Choose Your Favourite Planet

[Matty P (Matt)]

Choose Your Favourite Planet.

I am interested to see which planet in our solar system is the most popular to observe or image.

P.S. I know Pluto is considered a dwarf planet but I still regard it as the ninth planet in our solar system. So I decided to include it in the poll.

Please post which planet you selected.

[§AB]

I vote Jupiter. Just so much too see and it's never the same view twice.

[Outbackmanyep]

Saturn i think gets the WOW factor from the public as well as personally!

[Matty P (Matt)]

My vote goes to Juptier.

I still remember the first time I saw Juptier through the eyepiece, I was speechless.

[norm]

I'm quite impartial to Earth personally !

[Zuts]

I picked Saturn, it's awesome and i remember the images from the recent flyby, but Jupiter is awesome as well .........

Paul

[AJames]

I pick Venus. It is the brightest to the naked-eye, and it is a gross contradiction - sexy Goddess of Love and literally one "Hell" of a planet!!
(If you love a planet with Sulphuric Acid rain, heaps of Carbon dioxide,
and temperatures so hot that would incinerate a pizza - and that sort of stuff.)

[madtuna (Steve)]

I have to agree with Saturn...who doesn't remember thier first ever glimpse of those rings.
I'm not sure which was better, the first time I saw it, or the look of amazement and awe when my daughter saw it for the first time.
Both memories will stay with me for a lifetime.

[turbo_pascale (Rob)]

I went with Jupiter, because it's the easiest to image because it's so big, plus there is a lot to see, always changing.

For "wow" factor, Saturn, just because of the rings.

[Matty P (Matt)]

Here's a story,

On the same day that I saw Jupiter for the first time, I also saw Pluto (I'm pretty sure it was Pluto). At the time it was at around 14 magnitude. I selcted Pluto on my Goto scope and there it was, a pin point of light. What a night that was!

[edwardsdj (Doug)]

I went for Jupiter. Jupiter and its moons are so dynamic. The rotation rate of the planet allows you to see so much in a single session.

I've often spent four or five hours continuously observing Jupiter

[Jarrod]

i voted Jupiter. although Saturn and Jupiter are almost equal as far as visual beauty goes, there is just more to see on Jupiter. This is even considering that a havent yet viewed Jupiter through my 10". im comparing a brief 8" SCT view of Jupiter with a my 10" newt view of Saturn.

Jarrod.

[iceman (Mike)]

Earth should be there too! But I chose Jupiter, the king!

But for public session etc, Saturn is always a favourite and gets that WOW factor.

No one ever believes it's real!

Matty I doubt you saw Pluto - your 8" scope would struggle to see 14th mag and you wouldn't know pluto from all the other faint blurs

[Ric]

Saturn is my favourite, it was the first planet I saw with my first scope some 40 year ago and I still get a buzz when I see it now.

Cheers

[Matty P (Matt)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Matty I doubt you saw Pluto - your 8" scope would struggle to see 14th mag and you wouldn't know pluto from all the other faint blurs

You're probably right but I am pretty sure it was somewhere there. Might be a good reason for a larger scope.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I picked Saturn, for the wow factor It was first planet I ever saw through a "real" telescope. It will be interesting to see what happens next year when some people will see Saturn for the first time ever...without rings! Without rings, it is just a little yellow blob!

Now if Jupiter had rings Or if Saturn had some more bright moons and some surface detail...

[Sharnbrook (Mike)]

The first planet I ever saw was Saturn with a 6inch open truss reflector, not even on a mount, but propped against a low wall in the garden. That was in about 1979, but I shall never forget the impact it had on me.

Having said that, Earth really is the most amazing planet of all.

[kljucd1 (Daniel)]

Hi,

I like Mars.

My decision to get into astronomy is based on some reading I did about the Moon and Mars, which means that my choice is mainly due to sentiment.

Regards

Daniel...

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Saturn for me....a sentimental favourite. Like others have said, it had a huge impact on me when observing as a teenager with a friend's 60mm Tasco. When I show it to newbies, they are always completely amazed.

As far as practical observing goes, Jupiter is certainly the most dynamic planet, and the one that bears the most fruit from observing. I can completely understand why so many people have gone with Jupes.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

I went with Saturn as those rings are just something special as a piece of visual eye candy, irrespective of your experience as an amateur astronomer. I enjoy observing the moon and shadow transits on Jupiter and look forward to the double double transits which don't occur all that often. I spend a miniscule amount of time on Mars when it grows over 15", but don't waste my time otherwise. Venus is just a hell hole of a planet, either on its surface or through the eyepiece

Cheers,
John B