TheSkySearchers

Why is it that we hunt after the faintest of fuzzies? Those diaphanous wisps of faint light. Maybe it's the thrill of capturing distant galaxies at the eyepiece. Since the age of 13 I've been mesmerized by the Virgo Cluster, and the realms of galaxies in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici. Lately I've been focusing on "outliers" such as galaxies in Cygnus and Lyra, where the dense field of stars makes identifying them doubly difficult. But that is the reason I went for an 18" scope, to poke further into the universe.

One of my quests at the end of last year was to observe all of the satellite galaxies of M31, which includes NCG 147 and NGC 185 in Cassiopeia, another place where the star fields are dense. Fortunately I was able to see them from the backyard.

Whenever I catch a new object I have not seen before there is a rush of excitement, an infusion of adrenaline. Furthermore, when I can find them from my at home perch with its modicum of light pollution I am even more satisfied. One kind of expects to find these objects when on a dark sky excursion, but not always from home.

So chances are I will continue to observe until I just can't do it anymore because the results are so pleasing. Yes, I am now diversifying into lunar and planetary observations but probably the attraction to galaxy viewing will always remain, even when I am finally able to finish the H1, H2, and H3 catalogs, as something that is beyond the classic 110 Messier objects. The thrill of the hunt will always keep me going.

Darn right Michael. Viewing is very rewarding and thrilling too!

I get energized when I am out under the night sky whether I am viewing, or imaging. Different, but related and very enjoyable.
It’s fun to collect multiple targets viewing, and very much fun also collecting data on one target for a night. The big difference is that you can replay the nights viewing in your mind, or view an image that took a whole night on a print or computer. Both are very fulfilling while actually viewing/imaging and replaying mentally or visually. Wow, astronomy is a really cool hobby!

I tell you though, talking astronomy with someone that has no interest in astronomy ends in either a blank look or an unrelated question. I just don’t understand why they don't share my enthusiasm! I can count on one or maybe two fingers the people that I know that have any interest in astronomy at all. That is the void that “TheSkySearchers” fills! Got a great group of helpful and courteous folks here to share with and they are truly interested!

Thanks for sharing your interests and goals Michael,
Jim

Well said Michael! I can relate to the trill of catching the faintest one and pushing beyond that next night and to the nightmare of hunting faint fuzzies in the rich star fields.

Two days ago I have completed H400-2 and two years ago H400-1. I thought after I finish H400-3 I will be done with lists, but as the day getting closer, the Herschel 2,500 does not sound too bad and to think about whole NGC catalog is just about 8,000 targets...
I will need a bigger scope though.

Well said Jim! Even my family while supportive and enjoy occasional session think I am a bit nut. I guess I am

helicon wrote: ↑Tue Jun 04, 2019 2:54 pm Why is it that we hunt after the faintest of fuzzies? Those diaphanous wisps of faint light. Maybe it's the thrill of capturing distant galaxies at the eyepiece. Since the age of 13 I've been mesmerized by the Virgo Cluster, and the realms of galaxies in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici. Lately I've been focusing on "outliers" such as galaxies in Cygnus and Lyra, where the dense field of stars makes identifying them doubly difficult. But that is the reason I went for an 18" scope, to poke further into the universe.

So chances are I will continue to observe until I just can't do it anymore because the results are so pleasing. Yes, I am now diversifying into lunar and planetary observations but probably the attraction to galaxy viewing will always remain, even when I am finally able to finish the H1, H2, and H3 catalogs, as something that is beyond the classic 110 Messier objects. The thrill of the hunt will always keep me going.

I think we are pretty similar, Michael. My first scope was a 60mm refractor when I was 12--and for some weird reason I took a strong liking to galaxy hunting--even though most of what I saw in the early years from light-polluted Minneapolis were in the pages of Sky and Telescope Magazine! I think I actually saw maybe a half dozen Messier galaxies as a boy. Now, having lived under dark skies for decades, my scopes are bigger and the galaxies I've observed are in the many hundreds! I finished the H1 list last year, and am also slowly working my way through the H2 and H3 lists---while spending more time observing Arp galaxies and other pairings.

This is a very solitary hobby, though. Thank goodness for the internet to share ideas/experiences!

Here am I on the same wavelength, Michael!

