What was your most fav celestial event

[stattonb]

Just wondering what was there fav celestial event they have seen past or present ? I know there would have to be one that blew you away more then others.
Mine leonid meteor shower 2002 and the Solar Eclipse in Ceduna :)

[iceman]

Total Lunar Eclipse in August 2007 was great, but my favourite was Comet McNaught - just brilliant!

[stattonb]

awesome :)

[gary]

Solar Eclipse Merimbula, NSW 1976 - breathtaking.
Solar Eclipse Wirraminna, South Australia 2002
Leonid Shower Nyngan, NSW 2002
Comet McNaught, IISAC, Lostock, 2007

Undoubtedly the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact of Jupiter in 1994 is going to feature high on some lists.
SN1987A might feature high for some.

[Octane]

Hard to go past Comet McNaught. : )

http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Magellan_Observatory/Magellan_Observatory_20060120_Comet _McNaught.html

That was one of the shots I got of it.

H

[astroron]

Comet Halley 1986
Supernova 1987A
Comet impact on Jupiter,Shoemaker-Levy 9
Comet Hyukataki 1994
Comet Hale-Bopp
Comet McNaught

Cheers

PS
Leonid Meteor shower was spectacular as well.

[Rob_K]

Top three is easy for me:

1. Total solar eclipse 2010, Tuamotu Archipelago, Fr Polynesia. First and only TSE (so far!). Beyond words;
2. Comet McNaught, 2007. The beauty and scale of it awed me;
3. Halley's Comet, 1986. Not that it was spectacular, just the incredible feeling of actually seeing this famous object.

Cheers -

[gary]

Hi H,

McNaught was something else, wasn't it!

Just a heads-up.

At my end the URL resolves with the text content of the page
but the image is not appearing. The browser is just showing a red cross where
it should have loaded.

Best Regards

Gary

[gary]

Good list Ron. Not many surprises there. All knock-your-socks off events.

And if you had to pick just one, which I appreciate is tough, what would you go with?

[Barrykgerdes]

When you get old and decrepit like me the finest celestial event is to see the sunrise in the morning.

Barry

[astroron]

Thanks Gary,Tough choice, :question: but I would have to say Comet Shoemaker -Levy 9, with Supernova 1987A a very, very,very close second. :)
Cheers

[Liz]

Yep, the Leonid meteor shower of 2001 ...... unforgettable, knock ya socks off event. :thumbsup:

[stattonb]

good events guys as i am younger then most to you im kinda limited but i do see Comet McNaugh which was awesome and Leonid Shower 2002 well got a mouthful in the morning after waking my mum up to see it early morning lol

[rmcconachy]

#1 Leonids storm in Nov 2001 from a little north of Alice Springs (very dark skies, the show lasted for hours and the ZHR was huge)
#2 Comet McNaught in early 2007, my first really bright comet

[gary]

Hi Ron,

Friend Andrew Murrell (aka Hector) enjoys re-telling the story from time to time
of the night the impact of Shoemaker Levy 9 first became visible.

Andrew had the 20" set-up at the ASNSW dark-sky site at Ilford with Jupiter in the
eye-piece.

Club Treasurer at the time was Max Gardener. Sadly Max passed away several
years go (see below) *.
Now Max was a total gentleman. None of us ever recollect Max ever having cussed.

Well, Max climbed the ladder, looked through the eyepiece and saw the black
pock marks on Jupiter's surface. :eyepop:

He uttered a profanity that for decency's sake, I cannot reproduce here, but in coming
from a gentleman like Max, had a hundred times the impact than if it had come from
the average guy. The assembled group waiting to have a look chuckled and appreciated
by Max's spontaneous, astonished and heartfelt exclamation that they were about to see
something extraordinary.




* As a footnote, apart from being an extraordinarily generous benefactor to the Club,
at the time of his passing, Max was also chair of the Prostate Council of Australia.
There is a link that says a little about Max's work in that regard here -
http://www.prostatehealth.org.au/newsitem.html?notice_id=235 and it seems
appropriate to bring to the attention to readers the importance of the work
the Council does. Visit http://www.prostatehealth.org.au/

[mental4astro]

My very first view of Saturn is first off the rank. I wasn't expecting this 'star' to be anything more than a pinpoint of light through my little 2" Tasco. Boy, didn't I get a surprise when this star had a disk and rings!!!!

That was in 1984.

Then in 1988, making regular visual notes on the position of Venus every week, at the same time in the early evening, for about three months, to see its position and brightness change. Something like a really slow slowmo. It gave me a real sense of a 3D effect of the planet orbiting the Sun inside our Earth's orbit. I guess it is only one of those intensely personal quiet "wow" moments.

