Observational Challenge Bucket List

[DirkSteele]

I would suggest book ending the solar system with Mercury which can be a challenge as it is never high above the horizon and hunting down Pluto at the other end of the solar system which is an exercise in ticking off field stars to find it.

 

Also quasar 3c 273 in Virgo. Also an exercise in ticking off to find but at 2.4 billion light years about the most distant thing you can see visually (mag 12.9).

Edited April 12 by DirkSteele
Typo

[Roy Challen]

On 11/04/2024 at 15:21, josefk said:

how about solar transits of Venus and Mercury? I've never seen one and won't be able to see a transit of Venus now in my lifetime. Mercury transits next in 2032.

 

I feel for you. I took the day off for the 2004 Venus transit,  watched the whole thing, got loads of photos. That is a career highlight for me, not the only one but still right at the top.

Edited April 13 by Roy Challen

[Roy Challen]

Top of my list would be a really, really bright X-class solar flare, I guess that's just a matter of time. Best so far: middling M-class. Will this year be the year?

A really, really bright comet Hale-Bopp style, would be next, followed by a really, really bright supernova - Betelgeuse, I'm looking at you!

Lunar occultation of Jupiter or Saturn, or if it is even possible, a Jupiterian occultation of Saturn?

Or a Shoemaker Levy 9 size event, preferably on Jupiter!

Actually, let's combine No2 and No6! Now that would be something!

Edited April 13 by Roy Challen

[Highburymark]

I’ll second an X-class solar flare. I was lucky enough to see one in detail, at around 120x, which clearly showed plasma moving in real time. I’d been solar observing regularly for eight years before I finally had the privilege though. 

On the subject of observing lists, I can strongly recommend the Springer book, Stargazing under Suburban Skies, which suggests 100 deep sky objects (and separate Moon and planet guides) for anyone suffering from varying degrees of light pollution. Written by members of the Loughton Astro Society, it’s a wonderful resource - one of Springer’s best astronomy books.

[mikeDnight]

 I think I've achieved many of my desires as regards visual astro but the pup us one I'd like to tick off. It would however only be a tick as it isn't something that would wow me. The largest aperture I've used for this list is 6 inches, while the smallest 4 inches. Mostly with a SW 120ED! 

 Things I've wanted to see and achieved are:

Halley's comet,

Colour in the Orion Nebula (pearl green),

Transit of Venus,

Veil nebula along with cirrus nebula,

Alpine Valley central rill,

Spokes in Saturn's B ring,

Streaks in Saturn's A ring,

Encke minima,

Encke gap,

Vortex within Jupiter's Great red spot,

White oval's on Jupiter, 

Festoons, garlands, and barges on Jupiter, 

Clouds on Venus,

Albedo detail on Mercury,

Albedo features and polar cap fracture on Mars.

Olympus Mons,

Detail on Uranus.

IC434, the notch of the horse head, and the Flame nebula,

Nebulosity enmeshing the Pleiades,

Spiral structure and bridging arm of M51,

Dark divide in M82, 

Spiral structure in M81, 

Bright spiral arm in M33, 

Dark dust lanes in M31. 

Veins in M1, 

The success list is seemingly endless, but I would like to see Halley's return, as well as Hale Bopp. I doubt I'll make it to the first as I'm already a bit long in the tooth, and I know I won't make it to the latter unless someone invents an everlasting life pill. May be the central star in M57 would be an achievable goal before I pop off, but I reckon I'll need at least a 7" and top class seeing to catch that!

 

Edited April 15 by mikeDnight

[John]

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

 I think I've achieved many of my desires as regards visual astro but the pup us one I'd like to tick off. It would however only be a tick as it isn't something that would wow me. The largest aperture I've used for this list is 6 inches, while the smallest 4 inches.

 Things I've wanted to see and achieved are:

Halley's comet,

Colour in the Orion Nebula (pearl green),

Veil nebula along with cirrus nebula,

Alpine Valley central rill,

Spokes in Saturn's B ring,

Streaks in Saturn's A ring,

Encke minima,

Encke gap,

Vortex within Jupiter's Great red spot,

White oval's on Jupiter, 

Festoons, garlands, and barges on Jupiter, 

Clouds on Venus,

Albedo detail on Mercury,

Albedo features and polar cap fracture on Mars.

