which astronomical event struck you the most.

[Sunshine]

Going back through time i would have to say Hyakutake, Shoemaker-Levy 9 and, most recently would be my first image of a planet. When i first began playing with those sliders in Registax and seeing those bands on Jupiter jump out i was a bit over the moon. 

[BlueStinger]

My interest in the nightsky has always been there but only this year has it taken off like a rocket! So there are some things I do remember and some things I have only recently discovered because of my new hightened interest so I'm going to list a few of them too, as they did 'strike' me so to speak

I saw Hale Bopp with my own eyes. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing if I remember, like, noway! A real comet, kind of reaction. I was living in Southampton at the time and if I'm not mistaken it wasn't fully dark either. Amazing. Then there's the Solar Eclipse of '99, and the thing that struck me the most with that was how otherworldy the daylight became. Not just how it looked but the sound, or lack of as everyone stopped what they were doing. Even the animals went quiet.

Now to the stuff I never witnessed but read about, whether recently of knew of beforehand. So there's The Carrington event which was a real interesting read including the 2012 (I think) near miss! Crazy stuff. Then there's the Tunguska event, which I remember reading about in a book when I was a kid. It was a bit more mysterious back then though.

The big one for me though is Black Holes. Incredible things! They scared me as a kid after an episode of Space 1999 where they got all stretched as they got pulled into it getting too close in one of those cool ships. Then again I remember that show always managing to scare me back then 🤣

Edited November 13, 2020 by BlueStinger

[M0TFT]

Several. Like others Hale Bopp, i had just finished building my 6" dobsonion telescope and was just in time to see the comet close up. Next up seeing Saturn's rings through same telescope. Standing at a campsite near Mt Snowden at 3 in the morning trying to find north, I thought I knew my way around the sky, but all of the gaps were full of stars!

[niallk]

I came out of a pub in Allihies after a feed of pints, and walked back to the place we were staying in Bortle 3-2. Couldnt see the road This was August, and wow... the night sky with the Milky Way was incredible.  It's what triggered me to start considering buying a telescope, and I started finding places like SGL on-line 😂

Naked eye under truly dark conditions is something special - Andromeda so surprisingly huge and obvious down at the Skellig Star Party in Bortle 2 is an amazing memory.

This year, NEOWISE gave a lot of joy during lockdown when I finally saw it naked eye, and got my kids out of bed to come see it 😊

[Marvin Jenkins]

48 minutes ago, niallk said:

I came out of a pub in Allihies after a feed of pints, and walked back to the place we were staying in Bortle 3-2. Couldnt see the road This was August, and wow... the night sky with the Milky Way was incredible.  It's what triggered me to start considering buying a telescope, and I started finding places like SGL on-line 😂

Naked eye under truly dark conditions is something special - Andromeda so surprisingly huge and obvious down at the Skellig Star Party in Bortle 2 is an amazing memory.

This year, NEOWISE gave a lot of joy during lockdown when I finally saw it naked eye, and got my kids out of bed to come see it 😊

I love the term ‘feed of pints’ suprized you could see the sky at all. 😂 

[AdeKing]

There are a number of events which spring to mind, like the first view of Jupiter and Saturn through a telescope, but for me I think the biggest wow moment was seeing my first shadow transit on Jupiter.

The realisation that I was watching the shadow cast by another planet's moon pass across the planets face really floored me and was a massive WOW moment.

Another event was on a similar theme and was the Mercury transit of the sun last November.

The first views of Sunspots in both H-alpha and White Light were also key moments.

Ade

[melsky]

Undoubtedly the 1999 solar eclipse which I witnessed from northern France but just to be different videoing a spectacular pass of the dragon capsule CRS-18 over the UK back in July 2019. The capsule, second stage and two tumbling solar panel covers rose quickly up travelling across the sky much faster than the ISS. It was amazing watching multiple electric blue thruster firings expand into space as it went overhead applying course corrections, all to soon it faded rapidly as it encountered the earth’s shadow, but it was a fantastic sight.

Mel

 

[maw lod qan]

The one that hooked me, even though it took years to get going again was Saturn through a cheap reflector back in the late 60's.

The GAE in '17 brings me to tears being I was able to share it with my youngest daughter and her son, my youngest grandson.

A first total eclipse for us all. 

Thanks to you here on the SGL, I can add the Mercury transit and Luna occulting Mars.

Two not really actual astronomy, but science/space was witnessing Apollo 11 launch at the Cape.

The other is a memory that will forever be with me! I was quite casually watching the Space Shuttle Challenger lifting off in the distance through my telephoto lens, just to use up the last of the film on the roll. Just as I focused it manually, it exploded. 

I think I took a dozen images, the last showing contrails from the debris falling.

[Xilman]

On 07/11/2020 at 14:00, messier 111 said:

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

Pretty much the same for me, but the 98% solar eclipse back in 1999 was impressive.

I saw the scars from SL-9 during a conference held in Boston. A friend at MIT invited me around to a meeting of their astronomical society where they had set up a telescope on the roof of a faculty building in Cambridge.

[messier 111]

i am very happy to see you like this thread.
thank you for your fascinating sharing.☺️

[PXR-5]

For me, I really enjoyed the Transit of Venus in 2012

lots of clouds, but I got some good views anyway

 

The solar eclipse of 99 was pretty awesome 😎 had to drive an hour south for Totality, found a little park with a fair amount of friendly folks 🙂

 

Jeff

Edited November 15, 2020 by PXR-5

[M40]

Great topic 👍 For me, seeing my first double star, Achird, seeing and getting a picture of a phase of Venus, talk about grin 😎

[messier 111]

7 hours ago, PXR-5 said:

For me, I really enjoyed the Transit of Venus in 2012

lots of clouds, but I got some good views anyway

 

The solar eclipse of 99 was pretty awesome 😎 had to drive an hour south for Totality, found a little park with a fair amount of friendly folks 🙂

 

Jeff

hi jeff nice to see you here , stay safe .

[Nicola Hannah Butterfield]

On 07/11/2020 at 16:46, L8-Nite said:

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.

Saw one in the late 90's early naugties, not sure which, but same time frame 6-8's, I was driving home from work about 1am, I was living on Skye at the time, totally light up the area, another same direction exploded the size o a full moon, it passed across the Isle, as I saw it go right left, gf at the tome saw it go left right, there were some 30 miles différance between us at the time.

[Paul M]

On 14/11/2020 at 19:45, melsky said:

just to be different videoing a spectacular pass of the dragon capsule CRS-18 over the UK back in July 2019

That was a great video. I watched it a few times.

One thing that surprised me though, as it passed overhead, is how noisy its tyres were! 🤣

[bish]

It probably has to be the 2015 total eclipse. I saw it from a plane and it was incredible. The 2017 eclipse is a close second. Not event as such, but seeing the rings of Saturn as a kid, through a 60mm scope, will always stay with me. I have managed to miss the great comets, but the outburst of 17P Holmes (around 2007?) also comes to mind.

[L8-Nite]

On ‎16‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 08:30, bish said:

It probably has to be the 2015 total eclipse. I saw it from a plane and it was incredible. …………………………….

That was a great one, and quite a few of my neighbours gathered around for the event.