edwincjones
Close Enough
Reged: 04/10/04
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: edwincjones]
#5570411 - 12/14/12 07:31 AM
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there are so many favorites, but
#1-M45 -- just a friend over my shoulder naked eye, diamonds on black velvet in binouclars
#2 Omega Centauri -- all those stars
edj
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GeneT
Ely Kid
Reged: 11/07/08
Loc: South Texas
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Dennis_S253]
#5572858 - 12/15/12 04:53 PM
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1) Planets, 2) the Moon, 3) globulars, 4) double stars, 5) open clusters, 6) galaxies.
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FeynmanFan
sage
Reged: 02/18/11
Loc: N Colo front range
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: GeneT]
#5572951 - 12/15/12 06:09 PM
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The Moon and planets, double stars, and brighter DSOs. I used to enjoy chasing faint fuzzies, but the LP around here doesn't really allow that anymore. When younger, I could get out from under the encroaching lights by heading east into the grasslands, or west into the mountains, but my creaky knees and back pretty much keep me in my backyard these days.
For most of this past year, I've been observing the undersides of clouds. 
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bherv
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/10/06
Loc: WMass
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: FeynmanFan]
#5573427 - 12/15/12 11:35 PM
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The Veil, M13, M42 among others. My favorite challenge object is Stephan's Quintet. I made a trip to my dark sky site tonight to observe it for the 8th consecutive month. Just barely caught a glimpse of it through the thin clouds that moved in. Will try to get back up there in January if the road is still passable.
Barry
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Dennis_S253
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/22/11
Loc: West Central Florida
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: bherv]
#5573463 - 12/16/12 12:15 AM
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Even though the night wasn't very good tonight as far as seeing goes, I spent some time with M45, M34, Jupiter, the ET cluster, M38, M36, M37 and had to end at M35 as the fog was rolling in. Sometimes you take what you get. Clear skies...
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Kevdog
sage
Reged: 07/11/12
Loc: Desert Hills, AZ
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Dennis_S253]
#5573914 - 12/16/12 10:43 AM
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Since I'm still new (first big scope in June, seeing terrible in AZ in the summer) I'm still working on the planets. Saturn (but was still fuzzy in the bad seeing), Jupiter and its moons (moon shadows are fascinating) and Uranus and Neptune.
M42 is always a treat.
But my favorite catch was comet 168P. It was small, it was dim, but it was the first comet I've ever seen! Still hungry for more. Will have to track down!
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drbyyz
sage
Reged: 11/04/12
Loc: Summerville, SC
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Kevdog]
#5573959 - 12/16/12 11:09 AM
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I enjoy stuff that's a challenge to find. The longer it takes me to find an object the more time I typically spend with it and enjoy. That being said, nothing beats taking a blind stab at where you think something is and it being dead center in the eyepiece!
Also a big fan of objects that are close to each other but very different, makes for a really cool perspective. For example the other night I found NGC1907 right outside the FOV of M38. Quite a contrast between a large open cluster that takes up the entire eyepiece with a faint fuzzy one so close by.
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Fender
journeyman
Reged: 02/20/09
Loc: Wisconsin
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: edwincjones]
#5574386 - 12/16/12 03:50 PM
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Interesting posts. I exclusively star hop. Over the last few years I look at fewer objects each session spending more time with each. Most of the time I look at only 5 to ten objects each night. If I have extra time I may use it to find alternative star hop paths thereby learning the sky more. In my experience the joy of astronomy is often times the journey. The object of the journey can often times be very disappointing to observe.
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Meadeball
sage
Reged: 10/22/12
Loc: Midlothian, Virginia
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Fender]
#5575082 - 12/17/12 01:14 AM
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Sounds like an exam question! 
OK, I'll take you up on it:
1. M42. My first "good" look at it was through our club observatory's 7-inch refractor in the late 1970s. It must've been an exceptionally transparent night (God knows it was cold enough!); that image of the nebula with its highly contrasted dust lanes and the crystalline stars of the Trapezium is still indelibly etched in my mind's eye. I stared dumbstruck through that big 2-inch Erfle at it until they nearly had to pull me away from the eyepiece. It was absolutely gorgeous.
2. Castor. Ever since the first time I split this close double, I've been hooked on double stars. Castor is now like an old friend; I return for another visit every chance I can.
3. This one's weird: the Coathanger asterism (aka Brocchi’s Cluster) in Vulpecula, right on its southern border with Sagitta. One warm night in my teens I was lying on the driveway scanning the Milky Way with my Dad's binoculars when I came across this aptly named, but unknown to me until then, asterism. Every time I see it now I'm suddenly 30 years younger, back on the driveway, when everything I saw had me racing indoors to check my star atlas to find out what I'd just "discovered".
So ... did I pass?
