which astronomical event struck you the most.

[messier 111]

which astronomical event struck you the most.

 

there may be more than one.

as for me, I will tell you a little later.
 I'll give you the floor first.

 

 

[RobertI]

It’s a great question but really hard to answer. I think some of the most visually memorable events have been when well known object come together in the sky for a short period - memorable recent examples include Venus and the Pleiades close together and Jupiter , Saturn, Mars and the moon next to each other. One to look forward to is the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21 when they will be just 0.1 degrees apart! Comets such as Hale Bopp and more recent Neowise are memorable as they are usually once in a lifetime events. 

Edited November 7, 2020 by RobertI

[messier 111]

I enjoyed seeing Hyakutake comet.
hall-bopp comet.
but the gift of a lifetime Shoemaker-Levy 9.

WOW,

When for the first time I heard about this comet, I was captivated by the fact that it could perhaps enter into a collision with Jupiter.
there it is in 1993 and they predict that it will be on the way to colision in July 1994 with the giant jupiter. I immediately bought a telescope to see this phenomenon. So from July 16, 1994 to July 22, 1994, I was in the front row to see this show with my telescope.

the spectacle of a lifetime, nothing has yet captivated me so much.  voila

[MartinHiggins]

Hi, nice question, my first view of the Plaiedies and Cassiopeia looking through my first peice of kit, a 16/70 bino  and later first view of moon  through C90 Mak with binoviewer.

Cheers

[markse68]

There are the things we can see every year that the first time you see them are real wows (i’m still quite new to all this so there have been loads- Mars especially lately!) but that first sighting of neowise was so odd and amazing!

Mark

[andrew s]

First image of volcano on Io.

Regards Andrew 

[wulfrun]

Recently, Neowise, which has rekindled my astronomy interest. Ever, probably the total eclipse of 1999, for which I was not quite in the umbra region but it went very dark and I managed a series of shots leading up to and beyond totality. Just a chip of the sun showing.

[globular]

I've not had my telescope very long.  I got it for my wife and I for our 31st wedding anniversary back in July and the first thing we looked at was a star 31 light years away... so the light hitting our eyes was from the day we got married.  It was a lovely moment.
Since then I think I've had a WOW moment almost every time I've pointed the scope at the sky... it's all so new and amazing.  Loving it!

[DaveL59]

I guess for me, the space race and the first moon landing. Later in life out on Blackheath watching a comet in the night sky, the meteor showers and gazing up at the various constellations. Last 4 years using the stars to check binocular alignment after working on them and gazing at Orion with them, noticing the nebula and wondering how much more a scope would show me, what a slippery slope that's turned out to be! Then of course my first real close looks at Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and now Mars, wow, just WOW 🙂 

[MimasDeathStar]

Definitely Hale-Bopp. I was about 14 at the time. I'd never really taken much interest in the night sky but I remember standing in my driveway looking up and it was just... there! Brilliant.

[Zermelo]

The 2012 transit of Venus, because I won't see another.

From my location there was a short window between sunrise and end of transit. The night before, I set up a small refractor and projection arrangement in an upstairs room, pointed at the eastern horizon. Next morning we got up at dawn and found the horizon covered in cloud, but the sun escaped just in time for us to see the disc before it was over. The thing that surprised me was the size of Venus - I had been expecting to see something smaller.

[Tiny Clanger]

I had a fascination for space right from when I was a small child, and was given a telescope of the 'serious looking, but really a toy' variety for Xmas . I recall which particular house window I was looking through with it , and we moved away from that home when I was seven, so I must have been that age or younger when I looked at the Moon magnified for the first time. Over half a century on, and that remains as a moment of awe burnt into my memory.

Second major thing was the Apollo program. I still have the scrapbooks I enthusiastically kept from Apollo 11 to 17. Dad woke me up to come downstairs and see the vague blurry monochrome TV live broadcast of that 'One small step ... '

[Tiny Clanger]

Apologies for the sideways images, they were the right way round in photoshop ...

[Roy Challen]

46 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

The 2012 transit of Venus, because I won't see another.

It was 2004 for me, 2012 was clouded out where I was.

Neowise would definitely be a recent highlight.

Number one though, the first time going to a truly, truly dark sky although that wasn't really an event, it felt like one though!

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by Roy Challen

[Nigella Bryant]

Total eclipse of the sun from Turkey 2006.

[Roy Challen]

Oh yes, I forgot about the annular eclipse in 2012. My wife and I were on our honeymoon in Japan, we saw the eclipse in Kyoto. That was pretty special. That's what my avatar picture is of!

[NGC 1502]

As previously mentioned - the 2004 Transit of Venus.  There were none in the 20th Century and 8th June 2004 was eagerly anticipated but the clouds as always can spoil the event.

However from Essex UK the day dawned bright and clear and stayed that way for the whole fabulous event 👍

We were clouded out for the brief opportunity to see the last bit of the 2012 transit......the next one is......2117, which makes 2004 even more special.

[Fozzie]

A few years back there was a venus/jupiter conjunction in the evening skies.. seeing both planets in a 24/68 exsci so was great..  Venus in the Pleiades, and recently mars has been spectacular..

Best I think though was not so much the sights, but the quality of views during the beast from the east.. absolutely stunning conditions.. cold but stunning!

[L8-Nite]

The event which struck me the most was the one that started my lifelong interest in Observing. It was one early evening in 1964 when I witnessed a fireball while washing out my Dad's cement mixer after the day's work on the patio. I saw it pass over head which must have took six or eight seconds to go from horizon to horizon. Not long afterward he bought me a small used refractor.

[markse68]

Oh how could i forget- the reason i got properly into the hobby- pretty underwhelming image but that first image and the process involved of a black hole from the EHT definitely stirred something 😉

[Paul M]

My no 1.  The 1999 Total Solar Eclipse viewed from the center line on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

If it hadn't been for that my no.1 would have been the 2006 Total Solar Eclipse viewed from the center line Turkey. So that's no.2

[DaveL59]

6 minutes ago, Paul M said:

My no 1.  The 1999 Total Solar Eclipse viewed from the center line on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

If it hadn't been for that my no.1 would have been the 2006 Total Solar Eclipse viewed from the center line Turkey. So that's no.2

ahh my memories of that 99 eclipe was standing at Heathrow not too many steps away from a parked Concorde. No eclipse glasses but the projected mini images cast by holes in the leaves of a plant next to us showed it beautifully on the pavement beneath. Magical 🙂 

[Luke]

I'm going to have to go with my first ever view through a telescope, looking at craters on the moon. The scope was an impulse buy from Jessops and although I could have got something much better for a bit more, I will always treasure those first few views on the rather wobbly mount! I thought, "Why haven't I looked though a scope earlier in my life?!" I found it staggering how much detail I could see.

[reezeh]

16 hours ago, messier 111 said:

which astronomical event struck you the most.

 

there may be more than one.

as for me, I will tell you a little later.
 I'll give you the floor first.

 

 

I guess it has to be Hale-Bopp. I just wish that I could have had true dark skies for it.  But it was really impressive even from where I live. 

[Budgie1]

31st May 2003:

Arrived at the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, the northern most point of the Western Isles (Out Hebrides), at 03:00 to await Sunrise and the only Annual Eclipse I'm going to see in my lifetime in the UK.

As the time of the eclipse approached, all assembled looked at the cloud and though "this isn't looking good!".

Then the clouds parted enough to reveal this:

     

I didn't know whether to watch the event or photograph it. Luckily I did both so I have the memory and the images to remind me.