The most amazing thing you've seen

  • Thread starter Ivan Seeking
  • Start date
In summary: I think a close second would be the first time I saw Saturn and all of its moons in a telescope.In summary, the most amazing thing this person has ever seen is the Pillars of Creation video, which gets them every time, followed by the first time they saw a double rainbow, and then the driver landing on his seat after the boat and boat both lost the same amount of speed.
  • #1
Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
8,142
1,755
Someone asked this question the other day and I thought it was interesting. Aside from the birth of a child, what is the most amazing thing you've ever seen?

A tough question to be sure, but this is one thing that came to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
I wouldn't call it amazing.
AfnvFnzs91s [/youtube] youtube tags don't work? [MEDIA=youtube]AfnvFnzs91s[/MEDIA]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #3
QuarkCharmer said:
youtube tags don't work?

Just insert the file id - AfnvFnzs91s
 
  • #4
Thanks
 
  • #5
QuarkCharmer said:
Thanks

That is one of those events that is burned into memory. I can still tell you exactly what I was doing, and where I was, when I heard the news report. The same is true for the first report heard about Chernobyl.
 
Last edited:
  • #6
I remember watching the Chernobyl incident on T.V. but it never really hit home. I watched the Challenger from my back yard though. I barely remember anything from that age (I was 6 or 7), but I definitely recall that.
 
  • #7
This video gets me every time. It must rank as one of the most amazing rides ever. It scares me to think of what I'd be willing to pay to change places with him; provided I knew I would survive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_8Mc-XWCyU&NR
 
  • #8
The launch of Apollo 11. It was special for me because I was there.
 
  • #9
Men walking on the moon.
 
  • #10
This image!

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2010013a/web/

For me seeing this image was as close to Divine Intervention as I am likely to get.
 
  • #11
EMFsmith said:
This image!

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2010013a/web/

For me seeing this image was as close to Divine Intervention as I am likely to get.

I love that image, and have a huge picture of it hanging up. I like how they changed the name of it, it was originally called the "Pillars of Creation" I thought. I guess someone had a problem with that, or perhaps it's a different angle on the Eagle Nebula. Mystic Mountain just doesn't have the same ring.
 
Last edited:
  • #12
QuarkCharmer said:
I love that image, and have a huge picture of it hanging up. I like how they changed the name of it, it was originally called the "Pillars of Creation" I thought. I guess someone had a problem with that, or perhaps it's a different angle on the Eagle Nebula. Mystic Mountain just doesn't have the same ring.

The pillars and mountain images are 2 separate images aren't they?
It's funny you should say that because I was torn between them, as which to label as my number 1
 
  • #13
Easily escaping Earth's gravity.
 
  • #14
I've seen a tremendous double rainbow that occurred after a hurricane. I've seen a huge meteor with a flaming red tail. But the pelikan that ate that pigeon ( on you-tube ), that's pretty darn amazing.
 
  • #15
Helios said:
I've seen a tremendous double rainbow that occurred after a hurricane.

omg, you're Double Rainbow Guy... :rofl:
 
  • #16
DaveC426913 said:
omg, you're Double Rainbow Guy... :rofl:

:rofl: complete double rainbows, what does it mean?
 
  • #17
I had to google "double rainbow guy" to see what the joke was about. He sounded like he was on drugs, but he claims he wasn't.
Helios said:
I've seen a huge meteor with a flaming red tail.

That reminds me, I've seen an amazing meteor also. This one had an orange and blue tail. It split into two meteors before disappearing. And I saw this during midday in full sunlight. About one minute after the split I heard the sound of thunder.
 
  • #18
I saw a video clip on TV almost 20 years ago that I thought was pretty awesome. It was a clip from a race with some kind of high speed boats. During a left turn, the boat started doing some kind of weird wobbling motion, and the front of the boat came out of the water. Then the whole boat flew up on the air and rotated 250 degrees or so clockwise, so that the left edge of the boat hit the water to the right of where the boat was before. The driver fell out when the boat was upside down. He hit the water, but due to the high speed, he bounced up in the air. The boat also bounced. It started rotating in the other direction, and made it all the way back. The really sick part was that the driver landed on (or right next to) the driver's seat. Both the boat and the driver had lost about the same amount of speed, so he wasn't hurt, and when the people filming it were panicking and screaming that the race needs to be stopped, he just stood up and waved to them.
 
