Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 342
Loc: Canada
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Just out of curiosity. Going all the way back to your earliest moments looking through a telescope...What Deep-Sky object would you say you have spent the most total hours observing? Was the majority of the observing done a long time ago? Do you have some sort of special fascination with this object? Is there an object that you have recently spent a lot of hours observing?
For me, it's doubtless than M31 consumes me. I am sure I have spent more time observing that than all other objects combined, and that includes the moon and planets. And it continues to this day. Besides being the brightest, biggest galaxy, it was also the first galaxy I ever saw. It was especially interesting to me because its so much farther away than all other visible stars, globulars, and nebula. It's also favourably positioned in the sky.
(I know that discussion of the moon and planets doesn't truly belong in this forum, but if you have spent most of your time observing one of those, then I wouldn't want you to feel excluded!) 
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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Feidb
super member
Reged: 10/09/09
Posts: 124
Loc: Nevada
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Numbers-wise, I'd have to say the Ring Nebula, mainly because it is a standard object to show newbies at star parties. However, for pleasure and fascination, I'm all over the place. The Orion Nebula is always a good one. Same with the Lagoon and Triffid. I really like NGC-253 and the string of galaxies in Markharian's Chain as well as the Leo Trio. Most of the brighter Messiers I look at a lot because of public star parties, or just to test sky conditions.
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Present gear:
16" Meade LightBridge
Meade 50mm straight through-finder
Lumicon green laser pointer
Orion Q-70 26mm, 32mm, and 38mm
Parks 2X 2" Barlow
Hyperion 17mm, 8mm
1 1/4" 18mm Russell Optics Bertele
1 1/4" 12.5mm and 6mm Coulter Optical Orthoscopics
1 1/4" X 2" 32mm Edmund Scientific war surplus Erfle
Tirion star atlas (white stars, black background) hand-laminated
Megastar
And a partridge in a pear tree
To nudge or not to nudge, that is the question
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Ptarmigan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/23/04
Posts: 2352
Loc: Arctic
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Hmmmmmmmmm.  Probably the Orion Nebula, Pleiades, Ring Nebula, Double Cluster, and Andromeda.
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Ptarmigans=Cute and Cuddly
Meade Starfinder 8
Nikon 10x50
Rebel XT
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rocco13
Got Milk?
Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 2643
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
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Depending on the season...either M42 or M57. M42 being brighter and bigger usually gets more eyepiece time than most.
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Rocco
Zhumell Z12
Super C8 (1984 vintage)
Celestron 102 f/5
and a cheap pair of binoculars
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 342
Loc: Canada
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Do you use a nebula filter Rocco?
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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rocco13
Got Milk?
Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 2643
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
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Quote:
Do you use a nebula filter Rocco?
About 50-50. If it's a cold winter night, with steady, crystal clear skies, then I'll use my Orion Ultrablock. On a great night, the filter can extend the object by 50%, allowing those faint outer wisps and tendrils to be observed.
If the conditions are less-than-great, I'll usually pass on the filter nor spend as much time on it.
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Rocco
Zhumell Z12
Super C8 (1984 vintage)
Celestron 102 f/5
and a cheap pair of binoculars
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jack45
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/07/03
Posts: 2471
Loc: Lacey WA
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Orion Nebula by far the most viewed DSO for me!
Clear Skies!
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16"f/4.5 Discovery Split Tube/TV Paracorr
12.5"f/5 Discovery PDHQ
Orion f/4.9 XT12"Intelliscope
BV's/Bugress Model 24/Stellarvue Model BV3A
TV Smooth Side Plossls,7.4mm,10.5mm,17mm,21mm,26mm
Nagler EPs 9mm T/2,13mm T/1,16mm T/2,20mm T/2,26mm T/5
Axiom EPs 23mm,31mm LX,22mm Panoptic
UO EPs 5MM,6MM,7MM,12.5MM
Baader Hyp 8mm-24mm Zoom
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Dain
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/24/05
Posts: 1596
Loc: N.Y. Adirondack Mnts. NGC 4565...
