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What's Your Favorite Object?

Geoff Barnes

By Geoff Barnes
in Observing - Discussion

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Geoff Barnes

Geoff Barnes

Posted
Posted

I was going to post this in The Lounge but there are too many "Time Wasters" over there today! ?

I thought it would be interesting to hear from folks what object up there in the heavens is the one object you find yourself constantly going back to, the one you never tire of seeing, that never ceases to give you a thrill every time you get it in the eyepiece?

It's probably hard for most folks to narrow it down to just one, so feel free to name more if you need to.

I've not been seriously in this game long enough yet to seek out many wonders, but I think already I get a real kick out of seeing Jupiter with all that goes with it.

 

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JohnSadlerAstro

JohnSadlerAstro

Posted
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Hi,

For me it's Mars. It  feels strangely familiar because of its ice caps and clouds, and so little is really known about the planet. I wonder if one day I'll ever see pictures from the surface that are actually calibrated to how we see, and whether people will ever even go there..... ?

EDIT: Or perhaps I just like wasting time and looking at neighbour's tv aerials for resolution tests? :D 

John

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John

John

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Hmmm ......

- The Veil Nebula

- The Orion Nebula

- Messier 13

- Makarians Chain of galaxies

- The Moon

- Epsilon Lyrae

- The "double cluster" in Perseus

- Jupiter (Saturn too but I feel that Jupiter is more interesting)

These are just the ones that spring immediately to mind. Dozens more are vying for attention :icon_biggrin:

 

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Stu

Stu

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Posted

Hmm, let’s see now.

John’s list is pretty good and I could just echo it, but I will go with these as a top five.

Jupiter

Veil Nebula

Moon

Sun

Izar (but could easily be Epsilon Lyrae)

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GavStar

GavStar

Posted
Posted
Just now, Stu said:

Hmm, let’s see now.

John’s list is pretty good and I could just echo it, but I will go with these as a top five.

Jupiter

Veil Nebula

Moon

Sun

Izar (but could easily be Epsilon Lyrae)

Not the North America nebula, Stu? It would be on my top list.

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Stu

Stu

Posted
Posted
Just now, GavStar said:

Not the North America nebula, Stu? It would be on my top list.

It is definitely there or there abouts Gavin, I guess there is a bit more to hunt down with the Veil in terms of the different features, and it’s also pretty rare that I get a decent view of the NAN, except through your NV of course!!

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GavStar

GavStar

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11 minutes ago, Stu said:

It is definitely there or there abouts Gavin, I guess there is a bit more to hunt down with the Veil in terms of the different features, and it’s also pretty rare that I get a decent view of the NAN, except through your NV of course!!

Fair point about the NV. It gives you more to hunt down around the NAN including the pelican nebula.

My favourite objects have been rather jumbled up since the start of the year. Lagoon, eagle, monkeyhead and rosette would all be near the top of the list whereas this time last year, I hadn’t observed any of them.

I also love globular clusters - basically all and any of them (that are sensibly visible)

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Louis D

Louis D

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I'd say the Orion complex.  Lots to look at there during the winter when the weather is nice here in Texas and the bugs aren't biting.  I like looking at all the large and small star clusters as well as the various nebulae.  I can't look at a lot of the more northerly objects anymore since my trees matured in my backyard, so the south is where it's at for me.

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paulastro

paulastro

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I couldn't think of just one object, then I thought of limiting myself to a list of five as some other contributors have, and failed miserably in that too.  There are so many fine objects I love to look at, and I look forward to seeing them as the seasons come  by.  It feels like I'm meeting an old friend I haven't seen for a while when one of my favourite objects 'reappears' in the morning sky.  In fact  when I was trying to come up with a list it just reminded me how  many wonderful and beautiful things we have available to us and how lucky we are.

As well as looking at particular objects, I also love to sweep the sky with a wide field and marvel and the fabulous star fields that are out there and all the variety of stars there are to see.  I know it's sad, but as I do so, I often wonder if an astronomer  from another world is doing the same thing, and looking at a field of stars containing our sun. 

I'm so pleased I 'discovered' astronomy all those years ago  :smile:

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niallk

niallk

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Posted

In no particular order:

Cat's Eye Neb - it's such a tease ;)

Sombrero Galaxy - pretty wow to see with your own eyes

Jupiter - ever hopeful for excellent seeing and when persistence pays off, it takes your breath away

Makarians Chain, Coma B/ Virgo - just getting lost in galaxies

Ha Solar - evolving in real time before your eyes... once seeing a bright horseshoe flare loop

And I would have to include seeing the outer arms of M81/dust regions in M82 and the huge size of M27 on a dark transparent night in my 15" - some memorable views had :)

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SIDO

SIDO

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The Wizard, Andomeda, Whirlpool, Pinwheel, Orion, Catseye, The Ring, Pleiades, Double Cluster, Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto...a mix of difficulty levels makes the season quite interesting and there are more but I had to end it somewhere. Like bright star clusters a lot because stars just can't be captured in all their glory shimmer and glare in photos so for me they can only be seen realistically through the eyepiece and with very little colour in the faint fuzzies stars really are some of the objects that are better in the eyepiece. So to sum it up ad in every star cluster that comes within 45 degrees of my zenith, there awesome ?

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Kn4fty

Kn4fty

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Posted

It's hard to say which is my favorite, but even after all these years, the following still make me say "Wow!"

Orion nebula

Jupiter

Saturn

Andromeda Galaxy

Doesn't matter how many times I look at any given object, I almost always find something new in it. 

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Trikeflyer

Trikeflyer

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There are so many that have been mentioned and they would all make my list but some open clusters I think are favourites for me and should get a mention.  I particularly like the owl cluster in cass and I keep coming back to it a lot, another nice one is the wild duck cluster and the Xmas tree cluster NGC 2264 then finally the coloured double - albireo.

Steve 

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