[Jen]

Total Lunar Eclipse in 07 :thumbsup::thumbsup: was the first one i had ever seen :rolleyes:

Loved it :D

[stattonb]

wow 1984 was when i was born lol but i do think seeing Saturn for the first time would be on alot of peoples list :)

[bloodhound31]

I'd have to say McNaught.

[bloodhound31]

Link broken H.:(

[jjjnettie]

Comet McNaught for sure.
Great memories.

[Suzy]

That's such a great story Gary, and you told it so well. :)

My number one (1) moment would be Supernova 1987A from the death of the star named Sanduleak.

Now there is also another memorable reason for this star being so special. Up until that event, we thought for supernovas to explode, they needed to be at the later stage of their life (red super giant). Sanduleak was a luminous blue variable (super giant) star that exploded (the same class as the famous Eta Carinae star. It taught us how precarious these young, massive, hot stars can behave.

Having been so young and without a scope, I am so glad I treasured that moment, and for that I thank my father who conveyed how extraordinary an event that indeed was. He must have done a great job as it is burnt into my memory as vivid as if it were yesterday.

You have to be pretty lucky to have seen a Supernova naked eye in your life time. Once you've seen something like that, to me, everything else just pales in comparison, no matter how beautiful comets Hale-Bopp and McNaught were, or how blood red and spooky that total lunar eclipse in 2007 was. Events which I witnessed as well and note them as being quite remarkable moments. It's crazy seeing a comet in the middle of the city above peak hour traffic :lol:

[cybereye]

For me it was seeing Halley's Comet back in 1986. I was working in the desert in far western Queensland and we had wonderful clear nights. A little fuzz ball but still it was Halley's. I was 26 back then so next time around I'll be holding the telegram from the Queen/King/President!

Mario

[casstony]

Comet McNaught because it was an event easily shared with family and friends.

Other events that impressed friends/family include that great meteor shower and the ISS - they get excited when they can see stuff happening.

[stattonb]

i forgot to mention opposition of mars 2003 :)

[GrahamL]

Comet McNaught :thumbsup:

but some of the lesser known events are equally memorable personally

Comet Holmes busting through the clouds for a night or so when it brightened .

Anthonys impact , It took me a good hour to spot that little smudge but its still a vivid memory.

Last night of astrofest last year , sure it wasn't something that really shook the world but to have an event pop up randomly like that with a bunch of people standing around to witness it still pretty special.

:)

[stattonb]

thats true and it makes it more personal,im planning a trip to take my son and daughter to 2012 eclipse so they can see some of the things i do ,lol i allways get my flat mate telling me wen i have the kids "wat is daddy looking at out there in the dark" cracks me up and would really like to share somthing with them like the eclipse.

[Peter Ward]

TSE in 2006 over the Sahara. Brilliant.

Got a nice picture as well
(http://www.atscope.com.au/newsky/tselibya06.jpg)

[ballaratdragons]

1. Watching, awestruck, the absolutely amazing Leonids Meteor Shower of 1966. They fell like rain! (it's what initially got me hooked on Astronomy)

2. Aurora Australis as a kid and teenager in Sydney

3. Comet Halley in 1986

4. SuperNova 1987A

5. Seeing the rings of Saturn for the 1st time (in my home-made scope) 1991

6. Finding my first distant faint Galaxy cluster (Fornax Cluster) in my 12" Dob 2005

7. Comet McNaught 2007

and Comet Lovejoy (gotta give Terry a rap :thumbsup: )

Oh, and being the 1st person to discover a major SEB Band alteration on Jupiter in 1989, and recording it in sketches and handwritten data, and published in the Ballarat Astronomical Journal, but not recognised or credited as being 1st.
2 Japanese Astronomers were given credit when discovering it days later.

[Jen]

Oh and i forgot to mention looking through Johnny (my 12 inch dob) for the first time at Snake Valley :D a night i will never ever forget :D was the best moment for me to date with many many more to come :P

[Saturnine]

Love these types of threads, for me , my top three would be:-

1. First sight of Jupiter and its' cloud bands in my 2" refractor in 1964.

2. Ceduna TSE 2002 with my former partner and our kids.

3. Comet Mcnaught from Saddleback Mtn. Kiama in 07 .

Jeff

[CometGuy]

Not possible to pick one, but these are my candidates:

1. Mars and Saturn in close conjunction and seen together in a telescope June 1978. They were like 0.2 degree apart and high in the sky at the time.

2. Supernova 1987A. Seeing the LMC with a bright orange supernova embedded in it was really something.

3. Witnessing a bright active Aurora from Invercargill, NZ, circa 1990. Was amazing watching the auroral curtain dancing across the southern sky, even with a near full moon in the sky. The following year also watched the sky above Melbourne turn a plain red with another bright aurora.