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Every year for me...NGC 4565...I can eyeball this object for hours and hours. This large galaxy shows striking detail in dark skies and fills the FOV edge to edge. My #1 favorite object all year...hence it is under my name for being so. 
Clear Skies to All!
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Best,
Dain
Adirondack Mountains (my true dark sky site)
@ Cedar River Flow
Local Site
Clear Skies?
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joec33
super member
Reged: 06/13/09
Posts: 111
Loc: Chester, N.Y
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I seem to be stuck on M13. I love looking at it and wondering how amazing the sky for a planet in the middle of the cluster must look! Dain got my close second though.
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“I'm not perfect, but who are we kidding, neither are you.”
Jeremy Grey
An Over accessorized XT10i
80mm Meade Series 5000 Apo w/duelspeed focuser
Vixen VMC110L
Orion Starblast6
Meade DSI PRO II, Orion S.S Autoguider
Advanced GT Mount
Kendrick Dew System
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Arizona-Ken
sage
Reged: 08/31/08
Posts: 307
Loc: Scottsdale, Arizona
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In order, M42, M37, double cluster.
M42, because it is the most impressive thing in the sky to me.
M37, as it is the most beautiful open cluster, I call it the "diamond dust" cluster.
Double cluster because it is so big and bright and showy in long f/l eyepieces.
If they are out, I just can't pass up a look-see, even if I saw them the previous night. I'll often look at them at the beginning of the evening and again at the end if I can.
Arizona Ken
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"Considered as a collector of rare and precious things, the amateur astronomer has a great advantage over amateurs in other fields ... the amateur astronomer has access at all times to the original objects of his study; the masterworks of the heavens belong to him as much as to the great observatories of the world. And there is no privilege like that of being allowed to stand in the presence of the original."
--Robert Burnham Jr, Burnham's Celestial Handbook
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Downward Bound
Adrenaline Junkie
Reged: 03/29/06
Posts: 2641
Loc: Seattle
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Quote:
I seem to be stuck on M13. I love looking at it and wondering how amazing the sky for a planet in the middle of the cluster must look! Dain got my close second though.
Ditto. I dig globs! 
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Bill
'flector: R200SS, 22" f/3.6 (on order)
'fractors: PST, AT-66, TV-85, FS-102, NP-127, TMB-152
'bins: 15x63, 10x52, 22x85
410+028B, Sphinx, Telepod, EZ Touch, G-11
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paysonmike
journeyman
Reged: 10/18/09
Posts: 8
Loc: mesa del cabballo 34.17 111.1...
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PLEIADES ORION NEBULA DOUBLE CLUSTER ANDROMEDA M13 RING NEBULA LEO TRIO MARKHARIAN CHAIN SAGITARIUS SCROPIUS AREAS EASY TO SHOW NON-ASTRONOMERS SOME TOOK A WHILE TO FIND 
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loged on formly as fireman mike have a 12" dob with circles and dig. level main eye pieces are hyperion's 8-13-21
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stevecoe
"Astronomical Tourist"
Reged: 04/24/04
Posts: 2637
Loc: Arizona, USA
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I told someone once that I have a 700 hours exposure of the Orion Nebula...I can't show it to you because it is inside my head, but I can tell you how to start your own accumulation of photons from whatever your favorite happens to be.
Enjoy;
Steve Coe
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TeleVue 102 refractor on CGEM mount
10 inch f/4.7 Newtonian
Author "Deep Sky Observing" Springer-Verlag
Author "Nebulae and How to Observe Them" Springer
Canon Xt astrocamera with Hutech modification
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Posts: 10458
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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It would probably be M42 for me also.
Dave Mitsky
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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
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Hrundi
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/06/08
Posts: 1235
Loc: Estonia
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Probably M42, closely followed by M31.
