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Best views of the year.

cotterless45

By cotterless45
in Observing - Reports

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cotterless45

cotterless45

Posted
Posted

As 2015 grinds to a close , I wonder what views you will remember. It's been a very difficult year here. The forecasts have mainly been as wildly out as the weather itself. There's been very few runs of successive clear nights or clear nights with good seeing.

I recall the structure of M33 seen from a very dark site on north Skye and the "Owl" and some lovely exciting views of Jupiter.post-6974-0-60647000-1451230088_thumb.jppost-6974-0-03013200-1451230419_thumb.jp

Hoping for clear skies !

Nick.

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John

John

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Quite a few highlights in 2015 for me but I guess observing the moons of Uranus and Neptune was right "up there" as was seeing my first quasar, the March solar eclipse and the amazing lunar eclipse of September.

No sketches to show though, just the memories :smiley:

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jabeoo1

jabeoo1

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Nice little collection Nick & yes its been a very tricky year !  I have a single memory viewing from a site on the edge of Bristol.  I managed to get the Whirlpool galaxy ( 2 central cores ) and some decent Jupiter views too. Venus played ball for me showing caring phases.  

For me the highlights were seeing a flare in Ha, the most dynamic event I have ever seen & it lasted just under an hour, the northern lights that followed were very strong making it down as far as South Wales although I did not see them here. 

The Lunar eclipse seen in Ha was also great. 

Hoping for a better year this year.  

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philj

philj

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Kelling Autumn working my way through 3 constellations of doubles with the Sissy Haas book and getting first light with my Delite ep I bought on the saturday

The weekend of the eclipse, starting the Friday at home with the eclipse, then in the evening at SGL10 having a couple of hours clear skies for visual followed by a clear couple of hours on the Saturday night.

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Mike73

Mike73

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Great pics and sketches young Nick! :)

I've only got back into observing again since the summer and chances to get out have been few and far between.

I've had a couple memorable lunar observations but I guess the one night that sticks in my mind the most was when I observed the NAN using a 9x50 finder with a 2" OIII balanced on top, just goes to show that aperture isn't everything!! 

post-20821-0-23265700-1451235139.jpg

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Stu

Stu

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For me it would be viewing Markarian's Chain in my 16" scope at SGLX. It was a first for me, and looked amazing. The Needle Galaxy was pretty amazing too, as were M51 and 101. Feels like a life ago now, given the rubbish weather we have had this Autumn.

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alan potts

alan potts

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Without rubbing salt into wounds I have so many memories of observations but in all honesty the last hour and a bit looking at M42 with the 18 inch in search of star G of the trapezium takes a bit of beating, this mirror is so good and the it collects so much light. I can't wait for another chance when the Moon is out of the way and the seeing is a little better.

Seeing the centre star of M57 is a good feeling as well, I wonder what I could do with a 24 inch.

alan.

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Stu

Stu

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Without rubbing salt into wounds I have so many memories of observations but in all honesty the last hour and a bit looking at M42 with the 18 inch in search of star G of the trapezium takes a bit of beating, this mirror is so good and the it collects so much light. I can't wait for another chance when the Moon is out of the way and the seeing is a little better.

Seeing the centre star of M57 is a good feeling as well, I wonder what I could do with a 24 inch.

alan.

Alan, Stephen O'Meara mentions 'glimpsing the G star' in a 36" dob in Texas..... Perhaps it's harder than you think?

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faulksy

faulksy

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so glad you're enjoying that mirror Alan....mine is M51 and M101 and PCN's in Leo at a very special weekend in Elan in April...even got sunburnt!

thought it would of been seeing the hh as well calv :grin:

mine must be seeing the hh at the beginning of the year seeing the veil from a dark site and the dark red colour, and the flame neb a few weeks ago at snowdonia with the boy from stoke :grin: :grin:

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Ccolvin968

Ccolvin968

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This was a year full of firsts for me. I used my small Celestron 127 EQ until September when I got my first "real" big scope. My Zhumell Z10. With the celestron, I enjoyed Albireo, along with Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, a couple other binaries, and a couple handfuls of Messier Catalogue objects. With my Z10, I have better views of everything. I saw the Ring Nebula for the first time, along with the Dumbell Nebula (I thought it was getting cloudy the first time I saw it), Andromeda Galaxy in better detail, numerous binaries and globs a 5" scope couldn't touch. I can't possibly pick a favorite out of these, let alone the rest I haven't listed. I have also started sketching for the first time since I bought the new scope. Now I'm just waiting for clear skies to use my UHC/LPR and OIII filters I got for Xmas!! Goals for 2016: Attempt my first Quasar, my first observations of the outermost planets and dwarf planets, bag a comet (Catalina), complete my Messier list with the big scope, and numerous others. Can't wait to see what all is in store for everyone in 2016!! Clear skies and dark skies my friends...

post-31252-0-87621600-1451280900.jpg

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DRT

DRT

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The solar and lunar eclipse events will stick in my mind for a very long time but my favourite observation session of the year was seeing the Milky Way strung across the sky from my holiday cottage on Skye in August. I have never seen so many stars in the sky and they were so bright and densely packed that I could barely make out the constellations. Simply stunning.

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FenlandPaul

FenlandPaul

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Some great sights described here!

My four favourite observations are included in the thread here (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/259042-2015-highlights-2016-resolutions-what-are-yours/) but if I had to pick one it was swimming through galaxies in Leo, Virgo and Coma one night in May. That was when I learned just how powerful a 12" can be (seems modest in the company of Alan and others!!). I remember getting goose bumps along my neck as I scanned along Markarian's Chain.

Looking forward to some great sights in 2016 and some fantastically clear skies to atone for the last few months!

Paul

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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I enjoyed a "Gotcha" moment this year.

The horse head. Finally got this from an observing site in the south downs

For OMG moments has to be the weekend observing in élan valley with Cal (estwing). We had the two big Dobs alongside one another rooting out the myriads of faint PGC galaxies along Leo's back. We were just bouncing from one to the other with shouts of "and there's another one" as we hoovered them up. Great fun.  M101 also provided an incredible sight and one I shall remember for a long time.  I've never seen the inner spirals like that. M5 through Cal's 8mm Ethos was just ridiculous too. I could see it from about 2 feet away from the scope :eek: . It's difficult to describe how well his Ethos showed it. You could see the glob in the eyepiece as you walked up to it. So big, so bright. 

I've enjoyed a few star parties,  meeting up with some old buddies, made some new friends, and generally had a blast (and a few drinks too drunken_smilie.gif ) 

Roll on next year for more of the same.  :grin:

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Size9Hex

Size9Hex

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I've seen arguably more impressive stuff since, but the best knock-socks-off view of the year is a very simple one. First week in the hobby, with my first pair of binos, looking out of my bedroom window. Spotted the colours and shape of the rings on Saturn, and details on the moon. It's what hooked me in. Made me imagine anything was possible.

Happy astronomising for 2016 everyone!

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rockystar

rockystar

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Only having had a "proper " telescope for about 6 months there are plenty of firsts for me, the stand out moments are the Luna eclipse and the viewing the Orion nebula for the first time while the moon was in shadow. Saturn albeit briefly and very low in the summer sky. And, not necessarily an overly impressive sight, but very memorable for me as it was my first double star: Mizar & Alcor.

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