Last edited:
  • #19
Seeing as how I was just learning how to tie my shoes when most of the above events occurred, I guess the first would be the first images of Mars from Pathfinder. Something about taking high res. images from the surface of another planet gave me a humbling feeling that never left.

800px-Mars_pathfinder_panorama_large.jpg


I think a close second would be the first time I saw Saturn and all of its moons in a telescope. I don't know what it is about that planet but I think I'll always remember sitting out in the freezing cold and for the first time realizing just how big the universe is.

saturn_aurora_uv.jpg
 
  • #20
Do the name "Titanic Tina" ring a bell?
 
  • #21
Damn, I wish I could feel as intensely as double rainbow guy. How great would that be?, to be that moved by nature. He's a legend.
 
  • #22
TurtleMeister said:
The launch of Apollo 11. It was special for me because I was there.

Same here. I took my family to see it. Pulling into a parking area, it was still fairly dark, and the giant Saturn 5 was lit by floodlights. It was like a science fiction set, but better because it was real. I still get watery eyes thinking about that scene and the liftoff. Later we drove to Kitty Hawk NC and watched the landing on a motel TV.

I was raised on Ray Bradbury, this seemed to pull everything together...
 
  • #23
Topher925 said:
I think a close second would be the first time I saw Saturn and all of its moons in a telescope. I don't know what it is about that planet but I think I'll always remember sitting out in the freezing cold and for the first time realizing just how big the universe is.

Interestingly, I got the opposite impression, though it had the same effect on me.

At a star party, I saw Jupiter and its moons in a pair of tripod-mounted binocs, and I realized just how close they were. I kept looking in the binocs then line-of-sight, then in the binocs then line-of-sight. Jupiter's moons are almost visible to the naked eye, and that made me feel like they're fruit hanging low from a tree, just waiting to be picked. I was sold on astronomy.
 
  • #24
EMFsmith said:
This image!

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2010013a/web/

For me seeing this image was as close to Divine Intervention as I am likely to get.

The Pillars of Creation :-) That is the most Amazing "photo" I've ever seen, I agree! I am still debating on what i will choose though.
 
  • #25
The most amazing thing I've seen (but not in a good way) is the attacks on 9/11. I was shocked the entire day, I don't think I'll every forget those images...
 
  • #26
Oldfart said:
Same here. I took my family to see it. Pulling into a parking area, it was still fairly dark, and the giant Saturn 5 was lit by floodlights. It was like a science fiction set, but better because it was real. I still get watery eyes thinking about that scene and the liftoff. Later we drove to Kitty Hawk NC and watched the landing on a motel TV.

I was raised on Ray Bradbury, this seemed to pull everything together...

One of the most amazing things that I remember about the launch was being able to feel the seven million pounds of thrust vibrate the ground that I was standing on. And I was many miles from the launch pad.
 
  • #27
Certainly the launches of the various spacecraft have been amazing, and the views of ISS and the earth, and the moon closeup, and the astronauts landing on the moon.

I've seen double rainbows from the ground and air, meteorites overhead, and Saturn and Jupiter through 14-inch and 18-inch, and numerous galaxies. All amazing stuff.

To those, I'd add the birth of my two children. From conception to birth - that is an amazing process.
 
  • #28
Astronuc said:
To those, I'd add the birth of my two children. From conception to birth - that is an amazing process.

Ivan Seeking said:
Aside from the birth of a child, what is the most amazing thing you've ever seen?


:biggrin:
 
  • #29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGhdX1SI3KY

How a man led the world to the deadliest war in history and destroyed the grandious Europe is the most amazing(not in the good sense) thing I've seen.
 
