Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

What has been your most thrilling view?


neil groves

Recommended Posts

Seeing two mountaineers on the Cuillin summits from 15 miles away showed the ability of a 30 year old Vixen , hurrah !

What was thrilling ?

Mrs.C was impressed and happy at the eyepiece.

Nick.

That would be thrilling to watch (if not to participate). The 'Inaccessible Pinnacle' (or In Pinn) provides a roped challenge for munro baggers and the traverse of the central ridge, connecting the peaks, is the domain of roped mountaineers. The peaks themselves are accessible as scrambling routes that are quite exposed.

I have many moments that felt a bit more pronouced than others, such as M13 and Saturn for the first time with my 8" scope using my 13mm (appropriate) and 11mm eyepiece's respectively. Looking at M11, The Wild Duck Cluster for the first time in a 12" dob at a dark location with a high power wide field eyepiece was a moment to relish. So to was seeing the Veil with the same scope and at the same location with an O-III filter at low power.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 62
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Jupiter and it's moons. I decided that I was going to try to observe it for the first time a few weeks ago.

I saw it through my scope, and I was in awe when I saw its four moons. I was all laughing and happy.

I will never forget that moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 1999 total eclipse as seen through my trusty C8. Mind blowing!

Many other sites are great in very different ways. Even the tiny flicker of light, only visible in averted vision at mag 13.9, showing the location of quasar OJ-287 was awesome in its way, if only because it shattered my distance record to of 2.4 billion light years (3C 273), with its distance of 3.5 billion light years. Those photons which caused all that excitement in my mind travelled for more than 3/4ths of the age of the earth before hitting photoreceptors in my retina.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, Michael... 3.5 billion light years. That's staggering, isn't it. I thought I was pretty lucky seeing something that was 100 million light years away in Fornax... Turns out it's just a pup :)

Your 10" ACF should be plenty to see OJ-287 (and 3C-273 is a doddle, even in my 8"), and at a declination of +20 it may still be within your reach. There is a list of the brightest quasars here:

http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/qso.html

and a shorter one with finder charts here

http://washedoutastronomy.com/content/fist-full-quasars

But that is more for Northern observers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose seeing Venus touch the edge of the Sun in 2004 knowing that no living person had seen it before. I also enjoyed the total eclipse in Side, Turkey in 2006 from a clear blue sky.

Finally viewing the 2012 Annular eclipse and Venus Transit from California with my wife, two sons (one lives in San Francisco) and my eldest granddaughter. I explained that the next Transit would be 2117 and Grace would be 114 years old!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Jupiter and it's moons. I decided that I was going to try to observe it for the first time a few weeks ago.

I saw it through my scope, and I was in awe when I saw its four moons. I was all laughing and happy.

I will never forget that moment.

The first time i looked at Jupiter through bins was awe inspiring. Knowing that the bright blob with a couple of pinpricks of light either side of it was pretty much the same view that Galileo saw 400 years earlier. Feeling that connection with what was a key moment in the history of science gave me goosebumps*.

*or it could have just been that it was the middle of the night and i was getting chilly standing outside

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me it was my first view of a sunspot with a Herschel wedge and binoviewers. I could not believe the amount of detail I could see in the spot. It felt like I could almost fall into it. Incredible. Part of the memory being amazing is that I had no idea the view could be that good.

Second place is probably seeing the Virgo cluster of galaxies for the first time. I was astonished to see so many galaxies so closely packed together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Optically - Seeing Saturn is always memorable for me - as is seeing Jupiter and its moons.  Craters on the moon and especially being able to see shadows on the surface. First time seeing M31 and realising that that was our nearest "Next door neighbour".  Oh and M42  - can't forget that one.

 
Imaging - always has to be when i first "saw" the first sub come in on the very first M51 - I think everyone in the village heard the "YES!!!" on that one :-)

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI There,

For me it was seeing Saturn for the first time through a tiny 40mm telescope.It was early January 1972,Saturn was directly below the Pleiades and the rings were fully open.The image was tiny and quite poor but its photographed in my mind as is the thrill of seeing it ,even though I now have several good quality telescopes.Its hard to believe Saturn has completed nearly one and a half circuits since then. :shocked:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

finding Halley's comet  for the first time .

The wait, the build up , all the expectation suppose its similar to ison right now but Halley was something special, its the comet of comets I suppose . it certainly was then . All I had was a pair of 10x50 binos and an idea of where about in the night sky it might be (got this from the monthly night sky section of the scotsman newspaper as there was no internet, sky tv, discovery channel etc way back then). I spent several nights out the back roads nearto castle douglas where i lived at the time, getting some weird looks from passing cars. Then at last my first glimps of that small insignificat smudge that looked a we bit out of place. Could it be? Could not be certain until i looked again the next night, it had moved, Id found it . its hard to decribe what i felt that night , awe, amazement, pride as well i suppose as id managed to locate Halleys Comet as it tracked in towards the sun. But it was more almost primal, if thats the correct word, here was a visitor returning from the outer realms of the solar system and i was looking at it.  As i looked over the next few weeks as the comet brightened, it sunk in that although Halley would return , id not be around to see it some 80 years later. I experience a similsar thrill when looking for comets now , panstar last year, hard to pick out in the evening light, every time i see a comet for the first time and ive seen a few since halley, it still stirrs something deep inside wonder, passion emotion even.

But when all said and done ive been fortunate to witness the return of halley's Comet in mylifetime and that thrill will not bec surpassed for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI Asset,

Halley looked unimpressive even through a 6"Reflector and at the time it seemed a big disappointment, but now I'm glad I saw it,you did too which is more than Halley himself could manage ! :laugh:

The biggest cometary thrills in recent years must be seeing magnitude -4 McNaught on the south west horizon on January  10th 2007 and the weird puffball comet Holmes in the autumn of the same year.

Regards Les.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a boy, seeing the moon, Pleiades and the faint smudge of the Orion Nebula through my Grandfater's 10x50 binoculars (I've still got them in my study).

Then 30 years later, seeing these again through my own telescope.

M42 and Jupiter have been the pick of the "take breath away" moments with my 10" Dob. Although the victory lap of the garden with sound effects on actually finding and identifying a "dim fuzzy" always lightens the mood.

BTW - Good thread. This has given me a great alternative list of targets.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI Asset,

Halley looked unimpressive even through a 6"Reflector and at the time it seemed a big disappointment, but now I'm glad I saw it,you did too which is more than Halley himself could manage ! :laugh:

The biggest cometary thrills in recent years must be seeing magnitude -4 McNaught on the south west horizon on January  10th 2007 and the weird puffball comet Holmes in the autumn of the same year.

Regards Les.

Your right Les regarding Halley not living upto its billing but to me  its still the king of comets , when people talk about comets Halley is the first name that comes into my head and as a said earlier the biggest thrill for me was finding it for the firdt time, ive seen brighter and bigger but for me Halley is the boss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Presumably, the dim fuzzy will no longer be in the FOV of your eyepiece by the time you have finished running around the garden :grin:

Sadly Mr Rocker has hit the nail on the head. Strictly low tech here.

Although i'm reasonably certain that I have celebrated the same one on multiple occasions, but the exercise is good. Probably need a/ a bigger garden, Or and b/ more Dim Fuzzies for any lasting health benefits.....

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going to give two answers... I've always been a planet freak so the obvious answer is Saturn :-) and then the first time I could see cassini .

Then I made a few scope changes and ended up with a 10" dob... Managed to find M13 at a dark site... Jaw dropped!

great thread

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.