Whats your best astronomical moment?

Two new babies in one day. Sweet.

Oh Jaysus, are you really Homer Simpson or what!?
Reminds me of the episode where there during the Olympics in 84
Krusty Burger rigged the scratch cards but got caught by the S&C's as the US
won all round them.

''Woo Hoo!''
''A baby AND a free burger in one day,
Can life get any sweeter than this!?''

Yeah, you could pick up a new scope and all.!

When I was about seven, I joined the Boys Brigade. The local vicar came over to our meeting one night with these WWII binoculars. I'll never forget the view of the moon. I was stunned.

Of course, John Pritchard (a typical messer) trained them on another moon - the one in number 24. That was my number one non-astronomical moment

The night Mia first saw Mars, uranus and Neptune, as well as most of the Messier objects in Sagittarius, 23/7/2007. Unforgettable.

I'd say that was a treat... I remember some of her first reactions at Whirlpool in October to some new astronomical sights! :lol:

Seanie, especially the reaction of meeting you in the dark for the first time, then even worse, meeting you in daylight the following day!! It must have been a shock for you!!

Stevie, I have to say thank you for your post, coming from you it means one hell of a lot and I agree, I doubt anything will come close to that particular all nighter in my garden which ended with an ISS pass! Wonderful night and I've you to thank for that, you human GoTo!

I've three things which stand out (no jokes please!)

When I started observing just over a year ago, after finding the usual suspects (M31, 13, 42, 45 blah de blah) I used to lie on a lounger and either look naked eye or through the bins at the sky trying to find my way round, (I still do it!) and it was one of those nights I first came across C399 (the Coathanger) I nearly fell off the lounger, I'd never heard of it and drew a terrible sketch to ask the EAAS crowd if I'd discovered something new! Ah, the joys of ignorance!

Secondly was shortly after that during our Leonid watch, I saw Saturn for the first time and fell over in shock, surprise and awe! I don't think anyone forgets their first time with Saturn, all I could think of was 'It's real!!' I'm still blown away by it!

The third thing, I managed to stay upright for! After receiving a voice message from a certain Stevie informing me of Holmes' outburst, my friend and I went outside and I spotted it straight away as it made Perseus look a bit odd!
I did have diffs convincing my friend that it wasn't a star ('How do you know it's not a star'......'Because it's not!'......'Yeah, but it could be'......'Erm..no it couldn't as it's a comet'...'Yeah, but how do you know?...'BECAUSE IT IS!!!!!!)
This conversation went on for nearly an hour!

The thing I really liked about Holmes was the sense of community and being the part of something that was so spectacular and it's still on going! Watching it change, reading peoples reports, comparing them to my own, seeing the great sketches and images and just feeling that we're witnessing something really special! I loved showing it to people for the first time, including giving directions over the phone to one of our members! Wonderful event and it nearly (but not quite) makes up for the cr@ppy weather!

Sorry, I'm a bit longwinded tonight but I'm still chuffed with Stevie's post!

Nice to read all the same Mia.

* My first total solar eclipse in Bulgaria in 1999 - there is an MP3 recording of my reaction on the ecliptomaniacs web site on the "1999 sounds" page . It was 8 years ago, but that recording still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
* Seeing saturn for the first time in a crappy tasco refractor

For me it had to be the solar eclipse in Turkey in 2006. What surprised me, apart from the stunning beauty of the whole experience, was how emotional I felt during and after. Wow, I will never forget that feeling; for about 10 mins after, if people asked how I'd enjoyed it, I couldn't actually speak (and that is very unusual for me!)
For this year, there was the lunar eclipse in March which I watched on my own from my garden and it was just perfect. Also, we had a garden party at my parents place to watch the Perseids meteor shower and it was just lovely sitting around listening to everyone's reactions.
Last, but not least, was the first time I saw Jupiter thru' Eugene Burke's scope in a car park outside Waterford Tech and could really appreciate the size and beauty of it (Jupiter, not Eugene's scope....).