csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Haas]
#5690880 - 02/20/13 01:19 PM
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Is IDAK still following them? If so, hopefully they won't find there way home......
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Haas
sage
Reged: 11/22/12
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: csrlice12]
#5690897 - 02/20/13 01:26 PM
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Is IDAK still following them? If so, hopefully they won't find there way home......
Ha ha, I don't remember who or what IDAK was?
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csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Haas]
#5690935 - 02/20/13 01:41 PM
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IDAK--Instant Destroyer and Killer. Silver dude in a silver outfit with a cape.....they had a lot of cool "aliens" on LIS.
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Haas
sage
Reged: 11/22/12
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: csrlice12]
#5691082 - 02/20/13 02:54 PM
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IDAK--Instant Destroyer and Killer. Silver dude in a silver outfit with a cape.....they had a lot of cool "aliens" on LIS.
Aah, yes, now I remember. I remember him, but not that name. Lost in Space fascinated me as a kid.
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mfromb
super member
Reged: 12/13/12
Loc: Boston, MA
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: csrlice12]
#5691085 - 02/20/13 02:56 PM
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I'm a total newb still, and expect to be remain so for quite some time.
Based on my current, limited experience, I would put my top 3, to date, in this order (note: I doubt #1 will be easily supplanted):
1. My daughters eyes when our new (barely used) XT8i was unveiled Christmas morning, and her face as it lit up with excitement and a spotaneous 'Wow!' during our first viewing of Jupiter. Priceless.
2. Our Moon, at 109x and nearly filling the eyepiece, with incredible clarity and detail the first time we used the ES82 11mm as a replacement for the stock 10mm plossl. That was (and is) a great sight to behold.
3. M42 for the first time, even though it was seen in fairly light-polluted skies, the fact that we manually stumbled on it, not knowing what it was at first, and then realizing it has always been sitting "right there!", as a relative smudge to the naked eye. Who knew?!? We've taken at least a couple of looks every night out since, regardless of what else we're looking at, or for. :-)
Can't wait for the weather to continue improving and we start taking trips to dark(er) skies. In the meantime, we're enjoying what we can, when we can.
I've been holding off on Saturn until we get a morning of decent seeing and a time that myself and a couple of our daughters can all handle without impacting work and school. 'Soon' can't come quickly enough. We will have to head out of our neighborhood to get a good vantage point. Plenty of unobstructed ocean front public property nearby. I think we'll need that low horizon in order to see it.
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Ed D
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/30/10
Loc: Sunny South Florida
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: csrlice12]
#5691126 - 02/20/13 03:16 PM
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I don't have one single impressive object but I can think of single, most impressive in several categories. The most impressive nebula I have seen is Eta Carina, neck and neck with Orion. The most impressive open cluster has to be NGC 3532, the Wishing Well Cluster. Omega Centauri is my favorite globular. I started to list a few stars but the list grew long. All of these objects I enjoy observing from the tip of the Florida peninsula, which gives me a great view of the southern skies. From home I love to observe the planets, mainly Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Oh, and let's not forget the moon.
Ed D
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kfiscus
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/09/12
Loc: Albert Lea, MN, USA
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Ed D]
#5691610 - 02/20/13 07:45 PM
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StarStuff1 got it right. Total solar eclipses, naked-eye and scope (1991 and 1998).
Comets Hyakutake('96) and Hale-Bopp ('97) were both spectacular.
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northernontario
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/01/09
Loc: Porcupine, Ontario Canada
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: kfiscus]
#5691676 - 02/20/13 08:15 PM
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The one's I see for the first time. 
And the moon.
It's beautiful. 
Is this a trick question 
jake
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shawnhar
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/25/10
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: northernontario]
#5691749 - 02/20/13 08:56 PM
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I had seen Saturn many times through my own 10" scope, but the time I climbed an 8 foot ladder at a star party to look at it through the eyepiece of a 20" Dob.....duuuuuude.
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Noisykids
sage
Reged: 06/01/11
Loc: ma
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: shawnhar]
#5691929 - 02/20/13 11:01 PM
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my biggest thrill so far was seeing the spots shoemaker-levy made when it jupiter with a mirror i ground and polished and a dob i constructed.
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GOLGO13
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/05/05
Loc: St. Louis area
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: shawnhar]
#5691998 - 02/20/13 11:37 PM
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I had seen Saturn many times through my own 10" scope, but the time I climbed an 8 foot ladder at a star party to look at it through the eyepiece of a 20" Dob.....duuuuuude.
Yeah...I had a similar experience with a 30 inch dob on Saturn. So many moons visible that night.
I really liked the Veil Nebula in my friend's 16 dob in a dark sky with an oxygen III filter. Just a weave strands throughout the eyepiece.
I still find the moon to be just magical. My little 80mm apo does a great job on it.
