what would you rate as the most special astronomical experience

[leemanley]

Had my scope for 4 months now, loving every precious minute I get to spend with it, so I've not as many experiences as you guys ! The best session I have had so far is anticipating Jupiter coming from behind the neighbours trees, the process of waiting for it to appear, focusing on it and magnifying the view gave me such a great feeling of achievement and excitement. Waiting for Saturn now, can't wait to see those rings !.

Great thread, makes a good read.

[Luke]

Seeing the Virgo cluster of galaxies for the first time last year. Galaxy, after galaxy, after galaxy. I could hardly believe what I was seeing!

[moflaher]

First view of the moon with a f13 telescope at high magnification.

[Quatermass]

First view of Saturn after 3 earlymorning attempts totally awsome ;-)

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[garethmob]

its a cross between hale bopp and the solar eclipse:P

[MisterBill]

I have seen a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse, a Saturn 5 launch and the first Shuttle launch from 9 miles away, a naked eye view of Comet Hyukatake, the Southern Cross from a sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico while surfing down 20 foot waves. The most beautiful thing has been 8 hours of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) while driving from Rochester, New York to Saginaw, Michigan in 1974.

Everything I have observed over the first year of owning my first telescope.

It is hard to rate "the most special" when there is so much.

[JB80]

Seeing comet McNaught for the couple of weeks it was visible in the evenings, whether it was while at home, a friends, sitting out front of the pub or on an isolated hilltop each time I saw it was a sight of beauty. It is going to be hard to be able to top that I imagine.

[assasincz]

First light experience does it for me!

[LukeSkywatcher]

So far my best experience was when i had just bought my 1st scope and observing Saturn for the first time. Its rings were pretty open at the time and even with my 90mm scope it blew my mind.

One thing (the main thing) that is on my bucket list is to observe a total solar eclipse.

P.S.~~~seeing comet Hale Bopp hanging majestically in the sky for what seemed like months was pretty AMAZING. No optics needed. Just look up and there it was (with 2 tails IIRC)

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

One thing (the main thing) that is on my bucket list is to observe a total solar eclipse.

Me too, but after looking at the times and places of the ones in my lifetime, it doesn't look good

[LukeSkywatcher]

Me too, but after looking at the times and places of the ones in my lifetime, it doesn't look good

Sept 28th 2015 looks good for us Europeans/Americans and North Africans. A total solar eclipse is due.

But..............you just know that on that day even though we will be having are annual Indian Summer in the UK and Ireland that it will be 100% cloudy.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Sept 28th 2015 looks good for us Europeans/Americans and North Africans. A total solar eclipse is due.

But..............you just know that on that day even though we will be having are annual Indian Summer in the UK and Ireland that it will be 100% cloudy.

Sep 28th is a lunar eclipse

[LukeSkywatcher]

Sorry you are right. I stupidly read my book wrong. Damn i was getting all excited about a total solar eclipse in Europe.

Although:20th March 2015................partial solar eclipse visible from Europe.

Not a total eclipse, so no prizes there.

Is a total eclipse even possible from UK&Ireland?

I think we just drew the short straw in life astronomically speaking by being born and living here.

Ho hum................

[fountain]

I'm going to go retro, back to being a kid and new to astronomy.

Three things 'wowed' me:

1. Seeing the ring of Saturn. Standard I know.

2. Making out the green hue of the star in Delphinus.

3. Waking up one night about 3AM, wondering what was to be seen in the Sky. Opened the curtains and there passed a fireball.

Those were the reasons I think I knew I would always return to Astronomy, and some ....errr...30+ years later, here I am.

[starlady]

Watching Jupiter rising one May morning as daylight slowly arrived and dawn chorus chirpped out around me.

Getting up early for my first look at the Orion nebula of the season.

Looking up at the Milky Way in the Arizona desert and then catching a lone Coyote wandering by out of the corner of my eye.

[Vega]

- '99 Total Solar Eclipse in a clouded out Camborne, Cornwall.... Was nearly as dark as midnight!

-First Saturn viewing, when it comes to telescope viewing, nothing beats this IMO

-First proper view of the Milky Way on a moonless cloud free August night in Slapton, South Devon. Split the sky in two (at first I thought it was a long thin cloud!).