Olympus Mons,

Detail on Uranus.

IC434, the notch of the horse head, and the Flame nebula,

Nebulosity enmeshing the Pleiades,

Spiral structure and bridging arm of M51,

Dark divide in M82, 

Spiral structure in M81, 

Bright spiral arm in M33, 

Dark dust lanes in M31. 

Veins in M1, 

The success list is seemingly endless, but I would like to see Halley's return, as well as Hale Bopp. I doubt I'll make it to the first as I'm already a bit long in the tooth, and I know I won't make it to the latter unless someone invents an everlasting life pill. May be the central star in M57 would be an achievable goal before I pop off, but I reckon I'll need at least a 7" and top class seeing to catch that!

 

Thats an impressive list Mike and it shows what can be done with perseverance and some skill.

I think it's good to list these things, even if we have achieved them ourselves, so that others, perhaps new to the hobby, can be aware what is possible with amateur equipment.

I can recall quite a few instances during my first couple of decades of observing when I learned that something amazing could actually be seen by an amateur with a modest telescope by reading about it in a book, magazine or more lately on a forum. What I thought was beyond the grasp of the amateur, was actually within my grasp, if I was prepared to push for it 🙂

 

 

Edited April 14 by John

[josefk]

Thanks for the Venus transit pics above @Roy Challen - i appreciate that.👍

[mikeDnight]

Here's a nice bucket list target - Venus as thin as you can get it. It means the observer has to be extremely conscious of the Sun as the planet's phase becomes semi annular, but this can be achieved in daylight or when the Sun is getting low and shielded by buildings. Can you see the dark globe against a lighter background sky or is this a contrast effect?  I have my own views on the matter. It would be nice to hear the views of those who have followed Venus in this way. 

 

[IB20]

Here’s one for the diary. The next Mercury transit is due 13th November 2032! Almost certainly going to be a cloudy day! 🙃

 

[John]

13 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Here’s one for the diary. The next Mercury transit is due 13th November 2032! Almost certainly going to be a cloudy day! 🙃

 

The last one that I saw was on a pretty cloudy day as well. I got lucky with a few breaks in the clouds to snap some photos:

[josefk]

14 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Here's a nice bucket list target - Venus as thin as you can get it. It means the observer has to be extremely conscious of the Sun as the planet's phase becomes semi annular, but this can be achieved in daylight or when the Sun is getting low and shielded by buildings. Can you see the dark globe against a lighter background sky or is this a contrast effect?  I have my own views on the matter. It would be nice to hear the views of those who have followed Venus in this way. 

 

Absolutely this Mike!

I tracked the apparition last year and it was absolutely terrific as a project from April till August. 

This particular observation at conjunction -6 (or 7) days (this is the 6th August, i think Inferior Conjunction was on the 13th) and the Venusian crescent at just 2.4% was probably my highlight and best observation of the year:

The weather then over the next few days didn't allow an observation closer to the Sun until it was too late a day or two before conjunction - too late for me to find Venus (manually) safely.

A definite bucket list item to get closer. Utterly beguiling at even this thin crescent a few days before. No ashen light for me here.

[niallk]

Great thread!

One I've enjoyed chasing with some teasing success is detail in the Cat's Eye neb:

[Size9Hex]

First post for a while with observing having taken a back seat to other things in life recently, but a very inspiring thread with some awesome sights. A handful from me that I don't think I've seen mentioned above:

