Favourite Sky Thing

[DemonicOmelette]

What's your favourite thing to look at in the sky, and why?

At the moment, mine's the moon. I love how you can actually watch it change. A few nights ago I was looking at a spot just on the terminator, when there was a bright flash of light, and a brand new mountain-top became illuminated. I didn't realise it could happen so quick, but it was literally one minute it was dark, the next it lit right up! Pretty breathtaking!

What's the thing that keeps your eye to the EP?

[kniclander]

I like the moons of Jupiter for the same reason - you can watch them move over an evening, see shadow transits and see them appearing from behind jupiter. Also, the idea the galileo saw them through his tiny refractor and that he was the first person ever to see them and that's what finally convneced him that not everything went around the earth and the rest, as they say, is history

[Bigwings]

Its got to be Orion....M42 just such a jewel and its right in front of my conservatory doors so I can observe without getting to cold.

[tinvek]

well i've not got one favoutrite but the moon, saturn and jupiter are all there, if i had to choose i'd say saturn purely because of the reaction it gets when someone sees it through a scope for the first time. if nothing else it makes people understand a little of why this hobby is so good.

slightly off topic, i love the ISS, shuttle and other bits and bobs and my son and my parents got a real thrill when they sawthe shuttle and ISS soon after they had undocked. personally i was thrilled when i saw a cosmos rocket section that had been in orbit since 1980

[Talitha]

Definitely, absolutely, and without question... the Moon.

The most magical session I've ever had behind the eyepiece was while watching Mons Rumker slowly rise out of the darkness into lunar morning.

Lovely.

[Doc]

M42 and the Trapezium.

But now I'm edging towards the Moon. As the sight in the 16" is fantastic.

[MartinB]

The moon, so much to see and ever changing with the terminator

[Helen]

Saturn, just because.... but otherwise the Double Cluster in Perseus. The DC is special because I found it by accident in my first scope and it blew me away (actually anything I found in my first scope was by accident as I never got the finder set up properly and never got to grips with an EQ mount!). The DC in my Megrez 90 with my 16 or 28 UWAN and now the 8mm Ethos is awesome! I bought the Ethos purely because it would give me all the DC at high magnification. Photos rarely do it justice!

Helen

[Psychobilly]

NA an Pelican nebs for me as it was the first widefield area of nebulosity that I imaged... closely followed by M42....

And the moon when its below the horizon

I am trying hard to learn to love Luna...honest and I am sure that given a decent clear spell so i can observe ( sorry image) it over a few nights then I might change my mind...

If you have a "scope shed" and you don't observe is it an imageatory...

Billy...

[John]

It's a really tough call but I'd have to say the Veil Nebula. It's a challenge from my back garden but I have picked it up with an 80mm scope using a UHC filter. My 1st sighting of it (the eastern portion actually) was with my old Skywatcher ED100 refractor on a superb night a couple of years ago. It looked just like a veil or a faint, curved delicate feather draped as it were across the stars in Cygnus. Breathtaking

John

[Mikea]

My favourite is Orion too. The reason is that it's the first constellation I managed to recognise from my back garden in Birmingham when I was about 10 (don't ask how many years ago!).

[GazOC]

Jupiter, theres always something going on. GRS, markings, transits, shadow transits, occulations....

[Astro_Baby]

M42, M13 and Jupiter for me.

[adamsp123]

No Bl**dy clouds:D

otherwise Orion moon jupiter saturn M13

I repeat no clouds or fog

pete

[Whippy]

The Moon because it's fantastic in any scope, but I managed once to use my 3.5mm Hyperion in my old Intes MK66 (approx x500!) and I felt as though I could almost touch it. Definately one of 'those' moments.

M42 in anything over 4" - 4.5" is wonderful too, there's enough aperture go and use a variety of magnifications so you can either take in the widefield or get right in close. Plus the trapezium is always fun to split.

Tony..

[DemonicOmelette]

Before last week, the only constellation I could point out was Orion, and occasionally the Big Dipper. Now my friends think I'm a geek because I can point out Pleiades, Sirius, Betelgeus, the Orion Nebula, Venus, Saturn, and name two or three different craters on the moon. Not bad for three clear evenings, with only a little view off the balcony!!

-eli

[hal2000]

The southern sky in summer. Scorpio, Scutum and the greatest of all the constellations, Sagittarius. Wonderful.

[Sam]

I think the moon has to be it for me - always there (well seems to be whenever it's clear) and always bright and can be seen through light cloud.

[johninderby]

The moon may have been the first thing I ever looked at through a telescope, but it's still my favourite. You could spend a lifetime observing it and still not have seen everything that there is to see. M42 would be second followed by Saturn and Jupiter.

While there is certainly satisfaction in finding something that is hard to find, that's not the same as something that you simply enjoy looking at.

John

[Astroscot2]

Milkyway from a dark sky and just naked eye, got a great view from Brazil last year, laying on the grass with jupiter and the Sagittarius star clouds at the zenith, fire flies zipping about and the sound of the sea .. ah bliss. I dont think any view through binos or a scope can compete.

[stefski]

I think it would be the Double Cluster in Perseus, Veil Nebula in Cygnus, Orion Nebula and Omega Centauri - I'll never forget the view I had of it in my old Nexstar 130GT when we lived in Kenya.

Stef

[Captain Tripps]

For me it's the moon, though I did see Saturn for the first time a week ago which blew me away!

Lee

[Rusty Strings]

The moon for all of the reasons stated above, M42, Jupiter, Saturn.

John

[lunator]

It is a really tough choice but I think the Moon just edges it for me

Cheers

Ian

[Dangerous-Dave]

If we are talking about observing here, my favourite target is the sky - milky way high overhead, observed from the middle of nowhere at new moon, with nothing but a pair of bins. Obviously there are some fascinating targets out there for the telescope, but nothing beats the sense of me and millions of stars.