[fly in the sky]

as i was only young at the time,it would have to be halleys comet.not only an awe inspiring sight,but also inspired a lifelong love of the cosmos!!!

[Beulah]

It's Hale Bopp for me.

It still strikes me today how marvellous it was to see such a beautiful object with the Mk1 eyeballs - what is even more astonishing is that this was a once-in-a-many-generation experience...it will not return until around 4530

[laser_jock99]

It's Hale Bopp for me.

It still strikes me today how marvellous it was to see such a beautiful object with the Mk1 eyeballs - what is even more astonishing is that this was a once-in-a-many-generation experience...it will not return until around 4530

Fingers crossed, there will be (statistically speaking) several more unexpected Oort cloud arrivals in our lifetimes. In the 20th century there were at least five bright comets of note.

[pastiche]

For me the most special astronomical experience is the reaction I get when a child looks through my telescope at one of our 'pavement astronomy' sessions and sees the moon close up for the first time. A real 'wow' moment for both of us!

[fly in the sky]

as i was only young at the time,it would have to be halleys comet.not only awe inspiring,but inspired a lifelong love of the cosmos

[Beulah]

Fingers crossed, there will be (statistically speaking) several more unexpected Oort cloud arrivals in our lifetimes. In the 20th century there were at least five bright comets of note.

But nothing as beautiful as our visitor in 1997...

[Double Kick Drum]

Gonna have to do a Top of the Pops here;

At 5 - I was only a kid but saw Halley's comet in 1986. I probably won't get another chance unless my eyes are in good nick and i'm still mobile at 88 / 89 years old!

At 4 - First time I saw Jupiter and its four brightest moons.

At 3 - First dark sky night with my telescope in late April 2010. Seeing M51 and NGC 5195 really clearly, M65 and 66 in the same FOV and NGC 6543 (The cat eye nebula in Draco). Also showing off Saturn and some of the brighter stuff in the sky to my non-astro friends - they seemed to be impressed.

At 2 - Almost total solar eclipse. Daylight became twighlight and the temperature dropped dramatically. Unforgettable, shame I wasn't 1 degree further south!

At 1 - First ever experience with a telescope. I already knew the sky quite well and managed about 20 objects (many in Sagittarius) one August night at the MKAS (That's Mid-Kent not Milton Keynes) astrocamp, near Forest Row, E Sussex. Sadly, I was young and didn't make any notes and consequently my Messier list should be longer but for not having a proper record!

[EntropyStar]

Well i've been only been visual observing with a scope for over a year so my highlights will be limited in comparison to others!!

I've been blown away looking at all the big hitters - Ring Nebula, Orion Nebula, Virgo Cluster etc but If I had to specify a particular thing then it would be how much I've learned the night sky and our place within it. I knew my way around star maps, the passing of the seasons etc but after observing for nearly a full year I feel so much more intune with 'everything' up there. The way the constellations moved around the night sky seemed baffling to me at first and watching it move over my house for the past year has made it all crystal clear. I just love looking up and seeing the planets all lined up on the ecliptic, fills me with awe everytime. Then explaining that to people and getting them to trace the line out through the night sky joining all the planets up really brings it home how much we're tilted and where we are in our current yearly orbit. I can go out side and instantly orientate myself depending on where the Sun is in the sky, I can predict where the moon will be even if it's been cloudy for days and look up and see it exactly where I KNOW it'll be. I can't explain how good it feels to be 'intune' with it all as such, the sky makes sense, it's not just a random collection of white spots and the moon randomly popping up.

As for a specific telescopic sight.....wow that's hard to choose! Probably not the most obvious of choices......M103 in Cassiopeia was one of my first targets, seeing this little group of different coloured stars all winking away back at me, especially the orange/red prominent pair in the centre....it just blew me away, was never expecting to see that kinda of detail.

[DazC]

My first WOW moment has to be seeing Saturn for the first time but the most special moment for me so far was seeing the huge fireball shooting across the sky a couple of months ago, it was huge and left a massive trail behind it then it broke up and faded. It was as if i was watching it in slow mo.

It was all over the news and all the papers the next day.

Truely out of this world.

D.C