Whats your best astronomical moment?

Just curious to see what each of you consider a moment you think
stands out from the rest for you.

I've a few big contenders but probably the most emotional and awesome for me was the seeing the total eclipse in 1999 on a ship with my now wife off the coast of France.

This was the very question I asked Sir Patrick Moore last year. He gave me that look, you know the squint with the head propped forward and the monocle fixed perfectly straight and said 'When I first saw the far side of the Moon' He went on to say he was on air when the pictures came in, he had no idea if he had permission to use the footage coming in but he did anyway:)


For me it was two things. 1994, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. I was at an AI event for this in tallaght and was setting up some scopes. I looked through an 8.75" dob, focussed and my jaw hit the floor, there were two big black spots on Jupiter looking back like two sad panda eyes. I must have yelled or screamed or something because within 30 seconds I had a crowd of hundreds around me. I'll never forget that.

The second was Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. I was on an early morning trip up the mountains. I hadn't seen it under a dark sky. I looked up, saw the comet, my jaw dropped. The tail stretched out behind me. I kept leaning back to see where the tail ended and promptly fell over backwards. Everyone laughed at me (nothing new there)

They were two special moments that I'll never forget.

I would have to say when I saw M13 for the first time in a 10" dob. The sight blew me away, I had never seen so many stars in such a small area of space. In my empty back garden I actually said, "WOW".

Watching a big fireball light up the sky and explode over Bray. It was no more than a few miles away and bits of it must have landed in the sea off Bray. The hissing sound and the loud crack as it exploded I will never forget.
I had one land about 50 metres from me while on a sea fishing trip on Anglesey. It went into the water in front of us. There as a loud bang in clear blue skies just moments before it hit the water. Scared the s*** out of me and my colleague (didn't do much for the fishing either).

Seeing the Summer Milkyway for the very first time under complete dark skies in the summer of 1998, Hale-Bopp a close second, seeing Jupiters moons for the firs time through a pair of 10x50mm binoculars on top of a pitch fork acting as a mount ! Hyakutake in 1996.

Keith...

Geeze Frank, you sure do pick 'em!

I have a couple of moments that stand out:

* The first time I could spot Saturn in my 3" Tasco reflector in 1990.
* Watching live images of Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashing Jupiter on telly in 1994. Having the club's 6 inch telescope at the time was a bonus to see the pock-marks.
* On a TAS Perseids Star-B-Q in August 1994, 4 of us caught a huge fireball split in 2, with each piece changing direction (like it hit a pole). The burst on the FM radio lasted for about 15 to 20 seconds.
* Watch (and sketching) both Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake over a period of a few weeks. By far the best naked eye comets we have seen in recent memories. The change in position each night was striking.
* The first time I could see Saturn through my newly self-built 8" reflector in March 1996. Reminded me of the first glimpse through that 3" Tasco 6 years before. I was like a kid again!

But I think the piece-de-resistance (quite obviously) had to be the 2006 Solar Eclipse on a beach along the Med in Turkey (also with my now-wife!). Nature can still have its humbling astronomical moments.

*begins daydream mode...*

Seanie.