mman22
journeyman
Reged: 01/05/13
Loc: Western Montana, USA
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Most Impressive Object Seen?
#5680987 - 02/15/13 09:36 AM
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So I have been dealing with a week of mostly cloudy to overcast skies now (suppose to be clear tonight!), so I decided to live vicariously through all of you. What is the most impressive object you have seen through your scope? Also, what is the most difficult solar system body you have seen in physical form (the disc or outline)? To help my education in what telescopes do what, please include the equipment used. I am too new to have a good story yet, I haven't even gotten to look at Saturn as every time I have been up early enough cloud cover has foiled me (again this morning even) 
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Feidb
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/09/09
Loc: Nevada
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mman22]
#5681013 - 02/15/13 09:48 AM
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I've logged over 1600 objects so far and they are all impressive to me, from the brightest "tourist objects" we show at outreach events like the Orion Nebula to the faint fuzzy smudges I can barely detect by nudging the scope and noticing something is slightly different against the black (or usually gray) background. It's a highly subjective thing.
I've been using 16-inch scopes for 20+ years now. First was one I made, a 16-inch f/6.4, but since 2008 or so, a 16-inch f/4.5. Before that, I used an 8-inch f/9.44 which I also made. Eyepieces have ranged from a .965-inch Kellner to the 82 degree 102mm wide field eyepiece I'm using now as my starter eyepiece (before I go to other magnifications). My mounts have been Dobsonian for decades, undriven, manual clock drive (in other words, I nudge it), no electronics whatsoever except a green laser pointer.
I'm sure you'll get all kinds of responses of what everyone thinks is most impressive. From a hard-core visual observer, they all are to me.
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Jeff2011
sage
Reged: 01/01/13
Loc: Sugar Land, TX
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mman22]
#5681032 - 02/15/13 09:57 AM
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I would have to say M42 and M31 at a dark site are the most impressive that I have been able see through my 8" scope. I also saw comet C/2012 K5 LINEAR in December and that was impressive for my first comet. I have seen all of the planets (not Pluto which got demoted to a dwarf). Neptune being the furthest away is the smallest. Except for the pretty blue color, it looks pretty much like a star. Uranus is a little bigger and has a nice blue/green color to it. Good luck with your skies. This winter has been a real drag. It just cleared up a bit for me after several horrible weeks.
My eyepieces are:
25 MM Plossl that came with the scope
9 mm Orion Expanse
13 mm Baader Hyperion
38 mm Orion Q70 2"
Orion Shorty 2x barlow (Japanese made)
I just recently bought a Baader coma corrector (MPCC) which really helps the Q70. For deep space object viewing and general viewing the wide angle eyepiece is the way to go.
Edited by Jeff2011 (02/15/13 10:09 AM)
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jerwin
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/17/12
Loc: Romeoville IL
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mman22]
#5681035 - 02/15/13 09:58 AM
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For me Saturn started it all. It almost looks unreal. Jupiter is very nice too. The orion nebula is very beautiful.
The ring nebula is one of my favorites because it was one of the first objects I memorized the location to.
In December at our dark site I discovered ngc 2683 which is the UFO galaxy. I haven't got to see it since but it was one of the more impressive objects I've seen.
Also the Transit of Venus was pretty amazing to me, but you won't get to see that again until 2117.
Our own sun is also pretty awesome. If you ever get a chance to look through an HA scope do it (but be warned it could cause your bank account to shrink). The solar flares and prominences and sunspots are always changing. Pretty amazing to see a prominence that is a few times the diameter of the earth.
Good luck and clear skies. Enjoy that darkness in Montana.
Jim
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bouffetout
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/21/12
Loc: Canada
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: jerwin]
#5681050 - 02/15/13 10:08 AM
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To me it's always been M13 ... First time I saw it ,it was in a 10" homemade newtonnian that a friend of mine build from scratch...I was very amazed ,and everytime I see it ,I have the same feeling !
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J. Barnes
super member
Reged: 04/11/09
Loc: Kalispell, Montana
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mman22]
#5681074 - 02/15/13 10:20 AM
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mman,
I now your pain, I'm up in Kalispell and the winter/spring cloud-fest can be unbearable. I'm able to see Saturn most mornings before the clouds roll in around 5am. That's the object that got me hooked. From there, the Ring Nebula and the Sombrero Galaxy got me searching for every DSO I could find.
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newtoskies
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/15/12
Loc: SE Ma.
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: J. Barnes]
#5681205 - 02/15/13 11:21 AM
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For me Jupiter got me hooked. Have only had one fuzzy view of Saturn. M31 is nice but I'd say the Ring nebulae was the most impressive for me. This mainly because I didn't plan on seeing this and there it was.
hm, maybe it's clusters that amaze me most. Well basically every thing I have viewed so far I guess. I'm too new at this and the list of viewed objects is small.
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MikeBOKC
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/10
Loc: Oklahoma City, OK
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mman22]
#5681258 - 02/15/13 11:49 AM
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If you mean imopressive visually, there are a lot of favorites, some already cited here. But some objects are impressive because of what you know about them. For me, I can stare at M87 for a good while knowing its properties as a massive elliptical galaxy with a relativistic jet emerging from the supermassive black hole at its center, and even though I cannot "see" those features with my eyes, it is impressive at a deep cosmological level to know they exist.
