Thanks, Robert. I'm a wise guy from New York. I like when people give it right back to me instead of taking offense.
BTW, I hate it when people refer to DSOs as numbers. It so depersonalizes them

 

Good to have ya here. In that case, I also like the ring nebula. It was my first found that i had to look for as a newb that wasn't blatantly obvious. The others were hopelessly lost still, or easily spotted with binos! I felt really triumphant when I located it!

 

And that my friend is the magic of visual Astronomy. Which is why I am adamantly opposed to Go-To mounts for beginners.

 

I have some favorites..showcase ones. But they are more favorites not because of themselves, but because of what they herald. So when Orion and M42 starts making its appearance to me that means Winter is coming or here. When Leo is positioned well then Spring is in the air. When Hercules and M13 with Lyra and M57 come around well it is Summer. And when Cygnus with its playground of star fields arrives it is Autumn.

So for me, these particular constellations and some of the prominent objects they contain become like old friends coming to visit and bringing a season with them as a hello gift So I like these best more because of that rather than how they look when I observe them.

 

I often think the same way. When I first started the hobby, Saturn and ring nebula were visible high in the summer sky. Then later Orion, my favorite, was visible for the first time in my first "real" scope. A year later, I contemplated everything I had seen and learned, while looking at the same objects that I had the previous year when I started. It was almost surreal. Thanks Bill, you reminded of that wonderful memory!

 

I guess my favorite has to be M41 in Canis Major. Not because it's particularly stunning (though it does have a pretty red star near the center), but because it was the first DSO that I found with my first astro-telescope - a Sears (Towa) 60x700 alt/az - that I got for Christmas 1969. I make a point to view it whenever it's in the sky. Otherwise, I really couldn't say, because there are just too many to choose from.

 

Yes indeed. The Heart of the Dog (doesn't that sound much more exotic than M41?) I make it a point to scope it out every time I'm in the neighborhood.

 

It's already been mentioned a couple times, but my favorite might be M11. I didn't pay so much attention to open clusters when I was starting out 35 years ago, but I've come to appreciate them more in the past decade or so. On a rich one like M11, I love to pump up the power with my C9.25 to 300x or so, until it practically feels like I'm inside the cluster. I love doing this with globular clusters, too, which are some of my other favorite sorts of objects. M13 and M22 come immediately to mind.

 

Yes, after decades of splitting close doubles, counting the Rings of Saturn, resolving stars in GCs and scrutinizing galactic structures, it's nice to take a step back to see what I've been missing. The Wild Duck Cluster is one that I love to pump up the magnification on, but I still love the low power views of certain GCs behind their sentinal stars:

And nothing is more inspiring than viewing Saturn at 80x when it resides in front of a nice star field!

 

I agree. The universe at 50x and less is quite an adventure that many miss because their focus is guided by large aperture and deep explorations. Amazing the beauty of it all at lower powers in greater context. In many ways a much better view and experience.

 

I'm torn. My favorite might be the Ring Nebula, because it was one of the first, if not THE first Messier objects I ever saw when I was a teenager over 30 years ago, and it was a holy $h!t moment for me. To see that hole, I was blown away.
But that's more for sentimental reasons. Oh, sure, it's still a favorite, but for my absolutely favorite, now, I have to go with the Orion Nebula instead. Even observing in Manhattan, I can see some nice detail. I'd love to get the scope outta town and see more, though.

 

Hello all, this my first post here, and I am enjoying this thread very much. I have been an amateur astronomer for about 50 years, visual only, using mostly small refractors. I have a number of favorite dso's, so I can't pick just one. For variety's sake, I want to suggest one that's off the beaten path. I am very fond of NGC 404 in Andromeda, also known as Mirach's Ghost. This is a magnitude 10.3 elliptical galaxy just NW and extremely close to Mirach (beta Andromeda). I first saw it using my Stellarvue Nighthawk 80mm f6 refractor and a UO 12.5mm ortho ep. I had to position Mirach just outside the field stop, so the glare of the star would not block out this little galaxy. It took some time searching, but it was worth the effort. The word "ghost" is a very good description of its appearance. I always like to find it again when fall comes around. It's that time of year, so give it a look if you have a chance. Some patience is required, but you don't have to have a lot of aperture.
Lewis Cason

 

I'm considering purchasing the 36mm Baader Hyperion-Aspheric eyepiece for my 120mm refractor to sweep the Milky Way for DSOs. Does anyone own this eyepiece and have any opinions to share about it? I currently use a 27mm Panoptic for this purpose, but would like the extra field of view that the Hyperion offers. (It is currently on sale at Agena Astro.)

 

Lew, I think you should start a separate thread asking this. This really doesn't have anything to do with your favorite DSO, unless there's a catalog of Baader Hyperion-Aspheric DSOs I'm unaware of. In that case, I would definitely recommend against purchasing it. It's a scam, like selling land on the moon! Don't do it!

 

Jon, I took your advice and moved my eyepiece question over to the eyepiece forum. I seem to have a knack for going off topic.

Thanks,
LewC

 

Since we're back on the topic (I mean DSOs, enjoying low power views, and ghosts), I am always amazed that with my ST80 and a 40mm EP (I know, that's breaking the laws of minimum mag, but hey, I'm not paying for that light that I am wasting by having an 8mm exit pupil hit my 6.2mm dilated pupil) I can pick out the Triangulum Galaxy:

I just look for that star asterism of 8th mag stars, and after a couple of minutes of averted vision, it magically appears!
This is what's really cool about visual astronomy and not using Go-to technology. Of course, I can't discern any structure, but it's really nice to spot this ghost!

 

Very nice, and I know what you mean about the whole "wasted light" thing too! Lol...

 

If I have to specify a favorite summer DSO, it would have to be the Ring Nebula. I spent a lot of time looking at it both visually and through EAA. Because of it, I have decided to make an observation and "imaging" (i.e. as much imaging as I can muster from a beginner's astro camera) list of other planetary nebulas.

 

In my C8 it was m42(brrr). So far this year it is m92 in the 5" frac(ahhh)

 

The Ring nebula in Lyra (Messier 57) is my favorite. Admittedly it is less than spectacular when viewed visually through my 6" Schmidt-Newtonian. It was just a faint grey cloud that with averted vision I could just detect the hole in the center. When I purchased a Mallincam Extreme 2 camera, the Ring nebula was the first DSO I observed and I was blown away with detailed views of this colorful DSO. That view hooked me on this hobby and especially video astronomy.

Tim