Happy completed the Cepheus Bubble and some arcs around, the next will be some more faint fuzzy challenges beyond those in the IDSA.
Beating the sky atlases, and the popular lists, is the way to go,

JG

During my visit to the Adirondack Sky Center on an outreach night some weeks ago I took on a whole new perspective on DSO's.
This was largely due to the sky which was the darkest I have ever seen. We were able to view through a Meade LX 55 (I think. 12 inches of aperture?).
One of the docents there put the scope on the Lagoon Neb and stood back claiming that it was very dim and did not expect us to see a lot , much less become excited about it.
WRONG! It was just fabulous!
Most of the visitors went away totally unimpressed except me. Was it my familiarity with DSO observing with smaller aperture scopes in LP skies that made me appreciate it?
I am sure my spontaneous and loud comments left others wondering who this nut was.

I have appreciated your post and sentiment Michael as well as comments of others.

As I have read this thread and recall my own journey and late start, I reflect.

There have been a number of interests that have developed for me later in my life. These interests, astronomy being one, have served as a sort of elixir.
Although when I read accounts of 25 or 40 years of activity in astronomy I have felt a sort of envy.

But on second thought I realize that the universe will far outlast me...If I manage to live 25 more years I will never catch up to you Michael.

I am still at the beginning. And I want to draw as much from the marrow as is possible.

It is not what I can give to the hobby, and along the way what notches I have cut in the legs of the mount. These are all well and good. But it is what this activity has given to me, how it has affected me, how it has given personal perspective. I am very unscientific in all of this.

I am looking forward to continuing my tale.
I look forward to being here as you write new chapters in yours.

Thank you.

Hello Michael! I always enjoy reading your posts because it's easy to see how you deeply love this hobby. Your detailed descriptions of objects and heartfelt comments are greatly appreciated. I think that most of us here on TSS share the feelings you have but cannot always put it into words as well as you. You have to love galaxy hunting to progress through the Herschel cats as you and a few others here have done. I've completed the H1 and about half way through H2 and H3. Sometimes I think I'm going cross eyed :twitch: but never discouraged because of you and the fantastic group here on the forum.

Your passion and sentiments ring true with me as well Michael. It is nice to have a place where folks, and we are few in terms of the total population as others have mentioned, of like mind can come together to share their experiences and love of the night sky.

I too began as a young boy. While I don't remember a lot from those days, I do remember summer nights in a small mid-western town with my sad little Gilbert 3 inch reflector and a pair of Tasco 7x50 binoculars. Resources were slim back then as was money to be honest. But I did have a planisphere and perhaps a copy of Sky & Telescope on occasion when I could get my hands on one. I remember being entranced particularly with Messier 6 & 7 and would observe them frequently. I didn't always know what I was looking at when I scanned the sky, but I knew it touched me in a visceral sense. While I have been away from the hobby at various times during the subsequent years, I always seem to wander back to it with the same childhood fascination.

My love of galaxy hunting really solidified around 1980 when I acquired a 17.5" Coulter Odyssey-II dobsonian. It was quite the behemoth, bulky and heavy. As a young man it was about all I could handle being moved around and set up. The first time I turned it upon Messier 51 was an epiphany. I had of course seen many images of the galaxy, and my first view with that scope was image-like. It was astoundingly bright and the swirling mass of its spiral arms right in my face. The connecting bridge between it and NGC 5195 was very apparent. Something in my brain clicked at that moment and galaxies have forever been my passion. Though the vast majority of galaxies I have observed since have not been so highly detailed, that has never deterred me. Whenever I see one I have not before, I am simply amazed. It may only be the most subtle smudge of light in my now truss-style 17.5" (Coulter mirror lives on!), but I am just as tickled to see it as I was back then with M51. The details are wonderful of course, but its much deeper than simple visual details for me.

Now, with the 17.5" permanently housed at our second house over in the mountains of Virginia, in the least populated county in the state and its darkest skies, it is very reminiscent of the skies we enjoyed in rural Indiana of the 70s into the 80s. In those conditions I am the proverbial kid in a candy shop again. I feel at home under that dark celestial vault, where the stars are in such profusion as to overwhelm the senses and truly make one feel small and insignificant. I feel privileged to stand beneath such a stunning display sharing what all the great forerunners of observational astronomy have shared over the centuries. But I do so with a much deeper understanding of what I am looking at, which makes me feel empowered.