Quote:
Originally Posted by 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 1992 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
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