What single astronomical event would you like to see before you Died

[Crebles]

Great question.

For me it'd be seeing Betelgeuse go supernova.

or finding simple life on Enceladus or Europa.

[sorry - that's two isn't it]

[JB80]

A proper meteor storm would be nice, on a warm, clear, autumn night

Meteor-Shower.jpg

Best to keep an eye out in May then, I believe official word is that it's a 50/50 call there may be one.

http://earthsky.org/space/comet-209p-linear-meteor-shower-storm-may-2014

Shame I'll be otherwise occupied around then otherwise I'd chance it and book a holiday for the peak, I hope the estimates change before then.

[deepspacehunter]

I would like to see a new star form and come out of the ORION NEBULA.... another RUNAWAY STAR... it would make the (already awesome) ORION NEBULA look even more spectacular !

[crashtestdummy]

Betelgeuese going BANG.

Ditto for me.

[Peter Drew]

+1 for a good meteor storm, one of the few things I've not yet seen. 

[Pete Presland]

A sun grazing comet that survives and can be seen i daylight

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[jnb]

The end of the Universe?

[PhobosPhil]

Watching the Milky Way and Andromeda collide would be a long drawn out affair.

I'd like to see the end result of it.  Andromeda is bound to have a few picturesque objects in it that can rival the likes of the pillars of creation.

[davedownsouth]

Two star, colliding would be great, and I mean the actual impact, up close and personal

[bish]

Proof of life elsewhere. Doesn't even have to be intelligent.

[DaveS]

I'd like to see the end result of it.  Andromeda is bound to have a few picturesque objects in it that can rival the likes of the pillars of creation.

The end of it would, I'm afraid just be another boring eliptical where nothing happens 'cos all the gas has either gone into a burst of star formation during the collision or else been ejected.

If one was immortal and could apreciate these things the collision itself could be quite fun, with the galaxies making two or even three passes.

Astronomers outside the local group would classify us as "peculier" in some otherworldly "Arp" catalogue. Food for thought.

[Christopher Davenport]

+1 on Betelgeuese going BANG.

[fwm891]

At the moment I'd be happy with a calm clear night at new moon...

[Mick UK]

A thought just occurred to me that would set the pulse racing and is probably not so far fetched either if we accept that there could be intelligent life out there.

We all know the large amount of probes we send to other planets and moons in our Solar system that go into their orbit and send us back data and images etc, so what if an amateur astronomer somewhere managed to find an incoming probe from another world that was a few months away from settling into an orbit around the earth so it could send information back to its home planet!

It would be great watching the daily updates on the news as (no doubt) the Americans send a manned craft to it to analyze etc.

I wonder how our governments would react to such an event, would they treat it as a friendly probe gathering data such as the ones we send to other planets or would they see it as a threat to our planet and destroy it??

The thought of what this probe was here for and what might follow in the future would probably be the most single important event in the whole of mankinds history. :shocked:

[DaveGarland]

Perhaps a large asteroid crashing into our moon visible enough to see with the naked eye?

Looks like you just missed out on that one!

http://news.sky.com/story/1216455/astronomer-records-asteroid-smashing-into-moon

[DaveS]

Might be a bit too close for comfort. There is a theory that supernovea have a nasty habit of sterilizing vast areas of the galaxy every time they go bang. Who knows how many civilisations have  been wiped out in the universe by being too close to one?

Betelgeuse is, I think, far enough away to be safe. Unless it went GRB and we were looking right down the jet, in which case, Good Night Vienna. The generally accepted safe distance from an "ordinary" supernova is 30-40 LY.

[DazC]

A huge bright comet would be nice.

Betelgeuse going supernova would look amazing, but would ruin my favourite constellation.

D.C

[Mick UK]

"Looks like you just missed out on that one!"

Looks like i missed out on it twice now Dave, your link wont play for me! :cry:

To be honest, i was also thinking about something a little big bigger than a golf ball when i mentioned an asteroid smashing into the Moon......perhaps something the size of the Isle of Man would do it for me! :grin:

[davedownsouth]

Slight change of subject, but if Betelgeuse were to go supernova, would it be so bright that it would actually ruin the night skies for a couple of weeks (read somewhere that it would be so bright it would be visible during the day). I guess you would need some serious filters to view it with (would a dark moon filter be enough?), or are these the kind of questions which just can't be answered until it happens?

[M4lcs67]

A total eclipse of the sun would be nice. I Remember seeing a partial from Northampton in August 1999. Was a bit weird. As it was occurring all the birds started to roost. quite eerie in a lot of ways.

[starman1969]

As with many. Betelgeuse going up would be awesome.

However, being more realistic I'd have to say a total eclipse of the sun.

[DaveS]

The figures I've seen say about mag -12 or so, roughly akin to the full moon, but a point source. Could make uncomfortable viewing.

[davedownsouth]

The figures I've seen say about mag -12 or so, roughly akin to the full moon, but a point source. Could make uncomfortable viewing.

Yes, -12 from a point source would dazzle a bit when looking down an 8" aperture

[LukeSkywatcher]

A total solar eclipse. 

[claire1985]

Sorry if this has been said but didn't a rather large asteroid hot the moon and cause an explosion bright enough to be seen from earth last year? I didn't read the full story but it was on Sky News a couple of days ago, I think it was actually witnessed first hand too