Favourite Astronomical Memories

[Neilius]

I have a few, but the one that sticks out in memory and sometimes literally makes me shiver when I think about it, is seeing Venus setting over Lake Superior in Canada, and its light casting a shawdow.

I have since read that such a phenomenon is extremely rare.

[Manok101]

I've not had many not having been into astronomy for long, but once as a kid I got to see Saturn through a 26" refractor, I like seeing the pleadeis the first time through my own scope. Finding andromeda for the first time.

[Dave]

For me:

1. Apollo Missions.

2. Comet Hyakutake in 1996. The head of the comet near Polaris, the tail visible naked eye passing through Ursa Major and into Coma Berenices.

3. The Leonid meteor shower in 1999. Looked just like the scene from "Day of the Triffids"

That's why I love this hobby. You never really know what might happen while you are out there.

[barkis]

Yuri Gagarin's Space Flight, made a dream a reality.

The Race, because it really was a race.

Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Lunar landings Mir, Shuttle, ISS.

Voyager Missions, Cassini + Huygens. Let's not forget The

Mars collection of missions, not least Spirit and Opportunity.

Hubble Telescope etc.

I often wonder where most of my years went. Well, a lot of it is filled with the wonder of that lot. Brilliant. I often thought I was born too early, But I reckon I've seen some of the best decades ever. Damned good memories.

Ron.

[moocher]

Two really. Seeing Saturn for the first time when i was about 14 i think, in my old Tasco 60mm bought for me by my dad (RIP)

Comet Hale Bopp, never forget that. What a fantastic sight!!!

Alan:D

[RichardJBartlett]

Lotsamemories there Especially of the moon landing

I do remember, as a nearly 10 year old, being allowed to watch the Space Shuttle's first launch attempts at school; not everyone was allowed to step out of class to watch it, I remember sitting in a classroom with some other kids while they counted down... and then aborted LOL

Don't think I ever saw it take off live at school in the end...

[ollypenrice]

Observing the Zodiacal Light with a retired professional in his eighties. He came to see it, he said half jokingly, for the last time. Dr. Rene Dumont is a truly delightful man.

Olly

[Staffy]

1. Several years ago I was sailing up the English Channel in the late evening when there was a sudden bright green flash - similar I believe to the one that was seen in the UK a few days ago. The airwaves went crazy with everybody reporting it to the Coastguard and each other. I forget exactly when it was but I have the newspaper cutting about it tucked away somewhere at home.

2. Seeing the rings of Saturn for the first time. The stuff of science fiction right there in my own telescope!

3. In 2000 I went trekking in eastern Venezuela to Mount Roraima (Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World). One night I nipped out of my tent to answer the call of nature and was completely blown away by the night sky. We must have been fifty miles away from the nearest habitation. tTere were so many stars visible it was difficult to pick out the constellations. I have never seen a sky so perfect since then.

[RichardJBartlett]

Staffy, I enby you. I hear folks talk about the night sky in those terms and I've never been so fortunate to see anything remotely like it

[chiltonstar]

The Southern Cross seen from a tent pitched at the base of Kilimanjiro (is that how you spell it?).

The Milky Way seen from a ski station at nearly 10000 feet.

A horizon to horizon meteor which lit up my village for a second or two like a flashgun and left a glowing trail for a minute (early '80s). Complete with a strange crackling sound, which I assume must have been subjective??

.......and of course, my first view of Saturn through a real telescope at the age of 12.

Chris

[PortableAstronomer]

For me it was the August 1999 total solar eclipse, from a P&O ship off the coast of Normandy. Clear skies, awesome to see the corona with your own eyes.

But what was more surprising were the two buddies I dragged along with me, there were not moved at all and said "was that all?" and "what was all the fuss about?".

Next to that, I'd say seeing the Veil Nebula through a 20" dob.... and using DBE tool in PixInsight and producing good deep sky images from really light polluted streets.

[dogfish]

So many:

The moon landings, when I was eight. Went to watch it at my rich pal's house as he had colour TV. Of course, all the important stuff was in black and white

Doing a galaxy tour at one of the Kielder spring star parties - must have seen 50 galaxies in about an hour.

Seeing the Orion nebula rise over a hill from a dark site. It was so bright you could see the glow coming before it crested the hill.

Lots of telescopic sites, mainly through large to very large dobs.

The meteor shower at the last Salisbury star party - saw hundreds of meteors over a couple of nights.

Cheers, Martin

[Revs]

Being quite a n00b at all this, my wow! moments have been in the last few months. The first has to be my first view of the Moon through my Mak. I'd seen the Moon through a scope before, but only a very basic one. Focusing the Mak for the first time gave me a grin I couldn't stop.

My second wow! moment was with the Dob a few weeks ago, looking at the double cluster NGC869/884. So many bright, crisp stars made me grin from ear to ear . Good times.

[RichardJBartlett]

The double cluster is always great... doesn't matter if I'm observing it with the naked eye, binos or my 'scope, it's always a favourite.

BTW, chiltonstar, if you read this, the crackling sound wasn't subjective... others have reported hearing a similar sound with fireballs

[Altair40]

Object: the Jovian moons through a 60mm refractor.

But.... sort of Mars related...

This is from thirty odd years ago:

Getting Sir Patrick's autograph on one of his 'Scott Saunders Space Adventure' books when I was eight and attended one of his talks at a local astronomical association. The talk was on mars. And i still have the book!

He invited me to drop in at some point if we were passing Selsey and do you know, I think he meant it!

I think I might still have his card somewhere. It was blue.

What a gentleman.

[bamus]

For me it was back in Summer 2004 when as a sea cadet on board merchant vessel we have been crossing Atlantic Ocean. Weather has improved one night and during nighT watch 2nd officer started showing me objects on the sky with binoculars. M31 was amazing, Milky way full with stars, amazing! Can you imagine, no LP for thousands of miles!

I wish I could go back to sea now with knowledge I have got now… At the time I was on the vessel I was not aware of such a thing as Light Pollution and only when I have started observing sky with telescope about 2 years ago, I realized how lucky I was to be able to see darkest sky ever, but at the same time it was pretty depressing when I thought that I will never see it again L

[Altair40]

We should ask around and see if there's a disused oilrig somewhere far offshore. Or a semi submersible rig...

Or the flipship, if that's still around. It would be stable enough...

[RichardJBartlett]

Altair, you're right, Sir Patrick is (if you'll pardon the pun) a star I've met him twice - both times when I was a teenager. He signed my Observer's Guide to Astronomy and I still have it.

A publisher friend of the family got him to sign his autobiography with a personal message for my 30th birthday - very happy with that!!