What gets you excited?

[Fypunky]

As a complete and totaly experienced astronomy expert (in my daughters eyes!) 

As a complete and total newbie in your eyes and mine, what gets you excited when looking up?

Is it nebula, is it galaxy's, star clusters or the planet's?

I was pondering this as I was laid back on the sun chair ( now observing platform) looking up at andromeda last night. Pleiades in my eyes is majestic, almost mystical and always spend some time looking at it before I go up the wooden hill to bed.

However having said that I still find Andromeda the more exciting object up there, the thought of all those stars and planets and the fact we will as I believe one day collide with it.

At the moment we are using 10x50 bins which is not giving us all the possibilities of viewing exciting stuff that is out there. I know when we set the new telescope that we have bought little legs for crimbo the moon will get a lot of attention (had a sneeky look when she was at school and set it up), I have always been a little curios with our neighbour.

So what is up there that warms the cockles most when you first set your eyes on the object you are looking at?

[Cath]

Astronomy wise ..

Wondering where it all came from.

How it ever got started in the first place (pre supposed big bang).

Why me of all people!

[tenbyfifty]

i've started to realise we are lucky to have the night sky we do - not every solar system would have a Saturn

or a Jupiter to look at or even something as bright as Venus so close by and there will be a point in the far distant future when
u won't be able to see other galaxies because of the expansion of the universe, so just knowing we are alive when the universe is still relatively young and pregnant with possibility is exciting i think. Plus there are still many mysteries to solve eg dark matter and dark energy.

[Qualia]

I know it may sound a little corny but with astronomy/stargazing I become in a world without pain and suffering, a world without crime, grief and selfish, messed up people. It's a world where no one, or no thing expects anything from me, and in return, by the same gesture of giving, I expect nothing from it. It is a world where who you are or what you do really doesn't matter. It's a world that cares not for such banal, human, all too human trivialities. In this world we are all on equal footing. You don't need to worry about what the planets, the stars, the galaxies are thinking of you. They ask nothing of you except, perhaps, to be their companion for a while and drink in the cosmic and stunning views.

In a curious way, I put stargazing/astronomy on par with music and philosophy. I love the way it feeds my mind and my senses.

[jonathan]

The best feeling I get is just from being outside with a telescope.  Not necessarily looking through it, just being outside with it, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction somehow.  Could be a bit cloudy, could be totally clear, doesn't matter.  Just being out there feels like such a relief from the anxiety of every day life, checking the weather forecast and cloud charts, thinking about lugging the stuff outside and setting it all up.  When it's all done and I'm actually out there, for an hour or two there isn't a care in the world.  Much what Qualia said, really.

Of course, it's still nice to see Jupiter and try to make out some of the cloud bands, or using a bit of averted vision to see some shapes in nebulae and galaxies, but you can miss so much when you're concentrating hard on one tiny area of the sky.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

It's all good really. Occasionally even clouds can capture my imagination.

Astronomy interests me on several levels. Most obviously there is the aesthetic impact of viewing beautiful and literally otherworldly images, and the sense of wonder they inspire - but of equal importance is the thoughts they provoke. Within my limitations, I like to understand the processes that govern galaxies, stars, stellar systems and their life-cycles. I'm also fascinated by the history and narrative of science, in which astronomy has played a key role.

[LouisJB]

It's all amazing. Finding something new for the first time is always a buzz. I also love the moment the camera shutter clicks shut for the first time on a new target and reveals what you've been pointing at for the last few minutes. Especially when it's something you can barely make out in an eyepiece (or maybe not see at all).

In terms of objects I really like spiral galaxies and planetary nebula, although I've only seen two planetary nebula so far and they can of course be very small. Also interacting galaxies, I can't wait for the time of year to try and capture the Whirlpool galaxy (M51a) for example, that to me is a real wow sight.

If you start thinking about distance and time, it's all pretty amazing, mind-boggling even.

[foundaplanet]

I know it may sound a little corny but with astronomy/stargazing I become in a world without pain and suffering, a world without crime, grief and selfish, messed up people. It's a world where no one, or no thing expects anything from me, and in return, by the same gesture of giving, I expect nothing from it. It is a world where who you are or what you do really doesn't matter. It's a world that cares not for such banal, human, all too human trivialities. In this world we are all on equal footing. You don't need to worry about what the planets, the stars, the galaxies are thinking of you. They ask nothing of you except, perhaps, to be their companion for a while and drink in the cosmic and stunning views.

In a curious way, I put stargazing/astronomy on par with music and philosophy. I love the way it feeds my mind and my senses.

Lots of this.../\

The hope that out there there will be other life forms that are doing a far better job with their intelligence than we seem capable of doing with ours on mass, that the top predator can somehow find a way to see that existence does not revolve around competition.

[AndyPandy]

I think having an understanding of our geography in the univers and being able to look out and see where we are in relation to everything else but also see the beauty of the larger 'landscape' is very life affirming. It let's you see how insignificant we are physically but how significant we are to the universe that we are there to witness it.

[sbooder]

Astronomy wise...everything gets me exited, from looking at my scope to the smallest fuzzy.  I find knowing about what you are looking at brings that fuzzy to life.  When you show someone Saturn through you scope you gat a wow from them, when it is your own scope you gat a wow from yourself at every new object and with certain objects you get a wow every time you look at them...for me M42, M57, M13, M3, M5 and the Blinking Nebula (NGC 8626) do it to me every time!

[Beulah]

Stepping outside to be greeted with an open sky full of glistening stars....

[madsarmy]

I like that Astronomy makes me, human race & earth so insignificant.

We all think were so important & in the grand scheme of things were nothing but a grain of sand on a beach.

Take away a grain of sand & it's still a beach.