Some are bright enought to be observed from the suburbs, they come in different shapes (M57 vs NGC 5189 vs M27), they can be quite ghostly (Helix, Spare Tyre in Grus, Shapely1), they can show colour (Blue Planetary), and some of them show inner structure (Eskimo, Saturn Neb, Ghost of Jupiter) which make a nice reward for spending time and teasing it out. Then of course there is the thought of the planets that exist / existed around the star
and that it is possibly Sol's eventual fate.
Last edited by astro_south; 20-03-2007 at 04:35 PM.
It was a photo finish between Nebula and Open Clusters, as Globular Clusters are dim in my 8" scope, and I''ve never seen a Planetary Nebula. I've only ever seen one Galaxy, and even then I had to ask this forum if that 'large smudge of frosted glass' really was M31 Andromeda.
Orion and Carina are the first things I look for, so I chose Nebula.
Open clusters - I love the beauty of all the stars grouped together. I can observe OCs in my heavily light polluted back yard, but when at a dark sky site the WOW factor goes up exponentially!
)
