Crème de la crème.

[cloudsweeper]

1 hour ago, Astro Imp said:

Brilliant thread Nick, thanks for starting us all thinking and sharing.

I still fondly remember my early experience with my first scope, an S/W 150P, first light was seeing M45 and a few nights later Jupiter and it's moons. I still feel it amazing that with a modest outlay you can see these treasures from your own backyard. 

Since those early days I have had many wonderful nights not too dissimilar to previous posters. 

I'm sure there will be plenty more to come.

Dead right, Alan - I started out with just a 70mm frac, and had great views of M42, M45, Mizar/Alcor, Moon, Venus (crescent), Jupiter and moons, and even sunspots (with suitable protection of course).  I thought the sunspots looked like strands of frogspawn - another "wow"!

Doug.

[DavidJM]

Great post!

This is quite easy for me as my journey only started last winter and each session is a wow experience, but that first was the Pleiades with a 10x50 scope, having then purchased my first telescope early this year seeing Jupiter and Saturn is simply breathtaking, to see such sights so far away is still slightly surreal to me and amazing

[M110]

One of mine that I remember fondly was seeing a supernova in another galaxy. It happened at one of the SGL star parties (SGL 4 I think). It was in a faint magnitude 13-point-something galaxy and after a long manual search with a 12inch dob a few of us (@John, @Andrew* and a few others if I remember correctly) tracked it down.

I remember it clearly even though it must have been over 8 years ago now. The galaxy was a the faint smudge you'd expect but with a 'star' on one limb, clearly brighter than the core of the galaxy itself.

It absolutely staggered me to think about just what I was looking at. Still the only supernova I've ever seen. 

[Davesellars]

Definitely my first view of a DSO which was the Wild Duck Cluster ( M11) with a 8" SCT.  Kind of brought home what I could do...  I was hooked after that and soon went for all the objects in the Messier list was a great adventure.

My first successful journey in to the Virgo after planning the "route" - hopping through all the Messier galaxies without a break in about an hour and a half, finishing and felt like coming back up to breathe again.

My first astro all-nighter culminating in a quadruple transit of Jupiter at about 6:30am even though the fourth was very difficult to see due to the seeing at that point going to pot.

Finishing the Messier 110 list... and all from Oxford.

In the past year:

The view of M51 and M101 on an awesomely transparent night with the 12" dob.  Great detail of the spiral arms in both.

M42 with the 12" dob and seeing lots of colour - shades of pink and green (mostly predominant)

Jupiter with the 12" dob and incredible detail of the belts and red spot.

[Mognet]

First views of Jupiter and Saturn, finding the Ring Nebula accidentally, and looking at the moon when I had first light on the 8" dob and seeing how beautifully three dimensional it is

But nothing has yet beaten when I was living in a dark sky site up on the Suffolk/Essex border, and watching the lunar eclipse by eye on a superbly clear night. As the moon dimmed through the red stages into totality the sky changed to an amazing carpet of stars, so many that I couldn't make out the constellations. That was also the time of Comet Hyakutake, which had spread its tail brightly across the southern sky. I didn't even own a telescope then, but that night I didn't need one

[Paz]

It is very much the "firsts" that stand out for me rather than the "bests".

The first time i saw jupiters moons in binoculars. My binoculars were terrible in hindsight but at the time it was epic.

The first time i saw the moon through a scope - a 70mm travel scope, again it was a very poor image compared to what i see now but the memory is like it was yesterday.

The first time I saw an open cluster - m44, again in dodgy  bins but it is the thought of what your looking  at that makes it special.

The first time i saw a globular cluster through the vx 14 it was blazing!

Any time non astronomers have a look through my scope, its always a great memory giving others the opportunity.

Have to add 2 others...

The first time i saw dark lanes in the milky way by eye when in the middle of nowwhere in cornwall.

The time i held my son up in the air to look at the moon in the vx14, i went to put him down and he said "wait! let me see if theres any footsteps!" and had another look, because he knew men had walked on the moon.

