My favourite deep-sky objects are double stars, especially Beta Orionis (Rigel), because it was the first double star I could split up after buying my first serious telescope.
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There are several favorites, but the best is being able to split the double-double epsilon-lyra at the lowest power possible. My memory is foggy, but I think I’ve split them at 60X.
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I’m up in the Kingman area . About 40 miles east of town up on the Colorado plateau .
I always love to look at the Orion Nebula. It is fascinating whether using naked eye, binoculars or telescope.
I also like to look at M44 the Beehive cluster. My favorite open cluster in binoculars. It dances, twinkles and shines like a hive of bee’s in binoculars. Always fun to see.
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Yeah those are so cool 
, I too love them (but I don’t have a pair of binoculars!). What about M45, pleaides?
Nikolai.
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The Andromeda Galaxy
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You didn’t capture this, right?
I feel that it’s too bright, I don’t know, I just said. 
Nikolai
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Perseus double cluster. In binoculars, they are lovely. In my big scope, you have to use low power. Too high a power, and all you’re doing is counting how many stars you can resolve. I never use anything shorter than my 32mm eyepiece.
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hi.
I’m with you love the Orion Nebula
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The Whirlpool Galaxy.
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Me too. My favorites are M13, M22 and Omega Centauri. I managed to see that from Northern California, just a few degrees about the horizon.
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Yeah , some great globs . M3 is great too . First time I looked at it I was pleasantly surprised . I got Omega Centauri out at Joshua Tree National park . It was awesome in my 8 inch Schmidt Newt . Still only a few degrees off the horizon at best . It’s great that you grabbed it up north !
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I saw it with a 6" f/8 from the San Jose area. Even with that, low to the horizon it still looked great. I also spotted NGC 5128 the same night.
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You know , it’s been probably 15 years ago so I don’t remember if I grabbed that galaxy or not . I’d have to drag out my logbooks and check . But man , that glob is an eyepiece full for sure . My two companions that night had six inch scopes . A Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain and a Celestron Achromat . It’s amazing how much more you grab with the extra 2 inches .
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Yeah, I have two 6” and a 10”. The difference is huge, but they all have their place. My 6” f/8 is basically grab and go. I save the 10” for my dark site excursions.
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My 8 inch Schmidt Newt is f4 but with the corrector plate it reduces coma to half . I tend to do better with my 5 inch Achromat at f9.3 on planets and use my Schmidt Newt on DSOs . It’s great having both out together being able to go back and forth between eyepieces while one tracks a planet and the other tracks a favorite DSO . Jupiter detail has an edge through the refractor but I had a couple great nights back to back with excellent seeing and pushed Saturn to 360x or 380x , (not sure without checking my log books) through my Schmidt Newt and the image stayed superb . I’ve never been able to repeat that much magnification again on a planet without it falling apart . Mostly though I use my refractor on the planets and my Schmidt Newt on DSO’s . They both are marvelous for lunar surface exploration and at the fast f4 the Schmidt Newt is really impressive on the Moon . I wouldn’t have expected that kind of performance with such a fast tube . But yeah , they each kind of have their individual purpose , Once spoiled by good dark desert skies , I don’t even bother with DSO’s in suburbia . What’s grandiose out in the desert quickly becomes a pathetic fuzzy smudge as light pollution just entirely wipes them out .
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