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Memorable Astronomical Highlights for 2012

Beulah

By Beulah
in The Astro Lounge

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Beulah

Beulah

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We're halfway through December and it looks like some of us may not get many clear skies to pack any more good sessions in so I might as well start this thread today...

What was your highlight this year in astronomy - as an observer or imager?

Believe it or not it was the Transit of Venus this year for me - standing on a hill around 1800 feet above sea level at 3:30am with some youngsters, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies after a big climb, waiting for the Transit that was frankly, clouded over. Despite not being able to see this once-in-a-lifetime event, I was very much caught up in the excitement, coming home at 7am, logging into SGL and seeing the wonderful images people caught, reading the fantastic discussion that was unfolding.

Another highlight was standing in a field in Mid Wales in early September, looking up at the Darkest skies I had ever seen; the Ring Nebula literally glowing white with visible central mistiness, M13 taking high magnification extremely well, looking like a cluster of diamonds right to the very core...Seeing structural detail in the Dumbell Nebula beyond the apple core shape...

How about you?

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Beulah

Beulah

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Bish, it's surprising how infrequently we have those rare glimpses of Jupiter - my best 'moment of clarity' with that planet was two years ago and I've observed it a lot.

Kev, neat setup! Just had a look at the results of this baby - that image in your link is amazing.

Foundaplanet, I've never seen a fireball - missed all the major ones so far! Hope that dark site STAYS dark and private...

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Its been a bad year for me, but had some really good views of Luna surface and at peak star party this year despite the fog and mist had some pretty good views of Jupiter, best view was through marks 6" suitcase dob

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Stu

Stu

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Probably Transit of Venus for me. The wife and I managed to get around 6 mins of it towards the end but before 3rd contact so we were lucky. Waited around for a long time staring at clouds and wondering whether to pack it in. So glad we didn't.

Not had many good sessions this year but a close second is probably the Friday night at PSP with my 4" apo and Shane's big dob. Some great views of a wide range of objects, but Jupiter through the stopped down dob was pretty special, as was M42 through the full aperture. A very good night, worth the trek up and late arrival! Cheers Shane

Stu

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Stu

Stu

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Yes, I guess we were. I thought it was hopeless as the cloud just wasn't moving fast enough, but the Mrs made me stick it out and a gap in the cloud appeared just in time. I must admit to doing a little jump for joy when we saw it. I was amazed just how big Venus appeared, wasn't expecting that. I saw the Mercury transit some years ago and it was tiny in comparison. Mind you, I only had a pair of Coronado Binomite binoculars then, something like 8x25 I think. The PST was much better!

Stu

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DazC

DazC

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Getting lucky and seeing the March fireball on the way home from walking in Derbyshire.

Also getting myself a very convenient dark site with great skies... :)

That fireball is also my most memorable astro moment of 2012.

Oh, and my first images of the moon with my modded web cam.

D.C

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bomberbaz

bomberbaz

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Ok so completely new so not a lot really because it has all been special. But last Thursday down at moonshane's gaff, I finally got a full sight view of Pleiades through the scope sight on his 16" dob, was an absolutley wonderul thing to see first time.

I also got the first decent view of the GRS a the same time but the Pleiades beat it no doubt.

I hope that this time next year I will have a small list of potential memorables rather thean just those two for this year.

Baz

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JamesF

JamesF

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There are plenty of highlights that I've entirely missed due to cloud :( Perhaps for that reason my highlights are more personal landmarks than "events". In no particular order I'd say my top three are:

1. The first views through my 10" dob, especially after I bought my 27mm Pan and 5mm Nagler.

2. Massive improvement in my planetary imaging.

3. Reaching 108 Messier objects (hopefully 109 before the end of the year), especially as many of the more recent ones were some of the fantastic ones around Sagittarius and Scorpius. The 109th should be relatively easy. The last is perhaps the most difficult one to see from the UK.

James

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Too many to mention for me . . . gonna mention them anyway . . . :p

Getting my first image of the Horsehead Nebula after a 40 year wait . . . :laugh:

Missing only about 20 days of Solar shots since the last week of June when I started shooting . . . :cool:

Getting 20 minute subs with ease the Synguider . . . :grin:

Getting a bargain ED80 Pro . . . :rolleyes:

Having a photo included in the Sky at Night magazine . . . this should be a lot further up the list . . . :Envy:

Getting to grips with my first computer since a ZX Spectrum back in the "Jet Set Willie" days . . . :rolleyes:

and most importantly of all . . . . .

Getting myself on-line and "meeting" a great bunch of like-minded individuals on this great forum . . . :laugh:

Steve.

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LeeB

LeeB

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Sgl7 and peak were great, best moments drinking vodka till late at peak waiting for the sky to clear, and a great observing session a couple of weeks back with cotterless seeing more NGC's than we can remember. One more, testing the half finished (ie painting not finished) David Hind project dob and finding out how great the optics are...

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Hermit

Hermit

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Standing open-mouthed and being stunned by the September fireball in my back yard in Manchester, whilst just nipping out for 10mins with the binos. I think that'll be a highlight for many years to come!

Followed closely by the dark skies of Kielder in October, seeing the Milky Way appear into view before it had gone fully dark. Awesome!

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tich

tich

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Too many to mention for me . . . gonna mention them anyway . . . :p

Getting to grips with my first computer since a ZX Spectrum back in the "Jet Set Willie" days . . . :rolleyes:

That did make me chuckle!!

Well for me as I've only started this hobby for just over a year now;

Managing to image, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus & Mars was a highlight for me as I'd never seen any of them through a scope let alone ever thinking I'd image them. I remember my first view of Saturn & I just stood there freezing at 3:00am with my mouth wide open in awe.

First seeing the Orion nebula through my scope as that for me was another jaw dropping experience.

Going to SGL7 & meeting some wonderful people who made me feel very welcome & whom I've made friends with. I can't wait to catch up with you guys again at SGL8.

Seeing the ISS for the first time, I've seen it 3 times now streaking across the sky.

Catching up with a few of the guys from SGL at the Welsh star party back in October & making a few more friends. Seeing the Veil nebula though Mr Flibbles 12" dob & the detail it was showing was awesome. The Milky Way too was the best I ever seen it even after all the horrendous weather we had.

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jonathan

jonathan

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Seeing the sun through my Lunt solar telescope with my own eyes, tuning in to the various features using the pressure turner system is a joy. I saw one quite impressive prominence during the summer which reminded me of the old arcade game Salamander. Could have spent the money on a holiday, but for me this was a lot more rewarding as I will be able to see it again and again.

Doing most of the Moore Winter Marathon binoculars / eyeball section on one clear crisp night, saw so much more in that few hours than I have in many observing sessions put together. It's all about knowing where to look, and many of those targets were not in Turn Left at Orion.

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Ags

Ags

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The Orion Nebula from Nagarkot, Nepal using an ST80. It looked like an astrophoto. The Beehive cluster from the same location with binoculars.

Mars was brilliant even though I only had a 4SE to see it with this year - plenty of surface/atmospheric detail was visible, and my sketches matched up with the reality quite closely.

Writing my own gradient extractor and 16-bit stretching program was fun.

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