientific 3" reflector, when I was 12 years old!
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"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye) 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Next Project: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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IIRC, M39 was located by right-angle sweeping (from rho Cygni, no less!) with an equatorial mount; M11 was the one found by starhopping starting in Aquila.
(I had the same scope and book - wasn't Sam Brown's work magical?)
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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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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 10466
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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I started from Deneb -- maybe that was setting circles on my 4.5". You're right that it was star hopping to M-11. That was an early view as well.
Man, that was a LONG time ago!
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"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye) 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Next Project: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
Edited by llanitedave (04/23/06 05:09 PM)
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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oops! you're right...it WAS Deneb...I think rho played a part, though?
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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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LLD
Lucky so far
Reged: 11/14/05
Posts: 1696
Loc: MASS.
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M31 thru a 3 inch reflector(sears) when i was about 7 years old.Man that was a long time ago, I'll never forget the experience because the scope was a christmas gift from my folks and m31 was the first thing other than the moon and saturn that i found using the scope,47 years later and M31 is still a favorite object! 
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LLD. Meade 16 inch dob. Meade 60mm Polaris refractor 76mm Bushnell reflector
Meade ETX60-BB,Meade 70MM / USB color camera
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3376
Loc: In the doghouse.
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Quote:
Would have to have been M45. I logged it in a diary as either a plane or the Little Dipper, so little did I know then. Probably couldn't have located anything else way back when (1966, 3" f/10 Edmund reflector - $29.95)
I forgot about 'naked eye' observing. 
I remember riding in the car as a young kid, maybe 7 years old, and staring into the night sky on a regular basis. I thought the Pliades was the little dipper as well. Funny how I hadn't thought of that in years until I read your post... 
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Jason®
Phlog
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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Even funnier: I logged a thin crescent moon one night shortly after sunset as being either Venus or Mercury (this also was naked eye...)
Doh ! !
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