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nobody special
sage
Reged: 12/30/08
Posts: 402
Loc: Connecticut
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M42, M11 & M13 are pretty much tied as the objects I have put the most time observing.
Although I cant seem to buy a clear night here. 
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Tom
Orion XT8 Classic
Hyperion 13mm (With 28mm Tuning Ring)
Orion Sirius 25mm
Meade Series 4000 Plossls 32mm 6.4mm
Orion Shorty Plus 2x Barlow
Telrad
OPT OIII Filter
ND Moon Filter
80a Blue Filter
Smart Seat III
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ensign
member
Reged: 12/16/08
Posts: 39
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Paysonmike mentioned Markarian's Chain among his top targets. If the Virgo Galaxy Cluster qualifies as an object, then I've spent the most time there by far trying to learn the lay of the land.
Next would be, as with many others, M42 because it's an interesting object that can be viewed in Winter from my light-polluted driveway. I don't head out to dark sites in the Winter,  so I spend quite a bit of time hanging around M31, M34, M35, M36, M37, M38, M41, M44, M45, the Double Cluster and the Hyades - all good targets under suburban skies.
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- Mike
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Modified 10" Sky-Watcher Dob
William Optics Megrez 110/EZTouch
Nagler Type 4 - 12,17,22
Pentax XW - 10,7
William Optics UWAN 28
Siebert Observatory class 40
Other assorted items too numerous to mention
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starrancher
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/09/09
Posts: 585
Loc: Northern Arizona
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On any dark site trip or outing , I always have a pre determined observing list that will include quite a good number of not yet observed objects . But there have been a few nights when M31 was coming through so good that I spent most of the night tracking it . In a situation like that it turns into a casual observing session of just viewing in awe & taking short breaks from the eyepiece as well as showing off the view to others . Aside from that , considerable time has also been spent in the same realm on M33 , M42 , M13 , M3 & NGC7293 .
There is just something that really grabs me seeing M31 , M32 & M110 or (NGC205) framed in the same field of view together when the seeing is good & both dust lanes are prevalent , direct vision at 31X magnification .
To answer the question more directly , It would be a pretty close toss up of M31 & M42 .
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LXD75 AR5
LXD75 SN8
Series 4000 Plossls
Misc. other stuff
Fort Rock , Az .
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Jeronimo Cruz
super member
Reged: 09/01/08
Posts: 141
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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I'm torn between M31(+M32&M110) and M42. When they're not up, I always have M8.
I especially like observing M31 through a quality refractor.
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Jeronimo
TeleVue 101 + Gibralter
Celestron NS11 GPS/wedge + Hyperstar
Photon Instruments 127mm + SV F50W2
Lunt Solar Systems LS60DS Ha + Celestron CG-5
Naglers, Panoptics, Radians, Nikon binoviewer
Fujinon 10x70 FMT-SX, 7x42 CD; Canon 15x50IS;
Pentax 7x50 PCF WP, 10x50 PCF WPII, 10x50 DCF SP
Work
20" R/C RCOS on Paramount + Tak FSQ
16" R/C RCOS on Paramount + TEC 140
16" Meade LX200 SCT + TV 76
Ethos, Naglers, Panoptics
Coronado Solarmax 90mm Ha
Coronado Solarmax 70mm Ca
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 342
Loc: Canada
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Quote:
In a situation like that it turns into a casual observing session of just viewing in awe & taking short breaks from the eyepiece
A typical night for me.
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I told someone once that I have a 700 hours exposure of the Orion Nebula...
My plan is to reach that number, and exceed it on M31!
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M37, as it is the most beautiful open cluster, I call it the "diamond dust" cluster.
Thanks...I am going give that a try in my new 11".
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Every year for me...NGC 4565...I can eyeball this object for hours and hours. This large galaxy shows striking detail in dark skies and fills the FOV edge to edge.
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NGC7293
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really like NGC-253
Thanks for the new targets gentlemen. (Although I won't be spending too much time on them! )
Looks like M42 has a lot of fans!
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