[Uplooker]

On 10/3/2017 at 20:18, cotterless45 said:

On the gear side, ( I'm not a gear person !)

Hi Nick,

Great post. Regarding your comment about not being a gear person, I beg to differ. If i remember correctly, PSP 2013, you and your mate (sorry, can't remember his name) must of have had 20+ scopes between you! Alot of whisg you said you got from Fleabay.

My wow moments are definitley, but in no particular order:-

1. seeing M42 for the 1st time. It was my object with my new scope - SW 150P on an EQ3
2. Seeing Saturn, with above scope. I was dancing about the garden at 2 O'clock in the morning

 

[mapstar]

Nice to read everyones experiences and to have been mentioned as bringing a few wow moments to others lists.

For my own wows there have been a few

 Firstly using the 8" scope 

 Jupiter stood underneath the Emley moor mast on my first proper session which was with Soupy a few others.

 Saturn with the cassini divison on my patio. I sat for near on an hour tracking it.

M13 wonderful

 M57 just surreal.

 M51 got me hooked on galaxies and tge want for a bigger scope. 

 With the 22" 

 The first view through it at M35 as myself and Soupy gave it first light on my patio. 

 M51 and 101 from Galloway with the best transparency I've experienced and showing the spiral arms of both extending out to the edges of a 13E. 

 Any glob.

 The Skull nebula purely because I found it whilst galaxy hunting but it is one of thr best planetary nebs. 

 There are many others but I really enjoy the wows others get when looking through it. Takes you straight back 

 Lets hope this season brings good clear skies again.

[Stu]

Reading Mark's post about the Venus transit in 2004 reminded me of a similar wow moment for me during the 2012  transit. Despite my misgivings about the weather, my wife really encouraged me to get up and we both went up on to the local Heath where there was a good low horizon. I had my little PST with me, and we set up and waited. There was a stubborn bank of cloud covering the sun which just would not move, and I nearly gave up, but she insisted that it would move! Finally, not long before 3rd contact, a break in the cloud gave us about 6 mins of the most amazing sight. Having seen a previous Mercury transit, I couldn't believe how large Venus appeared against the solar disk. The cloud soon returned but, having missed the 2004 transit we had seen our once in a lifetime event and were very happy!

Next up is the whole of the SGL10 event. Surprisingly, this was my first time at Lucksall, and it coincided with the 10th anniversary, my having a 16" Sumerian Dob, plus the partial solar eclipse for which I had a Herschel Wedge and Quark. Amazing time, four clear nights, some better than others, but highlights were definitely following Markarian's chain of galaxies, the Needle galaxy and the best views of M101 I've had. Somewhere over 60 galaxies seen over the four nights, more than in my previous observing life to date i.e. about 15 years! Top that off with the most amazing views in clear blue skies of the partial eclipse in white light and Ha and it was an unforgettable long weekend.

a few other titbits...

Saturn at x400 on a night of excellent seeing with my 8" Mak, amazing.

The whole Veil complex in the 5 degree field of my Televue Genesis under a dark Dorset sky.

Catching the M82 Supernova in a 4" scope from light polluted skies, probably still one of my best astro achievements as it was such a tough target with that scope under those conditions.

Seeing a planetary alignment of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon strung out in a line across half the sky. This was early on in my time in the hobby and has stayed with me ever since.

Tracking the recent near earth asteroid, forget the name, and being able to watch it move in real time was amazing.

Finally, not one specific event, but whenever I view a decent sunspot under good conditions with my Baader Wedge/Tak combination, I quite often say 'wow!' when the seeing stabilises and the view becomes photographic in detail.

Plenty more I'm sure, but those are the ones that come to mind. The beauty is that there is always something more to look forward to!

[PeterW]

Hale Bopp naked eye from Hammersmith, followed by comet McNaught in twilight. Mercury and Venus transits, being under a cloud under a total eclipse,... plenty more

 

peter