4. The 1994 collision of Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, which was easily visible in a 10" telescope.

5. The Great Comets of 1996, 1997 and 2007 (Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp and McNaught). Saw all 3 comets near their best in near ideal conditions. Absolutely froze getting views of Hale-Bopp in the Rockies when it was near its best, but it was worth it! McNaught was the most impressive of the bunch though, easily visible in daylight and with a spectacular feathery tail in the evening sky.

6. The Leonid Meteor storm of 2001. We though it would be a washout with rain, but at 2am in the morning I remember waking to see lots of lightening illuminating the Curtains. Was thinking we were about to get a thunderstorm, but looked out to see stars and lots of bright meteors. Was problably the single one astronomical event that impressed my wife!

7. Total Solar Eclipse of 2002 from Woomera.

Terry

[ballaratdragons]

. . . and becoming famous ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2007_E2_%28Lovejoy%29

[scopemankit]

Comet Mc Naught.

[stattonb]

good to see people are having fun with this thread.

[AstralTraveller]

1983 TSE from Hood Point PNG.

2002 TSE from Lake Gairdner South Australia.

My first grazing occultation of Spica. This was my first ever graze observed with a borrowed 60mm refractor in the freezing pre-dawn near Goulburn. I'd had my license for a couple of months, borrowed the parents car and headed off with some mates for an adventure. I was hooked by what I saw and have continued to do grazes ever since.

My second grazing occultation of Spica. One saros later I observed another graze of Spica. Apart from being tremendously satisfying to be back at the beginning again, so to speak, it was also the most spectacular graze I've seen. The pea-soup cloud cleared with minutes to spare and I recorded a personal record of 20 events.

Comet McNaught. Far and away the best comet I've seen, despite the bushfire smoke. Every evening for a week or so we traveled over towards Picton and observed it with every piece of optics I own.

[stattonb]

i use to live in Picton nice dark skies :)

[astroron]

How could I have forgotten:screwy: my first view of Saturn and it's rings
in a 40mm? spotting scope above Penang Hill in Malaysia in 1968:eyepop:
The start of my long adventure in Astronomy:D:thumbsup:
Cheers

[Ric]

Comet McNaught is the big standout for me as well.

In dark rural skies it was blooming awesome.

[Astroman]

Not really favorites between one another but, I enjoyed Observing Comet Hyakutake Finding it 8 days after it's discovery with a 4" reflector.. Followed it until it disappeared from our skies, then reappeared then disappeared... 1998 Leonid meteor Shower, awesome green fireballs. Total Solar Eclipse in Ceduna made a great late honeymoon..

[Kevnool]

Total Eclipse 23rd October 1976 in Melbourne as I stood out of our old house in Broadmeadows I noticed the the seagulls out there went berserk nearing totality.

An eerie feeling.
The next eclipse keep one eye on the birds (Feathered variety).

Cheers Kev.

[Miaplacidus]

Nothing beats Comet McNaught for me, coming in first, second, and third. First off, finding it in daylight for one. Then an impromptu public viewing with mounted telescope and binoculars at sunset from the carpark on top of Mount Wellington. And best of all, the clouds dissolving just in time on a moonless night while camping out on pitch-black Bruny Island — a massive brush stroke smeared across a — forgive me, King Crimson aficionados — a sable coat studded with diamonds.

[Pinwheel]

Nothing did it more for than HALE BOP..:thumbsup:

[AstralTraveller]

Mmmm, yes Pete Sinfield could write lyrics. The actual words are (I had to check):

"Night: her sable dome scattered with diamonds,
..."

[Kal]

Comet McNaught at the IIS astrocamp 2007 was undoubtedly my highlight.

[Matt Wastell]

Venus transit of the Sun in 2004 - good new is I will see it again in 2012!

[Liz]

I knew there was another great highlight - this was the most spectacular comet I have seen,and nearly on par with the Leonid meteor shower. I saw this at its peak as it trailed half way across the nightsky!!!!

Alas, we north Queenslanders missed Comet McNaught :sadeyes: ... but it would have been spectacular, am sure.

[shelltree]

First view of Omega Centauri through my friend's 10", I was absolutely gobsmacked! I had no idea that such a view were possible through your average backyard observing night. From then I was hooked! It was also the first elusive object I found by myself in the sky besides Jupiter and Venus.

Partial Lunar Eclipse last December. Absolutely blew me away! I was so excited about seeing it, I travelled to the coast on a work night by myself just to view and photograph it.

