What is the best thing you've seen through a Telescope ?

[todd8137]

The moon and it's many craters that change all the time they never look the same

Pat

[Ibbo!]

total solar eclipse 1999as it was the first

[Steve777]

I could say Jupiter or the first time as saw the moon as a kid (both were stunning), but for pure 'wow!' factor, finding the double cluster high in the sky when I first got my scope, breathtaking because I found it by mistake.

[neural]

Through a telescope, bit eccentric maybe, but ... beta Mon. M35 and M37 come close; there isn't really a word for the way a myriad of unresolved stars in a dense cluster fall on the eye, and the way they spring into teeming life with averted vision. Third place the Trapezium/M42, another visual experience you can only have at the eyepiece (pictures are never as good). 

But I agree with others that the best things I've seen in the night sky have not been through a scope. In binocs, like Steve I found the double cluster accidentally one evening and for a few minutes I felt as if I'd discovered a new and amazingly beautiful part of the sky. Obviously I knew it had to be something famous, but the feeling was there and it was a special moment. The Moon in large binoculars never fails to raise a shiver too (I've yet to binoview in a scope though). 

Number one memorable experience though has been watching Scorpius rise majestically out of the Aegean.  No optical aid required. 

[John]

The oddest thing I ever set out to observe was the tool bag that was let go by an astronaut back in 2008 when working outside the ISS. For a while afterwards it could be seen in 10x50 binoculars as a faint point of light following the ISS in the sky. I managed to see it a couple of times before it burned up re-entering the atmosphere. It was just 20 by 12 inches in size so it was probably the smallest object I've observed apart from meteors

While many objects and sights have proved fascinating and impressive during my years in the hobby I think it's Supernovae that I find the most thought provoking and, to use that rather hackneyed term, awesome. As a visual sight they are really very unimpressive appearing as elusive points of light embedded in the faint haze of an external galaxy, rarely exceeding magnitude 10 and more often somewhat less bright than that.

It's the realisation what I'm seeing, with my own eye, is the light emitted from a catastrophic event that happened millions of years ago and trillions of miles away that fires my imagination. The recent supernova in Messier 82, officially known as SN2014J, occurred nearly 12 million years ago and another that I observed a couple of years back went "pop" 67 million years back, when the dinosaurs still walked on our planet. Terrific stuff 

[Kirscovitch]

All the firsts have been spectacular. 

First view through a scope: the moon

First Planet: Jupiter

First Nebula: M42

First Galaxy: M31 (through binoculars)

Another first the other night that is near the top of my favorites list is my first comet. 2012 K1 Panstarrs.

[Nillchill]

Mrs Jones in No. 43 for me ........................................................ Nah,  not really, it was Saturn through an Intes Mak 8in , and a very good dark sky.  really mind blowing-ly beautiful !! the clarity and crisp image was stunning.

[JimmyC]

For me the best thing I've seen is M13 at high magnification under dark, transparent and stable conditions. So many stars resolved... Just so many stars in such a small area. To think that some of these stars are only 1/10th of a light year apart from each other.... Saying that though, I will be boring by saying any DSO has been amazing to see. The Leo Triplet, M87 & neighbours, M51, M81/M82 have been the most incredible sights.

[Umbraldot]

A massive eruptive solar prominence...awesome!

[alan potts]

I really think the best thing I saw with my scope was the smile on my Sons face when he saw Saturn for the first time. You can't buy things like that.

Alan

[AlexB67]

Hard to say. Though I do recall standout moments seeing certain objects for the firs time. Seeing M13 in the little Heritage mini Dob still stands out as a long standing memory, my first ever DSO and object I located in the scope. I didn't know about the importance of cooling, and barely collimation, with unoptimised views in a cheap 10m stock eyepiece, it was as I recall a recall little fuzzy blob , it showed nothing more, but it had something and instilled a feeling I cannot describe.

It is that day that opened the flood gates that said, yup, this hobby is for me and I had 10 of  on my face. In fact the emoticon does not do it justice, the grin went from earlobe to earlobe :0)