Is there anything better in the night sky than...

[KJ Dalley]

Sorry for the not very subtle hook but I was curious as to what others were considering their favourite night sky objects at the moment. It might serve some of the newcomers as an index of target objects to look for.

I know this probably depends on the type of scope(s) you view from and what you are interested in but for me it has to be M42, The Great Nebula in Orion. I remember the first time I saw this through an 8" reflector and was blown away. Its easy to locate and packs such a punch for "viewability" especially if you're lucky enough to get your scope on it at the moment. When I first started all I looked at for months was Jupiter and and M42, for hours and hours. It still takes my breath away. NGC869 is a close second but for simple down to earth (no pun intended), easy to find and beautiful object to look at I cannot think of anything better. I'm quite happy to be corrected by more experienced people than me so please feel free to add your thoughts.

Becoming quite OCD in my behaviour in the pursuit of clear skies.

To you all, still and clear nights.

[crashtestdummy]

Saturn

[KJ Dalley]

D'OH!!! Yes of course! Nothing in the universe quite as spectacular!

[haitch]

Galaxies, lots and lots of galaxies. The more the merrier, the further the better. Just love to look and think about scale

[crashtestdummy]

its all subjective and personal though as i prefer m57 to the orion nebula whereas someone else may prefer m82 etc etc

there's no right or wrong answer,except saturn being right

[haitch]

Becoming quite OCD in my behaviour in the pursuit of clear skies.

To you all, still and clear nights.

OCD over clear skies? That's a recipe to get yourself sectioned living in the UK!

[jabberwocky]

M51, closely followed by Saturn then M42.

[paul schofield]

Saturn, M81 M82, Jupiter Oh and M104 The Sombrero love the Moon too.

[earth titan]

Jupiter then Saturn followed by M45 then m42.