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drober23
journeyman
Reged: 02/01/13
Loc: Carleton, MI
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: MikeBOKC]
#5681268 - 02/15/13 11:53 AM
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Oooh! My son is all about black holes. Gotta get M87 on my list soon!
Thanks
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mich_al
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/10/09
Loc: Rural central lower Michigan ...
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: MikeBOKC]
#5681281 - 02/15/13 11:59 AM
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Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, any Comet in that order. Seeing Pluto was the hi-lite of the Summer. Very faint and I could only see it 2 out of about 15 tries even knowing exactly where it was.
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Dennis_S253
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/22/11
Loc: West Central Florida
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: drober23]
#5681340 - 02/15/13 12:26 PM
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Wow, what a question. Saturn is always nice to see. M81-82 grabs my attention also. M42 is always nice. The Pleiades is my favorite open cluster. Faint fuzzy's are good. Heck there are just to many to mention.
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csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Dennis_S253]
#5681470 - 02/15/13 01:16 PM
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One time, I did see a break in the grey atmosphere overhead......actually saw a bit of bluish tint to it.
Edited by csrlice12 (02/15/13 01:17 PM)
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RobertED
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/11/03
Loc: Johnston, RI
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: csrlice12]
#5681483 - 02/15/13 01:22 PM
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Saturn...saw it through a Sears 2.4" refractor. I was 14 yrs old. I jumped 2 ft into the air when I found it!! I quickly called Mom and Dad over to see what I 'found'!!! I felt sooooo smart!!!
Do you know?....I found M-42 and for many weeks, had NO clue what it was. I kept calling it "this cool group of stars in a gas-cloud!!" This too was with my "new" Sears refractor! It never gets dull!!!!!
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wirenut
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/21/06
Loc: m'dale Pa
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: csrlice12]
#5681505 - 02/15/13 01:29 PM
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the darkest sky I've seen is most impressive object,why? It made everything look better.
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kansas skies
sage
Reged: 12/02/12
Loc: Kansas, USA
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: wirenut]
#5681529 - 02/15/13 01:38 PM
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I would agree that Saturn never fails to impress. I don't know why, but when I first saw Saturn through a telescope, my reaction was to immediately move my head away from the eyepiece and look up at the sky. Somehow, I felt like owner of the telescope was playing a joke. It seemed so unreal. Now, thirty-some odd years later, I still get the same feeling when Saturn again becomes present in the morning sky. I don't know how many times since my first encounter that I've shown Saturn to new and unsuspecting people, but almost always, their reaction is the same.
Bill
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lamplight
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/18/12
Loc: west central MA, U.S.
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: wirenut]
#5681543 - 02/15/13 01:44 PM
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I've read and seen a lot about M87s black hole in the last months.. Can't e member if I saw it.. To answer your question mman, I haven't seen a lot yet only one planet, Jupiter.. But nonetheless my answers "so far" are:
Some mixture of M31 , M42 and Jupiter. Almost all most likely first seen through my 8" SCT .. Like said before part of it is knowing what they are.. otoh M42/M43 was the first .. "holy nebulae batman!" visually. When I very first started (all this only last fall) I had the goto show me the blue snowball nebula (NGC 7662) hich I detected as definitely blue.. That was pretty cool Tough I don't think I'd even learned what a planetary nebula was at the time ..
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GlennLeDrew
Postmaster
Reged: 06/18/08
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: lamplight]
#5681692 - 02/15/13 02:43 PM
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No optics required!
For me, the most impressive 'object' is our own Milky Way Galaxy. From Australia, when Sagittarius is passing through the zenith, I lay back and just stared into the 180 degree 'eyepiece' view of an edge-on galaxy filling the field of view, exhibiting intricate detail in the dust lane, numerous star clouds, star-forming regions, stellar associations and clusters.
All with the unaided eye.
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rdandrea
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/13/10
Loc: Colorado, USA DM59ra
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mman22]
#5681760 - 02/15/13 03:16 PM
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Quote:
What is the most impressive object you have seen through your scope?
Are we limited to nighttime objects? Because I'd have to say that after more than 50 years in this hobby, I am most impressed with the Sun. Even with my minimalist Lunt 35, it's fascinating and changes day to day--even hour to hour. I wish I had bought a solar scope years ago.
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StarStuff1
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/01/07
Loc: South of the Mason-Dixon Line
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: rdandrea]
#5681845 - 02/15/13 03:57 PM
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Ditto to rdandrea and Glenn!
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Paco_Grande
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/14/12
Loc: Napa Whine Country
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: StarStuff1]
#5681920 - 02/15/13 04:39 PM
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Like many others, Saturn is hard to beat. Never get tired of seeing it.
Now, how about something from up there that came down here? I visited a few years ago, it's mighty impressive. Oh yeah, someone pass the vodka, please. 
http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Earth_Images_02.html
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