  • #30
That's a really interesting video. I have never seen this much of one Hitler's speeches before. I have only seen excerpts that are a few seconds long. There are a few things that are really noticeable: The intensity and passion, his voice, his body language (the way he waves his arms, the way he gets up on his toes), the fact that there is almost no content in what he's saying, the ecstatic audience, the number of cameras in the room, etc. This looks more like a scene from a very well-directed movie than like something that actually happened. It was more like a religious nut meeting / rock concert than like a political rally.
 
  • #31
Fredrik said:
That's a really interesting video. I have never seen this much of one Hitler's speeches before. I have only seen excerpts that are a few seconds long. There are a few things that are really noticeable: The intensity and passion, his voice, his body language (the way he waves his arms, the way he gets up on his toes), the fact that there is almost no content in what he's saying, the ecstatic audience, the number of cameras in the room, etc. This looks more like a scene from a very well-directed movie than like something that actually happened. It was more like a religious nut meeting / rock concert than like a political rally.

I'm not positive, but I think it was made by Leni Riefenstahl. She made documentaries and propaganda for Hitler. If you can get past the content of her films, the cinematography really shows her genius.
 
  • #32
The greatest thing I've ever seen, and I wasn't there, it's a photo my brother took, is of a (the?) salt lake high up in Bolivia. It has about an inch of water on it, and reflects the sky. It looks out of this world!

Here's a small version of the photo, you can find it with Google easily.

avatars-000001981765-sbmd8r-crop.jpg
 
  • #33
Adyssa said:
The greatest thing I've ever seen, and I wasn't there, it's a photo my brother took, is of a (the?) salt lake high up in Bolivia. It has about an inch of water on it, and reflects the sky. It looks out of this world!

Here's a small version of the photo, you can find it with Google easily.

avatars-000001981765-sbmd8r-crop.jpg

That is spectacular. It looks like some scene from a movie depicting heaven.
 
  • #35
The bright blue-white light of my Guardian Angel in a dark room without windows. I was not the only one who saw it.
 
<h2>What is the most amazing thing you've seen?</h2><p>The most amazing thing I've seen is the Northern Lights. It was a breathtaking display of colorful lights dancing in the sky.</p><h2>How did you feel when you saw the most amazing thing?</h2><p>I felt a sense of wonder and awe. It was a surreal experience that left me speechless.</p><h2>Where did you see the most amazing thing?</h2><p>I saw the Northern Lights while camping in a remote area in Alaska. The lack of light pollution allowed for a clearer view of the lights.</p><h2>What makes the Northern Lights so amazing?</h2><p>The Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, are a natural phenomenon caused by solar particles colliding with the Earth's atmosphere. The resulting display of colors is truly a sight to behold.</p><h2>Can you explain the science behind the Northern Lights?</h2><p>The Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere play a crucial role in the formation of the Northern Lights. Solar particles are drawn towards the Earth's magnetic poles, resulting in the colorful light show in the sky.</p>

What is the most amazing thing you've seen?

The most amazing thing I've seen is the Northern Lights. It was a breathtaking display of colorful lights dancing in the sky.

How did you feel when you saw the most amazing thing?

I felt a sense of wonder and awe. It was a surreal experience that left me speechless.

Where did you see the most amazing thing?

I saw the Northern Lights while camping in a remote area in Alaska. The lack of light pollution allowed for a clearer view of the lights.

What makes the Northern Lights so amazing?

The Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, are a natural phenomenon caused by solar particles colliding with the Earth's atmosphere. The resulting display of colors is truly a sight to behold.

Can you explain the science behind the Northern Lights?

The Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere play a crucial role in the formation of the Northern Lights. Solar particles are drawn towards the Earth's magnetic poles, resulting in the colorful light show in the sky.

Similar threads

  • General Discussion
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • General Discussion
Replies
4
Views
605
Replies
15
Views
588
Replies
3
Views
685
  • General Discussion
Replies
12
Views
909
  • General Discussion
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • Sticky
  • Programming and Computer Science
Replies
13
Views
4K
  • General Discussion
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • Biology and Medical
Replies
2
Views
2K
Back
Top