• Pillars of Creation. I've looked for it in a 10", but not successfully seen yet. One day!
• Half illuminated Jovian moon. I think I saw on odd elongated shape to Europa a number of years ago as it emerged from eclipse over the duration of a minute or so. Would love to repeat this and get more confidence. Feels more doable than albedo features on Ganymede which I've definitely never seen (but others have), but that could be another one for someone's list - features on a moon around a planet other than ours.
• The bright glob (G1?) associated with M31 was a nice bucket list tick as a glob outside our own galaxy.
• Valles Marineris on Mars. I spent some time looking for it a number of years ago and I think I detected something linear in the right place. From research afterwards I concluded that observing the Valles is implausible, but that the albedo feature surrounding the Valles is plausible. Would love to repeat this and gain confidence. Such an iconic feature in the solar system, even if only observable in a very loose sense as the surrounding albedo feature.
• The large scale structure of the universe. Spotting lonely galaxies in one of the big voids, or a bright galaxy off in some giant filament somewhere. I've had one or two of these on the list from time to time but can't recall the catalog IDs - and success is definitely hit and miss! I'm completely out of my depth on this topic, but interesting to look for the visible parts of structures that are (1) unfathomably far away and (2) span seemingly across the entire night sky despite this!
• Evolution of something in the night sky outside our solar system. I've never had the persistence or patience, but would like to feel like I'd seen orbital mechanics at play in a double star system over a few years. Barnard's star comes to mind too. Timelapses of M1 evolving over 2 decades or so - superb effort by the imagers, but I wonder if it's a plausible lifetime project for a visual observer/sketcher!
• The star associated with Cygnus X1. Easy observation. No sight of the black hole of course, but iconic, and worthy of a place on the bucket list for me.
• Central Milky Way from a long way south under superb dark and clear conditions.
• Solar eclipse. Need to plan ahead and make sure I'm in the right place at the right time before I run out of chances!
• Northern lights. Another one for the future.

[John]

4 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

First post for a while with observing having taken a back seat to other things in life recently, but a very inspiring thread with some awesome sights. A handful from me that I don't think I've seen mentioned above:

• Pillars of Creation. I've looked for it in a 10", but not successfully seen yet. One day!
• Half illuminated Jovian moon. I think I saw on odd elongated shape to Europa a number of years ago as it emerged from eclipse over the duration of a minute or so. Would love to repeat this and get more confidence. Feels more doable than albedo features on Ganymede which I've definitely never seen (but others have), but that could be another one for someone's list - features on a moon around a planet other than ours.
• The bright glob (G1?) associated with M31 was a nice bucket list tick as a glob outside our own galaxy.
• Valles Marineris on Mars. I spent some time looking for it a number of years ago and I think I detected something linear in the right place. From research afterwards I concluded that observing the Valles is implausible, but that the albedo feature surrounding the Valles is plausible. Would love to repeat this and gain confidence. Such an iconic feature in the solar system, even if only observable in a very loose sense as the surrounding albedo feature.
• The large scale structure of the universe. Spotting lonely galaxies in one of the big voids, or a bright galaxy off in some giant filament somewhere. I've had one or two of these on the list from time to time but can't recall the catalog IDs - and success is definitely hit and miss! I'm completely out of my depth on this topic, but interesting to look for the visible parts of structures that are (1) unfathomably far away and (2) span seemingly across the entire night sky despite this!
• Evolution of something in the night sky outside our solar system. I've never had the persistence or patience, but would like to feel like I'd seen orbital mechanics at play in a double star system over a few years. Barnard's star comes to mind too. Timelapses of M1 evolving over 2 decades or so - superb effort by the imagers, but I wonder if it's a plausible lifetime project for a visual observer/sketcher!
• The star associated with Cygnus X1. Easy observation. No sight of the black hole of course, but iconic, and worthy of a place on the bucket list for me.
• Central Milky Way from a long way south under superb dark and clear conditions.
• Solar eclipse. Need to plan ahead and make sure I'm in the right place at the right time before I run out of chances!
• Northern lights. Another one for the future.

Thats a great list Paul 🙂

While on Mars, I believe the clouds that accumulate over the Olympus Mons volcano are visible in amateur scopes under favourable conditions. Is the volcano itself I wonder ? - not sure but it's the biggest in the solar system, I think !

 

Edited 20 hours ago by John

[Size9Hex]

6 minutes ago, John said:

Thats a great list Paul 🙂

While on Mars, I believe the clouds that accumulate over the Olympus Mons volcano are visible in amateur scopes under favourable conditions. Is the volcano itself I wonder ? - not sure but it's the biggest in the solar system, I think !