Not Celestial per say but astronomy related. Getting up at 4:30am one Saturday morning to watch the very bright ISS pass overhead. I could barely contain myself from jumping up and down :D

I'm very new to astronomy so I haven't seen much else. But hope to in the future! :)

[taminga16]

Comet McNaught is a memory that I will carry for ever, not just for seeing it but for sharing it with people who would not normally 'look up'. My first views of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) left me amazed and I still am, sitting on a creek bed in Southern NSW talking over a low fire when with a casual glance I spotted M31 (The Andromeda Galaxy) and pondered the fact that it was as far as one could see with the naked eye and that it was all history. Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Oh boy is this tough.

Things I have seen with my own eyes.

1. Cometary impact with Jupiter 1994, awesome site in my then 8" telescope. Seeing the impacts rotate into view live was incredible and as it turned the seeing was very good that night.

2. Ceduna eclipse, our first total but the elevation made the view.

3. Viewing SN1987A through my 8".

4. Comet West - my first ever comet viewing that I can remember.

5. Comet McNaught - simply a beautiful experience out at Myponga Dam.

6. Russian Rocket that Doug captured. I just stood there and watched it re-enter. Huge thick orange veins of burning debris. Better than skylab re-entering

7. First total lunar eclipse (cannot remember the date but I was in my teens). I have seen quite few of them since then and all are lovely.

8. Saturn for the first time. I still think wow on great nights of seeing.

9. Jupiter at the first planetary imaging camp in 2006. Detail all the way to the poles (not faint but well defined) in 18" SDM with a 6mm radian and 5x power mate. Huge scale and did not break down at all. Better than looking at an image. I have not seen a better view since in any telescope.

10. China eclipse awe inspiring duration. Amazing colour of the sky because of the clouds and the euphoria of spending it with astronomers.

Not all in order or preference, just I cannot really pick. There are a few more that I cannot rightly think of right now.

[vespine]

Chalk another Comet McNaught. Especially going back to Elwood beach a few nights and pointing it out to all the people in the park and joggers who had no idea such an amazing sight was right in the sky if they just looked up a little.

[yusufcam]

first time looking thru binoculars at the nightsky, knowing nothing, and was looking straight at M42 (the beginning)

seeing a ripple travel around the edge of the sun (from about 11:30 to 9:00) (now have a PST and a dedicated a solar refractor)

stretching out and looking up just as an brilliant iridium flare went off (most things that have stuck with me have been serendipitous)

[stattonb]

good to here what members have seen,i like that Comet McNaugh is in most peoples list :)

[firstlight]

Tough one, very hard to rate one over the other, but this is probably how I would look at it. These are the key events I have witnessed.

Chronological:

Comet Ikea/Seki 1965
SN 1987a
Shoemaker/Levy 9 1994
Comet Hyakutake 1996
Comet Hale/Bopp 1997
Leonids, Miles 2001
Total Solar Eclipse Ceduna 2002
Venus Transit, Exmouth 2004
The Great Comet 2007 (McNaught)
Total Lunar Eclipse August 2007
The Queensland Astrofest


Top Ten:


The Queensland Astrofest (Come on! It happens EVERY year :lol:)
Comet Ikea/Seki
Total Solar Eclipse Ceduna 2002, Venus Transit 2004
Leonids 2001
The Great Comet 2007
Shoemaker/Levy 9
SN 1987a
Comet Hyakutake
Hale/Bopp
Total Lunar Eclipse August 2007


Cheers
Tony

[firstlight]

Hmmm,

Could go on forever:
Venus occultation 1994/5?
Various Mercury Transits
Mars 2003
Jupiter grazing occultation 2005

Probably one of the memorable things said to me that throws my astronomy interest into stark relief:

1995 Queensland Astrofest and sitting around chatting with our Honoured Guest John Dobson and the confversation gat around to why we liked the hobby and I said something about enjoying looking up etc, and he says" No, no. You've got it all wrong we are stuck to the skin of this planet and we have the wrong mindset. We don't look up at the sky, we look OUT!"

Lying on a banana lounge gazing at the sky at that moment, suddenly the Universe tilted 90 degrees and I felt like I was clinging to the side of a cliff staring out into a great abyss. It was truly mind-blowing. I try and recapture that feeling at least once every camp.

Actually I would put this conversation/event at the top of my list.

[stattonb]

alot of events listed and good to see that everyone has somthing to include :)

[Alchemy]

Memorable things are the first view of Saturn to see it's rings, the first view of M42 seeing a "star" turn into a hazy nebula ( 60mm refractor don't show much) that was back in my teens
Celestial Events would be the total solar eclipse that went through gippsland as a early teenager...... Just wish I knew then what I know now.
mcnaught, first really naked eye visible comet.

Someone else said watching the sunrise, I've seen some beautiful ones on a mountain range overlooking the outback, although we see it often, in the right location it's my number 1.