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OneGear
member
Reged: 12/30/11
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: GOLGO13]
#5692054 - 02/21/13 12:31 AM
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Venus transiting the Sun. The far end of a parking lot projected with my binoculars against a piece of paper I held up. A truck driver walking from his truck (parked even farther from the door than me) walked by, watched for a few minutes, then said he watched it once using a friend's welding mask many, many years ago. I felt a little more human.
Truly cool being able to demonstrate to myself that there are planets that revolve around the Sun inside our own orbit.
That and seeing Uranus one very cold winter night. My beer kept freezing, the eyepieces of my binoculars kept frosting over from the water vapor given off by my eyes, but I saw that smoky, soft orb for myself. So not a star.
Edited by WaterMaster (02/21/13 02:19 PM)
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Maverick199
Postmaster
Reged: 02/27/11
Loc: India
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Haas]
#5692060 - 02/21/13 12:38 AM
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The most impressive are the views which are available in all their splendour and that would be Saturn, Moon, Jupiter, Double cluster, M 42, Omega Centauri, Butterfly cluster etc., These objects can never be overlooked and I bet whenever these objects are available, everytime we take our scopes out, we invariably catch a glimpse if not more.
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Astrodj
sage
Reged: 08/24/11
Loc: Missouri
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: mountain monk]
#5692134 - 02/21/13 02:32 AM
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The clear night sky at 16,000 feet in the Kun Lun, Pamir, and Karakorm ranges of western China. It holds yor attention without searching for anything else. Eventually, you begin to look at the Milky Way...
Dark skies.
Jack
Wow! I can't even imagine. Reminds me of some of the ancient Chinese poetry translations in Burnham's concerning the Great River.
Most Impressive Object Seen?
Naked eye for me as well. In my case it was seeing Barnard's Loop (the brighter part) from New Mexico at 7200'. It was so amazing because at the time I didn't know that was possible, yet there it was!
Second best for me was the first time I saw the winter Milky Way (northern hemisphere) from horizon to horizon, as bright as I had ever seen the summer Milky Way previously. That was also nearly unbelievable to behold. That event took place in extreme southeastern Oklahoma.
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Gert K A
super member
Reged: 07/16/12
Loc: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Astrodj]
#5692165 - 02/21/13 03:32 AM
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One summer night in the desert of Jordan
the sky appeared so densely populated that it was hard to make heads or tail of it.
It was absolutely breathtaking.
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REC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/20/10
Loc: NC
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: kfiscus]
#5692400 - 02/21/13 09:31 AM
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Same exact items. Solar eclipse just takes your breath away. Also in most cases you are with other fellow astronomers, hobby and the emotions run the full gammit.
Really looking forward to this years Super Comet and hope it performs like they are predicting.
2017 for the next total eclipse here in the US:)
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hbanich
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/17/05
Loc: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: REC]
#5693061 - 02/21/13 04:25 PM
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A total solar eclipse. In a class by itself and I think is impressive to nearly everyone who see one. The first and so far only total solar eclipse I’ve seen was in in 1979 with my now former spouse. I’d shown her the Moon, Saturn, M42, all the most wonderful things in the sky through my scope and she was as thoroughly unimpressed as anyone I’ve seen. The eclipse knocked her socks off though – stunned her to silence while I couldn’t stop talking!
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Dave Chapman
sage
Reged: 01/27/07
Loc: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Haas]
#5693209 - 02/21/13 05:41 PM
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Hands down, Comet Hyakutake on the night of its closest approach March 24/25 1997, seen from a dark location in rural Nova Scotia. Beautiful cyanogen-green coma, and a looong tail stretching across the sky so far you had to turn your head to take it all in. An amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. No telescopes involved!
Dave
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geekgroupie
sage
Reged: 01/07/12
Loc: West Texas plains
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Paco_Grande]
#5693540 - 02/21/13 08:55 PM
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Saturn is always the show stopper, IMO.. especially when seen through someone's HUGE dob at a star party... I could see the shadows of the rings. On my own scope I luv to view Jupiters moons and I like to see Pleiades... amazing, there are so, so many stars.
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MawkHawk
sage
Reged: 08/23/09
Loc: SE Michigan, USA
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Re: Most Impressive Object Seen?
[Re: Dave Chapman]
#5694295 - 02/22/13 09:41 AM
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Hands down, Comet Hyakutake on the night of its closest approach March 24/25 1997, seen from a dark location in rural Nova Scotia. Beautiful cyanogen-green coma, and a looong tail stretching across the sky so far you had to turn your head to take it all in. An amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. No telescopes involved!
Dave
Yep. I agree 100%. Hale-Bopp was amazing as well. I'd say that my top 3 sights ever were Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp, and Shoemaker-Levy crashing in Jupiter. (All in the 90's...weird...)
Oh, and scopes used were my trusty RV-6 and my homemade 10" dob.
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