 

That's another great one for the list. 👍 I'd be super excited to see those clouds knowing their connection to the volcano, even if the volcano itself wasn't directly observable. Like hearing a bird singing in the tree tops, and feeling the joy, even though you might not spot the singer. I've always looked for those clouds (and around I think it's Pavonis Mons etc), but not seen them yet. Definitely some dust storms though! 😂

[mikeDnight]

 

 

 

 

This may be helpful in pinpointing Olympus Mons visually. The top cylindrical grid and the bottom right sketch shows (near the limb) the position of O Mons relative to other features, as do the two globes. The curved dusky features leading to O Mons are relatively obvious once detected. Olympus Mons itself can be seen as a dark patch more often as it approached the central meridian, possibly because we're looking through the mist at its thinnest rather than from the side when close to the limb.  

Below - Cylindrical grid from the 2016 apparition showing the northern hemisphere tilted toward us. (Prism diagonal view - 4" refractor). Olympus Mons shown as a dark spot near 5 o'clock position on right hand disk drawing.

Below is a cylindrical grid from the 2003 apparition with the southern hemisphere tilted toward us. (5" refractor) Direct view without diagonal!

And home made globes from observations made (left 2016) & (right 2020) apparitions,  both made using a 4" refractor and both showing Olympus Mons and environs. (Both prism diagonal views).

[Nik271]

11 hours ago, Size9Hex said:

 

• Evolution of something in the night sky outside our solar system. I've never had the persistence or patience, but would like to feel like I'd seen orbital mechanics at play in a double star system over a few years. Barnard's star comes to mind too. Timelapses of M1 evolving over 2 decades or so - superb effort by the imagers, but I wonder if it's a plausible lifetime project for a visual observer/sketcher!

 

Try the Hubble variable nebula. NGC2261. The season for it is over for this year but in winter it is surprisingly easy to see even in suburban skies. I spotted it with a 4 inch frac even with the Moon nearby.  Some people claim that motion can be detected sometimes in the matter in weeks! I didn't spot any though in two observations, perhaps needs a bigger instrument.

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Nik271

[josefk]

Great list @Size9Hex - Barnard's Star is in a recent Sky & Telescope and it IS appealing to mark something like that over several years and have a little arc in the sky on an atlas (or series of sketches) representing decades of observing.

[John]

4 hours ago, josefk said:

Great list @Size9Hex - Barnard's Star is in a recent Sky & Telescope and it IS appealing to mark something like that over several years and have a little arc in the sky on an atlas (or series of sketches) representing decades of observing.

Zeta Herculis is a candidate for this. I posted a rough sketch and an update of it, made 4 years apart, in this thread that @Nik271 started in 2020:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/362978-zeta-herculis-at-last/?do=findComment&comment=3955182

Time for another update to this sketch now - a further 4 years have passed and Hercules is again rising into a favourable position for observing 🙂

 

Edited 4 hours ago by John

[JeremyS]

17 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 

 

 

 

This may be helpful in pinpointing Olympus Mons visually. The top cylindrical grid and the bottom right sketch shows (near the limb) the position of O Mons relative to other features, as do the two globes. The curved dusky features leading to O Mons are relatively obvious once detected. Olympus Mons itself can be seen as a dark patch more often as it approached the central meridian, possibly because we're looking through the mist at its thinnest rather than from the side when close to the limb.  

Below - Cylindrical grid from the 2016 apparition showing the northern hemisphere tilted toward us. (Prism diagonal view - 4" refractor). Olympus Mons shown as a dark spot near 5 o'clock position on right hand disk drawing.

Below is a cylindrical grid from the 2003 apparition with the southern hemisphere tilted toward us. (5" refractor) Direct view without diagonal!

And home made globes from observations made (left 2016) & (right 2020) apparitions,  both made using a 4" refractor and both showing Olympus Mons and environs. (Both prism diagonal views).

🤔 needs more cheese

[Size9Hex]

Load of great ideas above. Thanks for pointers everyone. 👍

And absolutely remarkable sketches and models @mikeDnight (and not sure the word sketches quite does it justice for something so beautifully studied across an observing season). I'll be coming back to this when volcano hunting!