Meade
Edited by Meadeball (12/17/12 01:18 AM)
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Sonomajfk
member
Reged: 06/30/12
Loc: northern CA, USA
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Meadeball]
#5575101 - 12/17/12 01:49 AM
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My favorites:
In summer, scanning the Milky Way from Sagittarius to Cygnus with binoculars; Albireo, first beautiful double seen through a telescope; the Ring nebula.
In winter, Orion with the naked eye (the whole asterism); the Orion nebula with a scope; the Pleiades and the Double Cluster.
Any time: Jupiter, Saturn, and their amazing moons.
When they arrive: the comets... the best so far, my one and only visit with Halley's comet, and showing it to my then young daughters who may someday see it again.
jfk.
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Tony Flanders
Postmaster
Reged: 05/18/06
Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Meadeball]
#5575239 - 12/17/12 06:39 AM
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Quote:
Castor. Ever since the first time I split this close double, I've been hooked on double stars. Castor is now like an old friend; I return for another visit every chance I can.
I feel that way about Castor, too. And it's a great confidence-booster. Every time I view it, it's easier to split. The real reason is that the components are getting farther from each other, but I can pretend it's because I'm a better observer.
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kenrenard
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/13/12
Loc: Dunmore, PA
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Tony Flanders]
#5577332 - 12/18/12 01:38 PM
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I split castor the other night for the first time. Must be the reason. It looked like headlights from a car far away. This was my first try and after some barlowing (if that's a word). Then I thought wow I wonder can a split sirius? My ego was quickly put in check. Maybe someday!!! Even in my 8 inch dob at high power no luck.
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ensign
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/16/08
Loc: Southwestern Ontario
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: kenrenard]
#5577525 - 12/18/12 04:07 PM
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The Messier list . . . except I also like the Double Cluster and a whole bunch of the NGC catalog as well as several of the IC objects, Jupiter and Saturn are right up there too. Come to think of it, it was a thrill to see Neptune in my own scope.
Not a fair question!
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GlennLeDrew
Postmaster
Reged: 06/18/08
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: ensign]
#5577550 - 12/18/12 04:26 PM
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In general, star forming regions. Here we see the interaction of newly minted stars with their natal gas clouds.
More specifically, dark nebulae and their cousins, reflection nebulae. To be sure, emission nebulae are also intimately involved with the dark molecular clouds, but the ghostly quality of starlight reflected and scattered by dust holds special appeal.
The dark clouds are fascinating because they're the stuff from which future stars, planets and astronomers will be made. Their presence defines how far we see into the galactic disk in any particular direction. And they almost exclusively provide the intricate detail to the milky way's visible structure.
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mich_al
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/10/09
Loc: Rural central lower Michigan ...
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: GlennLeDrew]
#5577571 - 12/18/12 04:42 PM
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Comets need to be added to my list. Can a favorite be a list?? They are temporary, often change, are different from other comets, are usually hard to find, sometimes just appear or disappear, and probably more. I know I always like to have a Comet on my list of things to look at.
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Slow Astronomer
member
Reged: 05/01/10
Loc: Milky Way Galaxy
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: mich_al]
#5584263 - 12/22/12 03:17 PM
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Nebulae (M42 is best IMHO), Galaxies, Jupiter/Saturn (depending on availibility), double stars, Moon, globs, and anythin' else I can get in my EP! When ISON & PANSTARR comets come by I wanna see what I can see of the nuclei. 
Edit: erroneously ID'd M42 as M45 in my original post. Oops! 
Edited by Slow Astronomer (12/22/12 11:15 PM)
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Old Rookie
sage
Reged: 09/05/08
Loc: North Central Ohio
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Slow Astronomer]
#5584737 - 12/22/12 09:27 PM
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Got to be galaxies. Within that group is my favorite sub-group - edge on or thin galaxies. Those are especially challanging for me. I can't pass up a globular cluster though!
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mogur
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/11
Loc: WI
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: Old Rookie]
#5585842 - 12/23/12 03:51 PM
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Got to be globulars for me. They kind of look like galactic-sized frozen fireworks!
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droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Loc: Conneaut, Ohio
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: mogur]
#5586298 - 12/23/12 09:31 PM
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shallow sky: The Lady Luna
Deep sky; open clusters
If I had to pick one, the moon with out a doubt.
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kansas skies
sage
Reged: 12/02/12
Loc: Kansas, USA
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Re: What are your favorite objects and why?
[Re: droid]
#5589057 - 12/25/12 11:30 PM
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I'm partial to planetary nebula because the larger ones tend to exhibit a certain 3-D quality that I don't see in anything else. I also like the smaller ones as they tend to have more of a stellar quality and can be quite a challenge to pick out of the background stars. I would have to also add Polaris to my list of favorites since I use it everytime I go out for polar alignment, collimation and testing observing conditions. As an added bonus, it's also an attractive double in most scopes.
Bill
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