emd

Today, as I was taking my kids into D.C. from Northern VA, we saw a spectacular rainbow that arched perfectly right over the Washington monument. It made me wonder what other celestial things people have witnessed when they travel. I think my most memorable one was watching the night sky from Oak Creek Canyon in AZ, and seeing at least one shooting star every minute for over an hour.
Anyone else?

Patrick

Maybe this doesn't count, but I remember when they first landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong was about to step out onto the surface. We were driving in Ohio and listening to it on the radio. We literally got so excited, we pulled off the side of the Interstate to listen to it.

suzanne

I was in Northern Thailand during the meteor shower in November 2001. We set our alarms to get up in the middle of the night to see it. All I can say is...WOW!

mrwunrfl

Last December our flight from Chicago to Hong Kong came within 200 miles of the north pole. It was dark way up north, of course, at that time of year. We were flying due south into Siberia when we could see sunlight on the horizon. Flying east or west, it would be sunrise or sunset. This time when we got into the daylight it was mid-day, not morning or evening.

I could picture the solar terminator (the shadow) on a 2D earth and how we were flying into the top of the "hump" of the sunlight region.

TioGringo

My most memorable "sky" event was being in northern Manitoba (near Churchill) in the summer and witnessing an aurora borealis that shamed any manmade fireworks show I've ever seen...

Mark
www.tiogringo.com

Tandoori_Girl

I travel in spurts for work, but the one thing that I consistently notice while up in the sky looking down at god's green earth is the spewing of sulfur dioxide or other contaminants that create yellow plumes that are discernible from however many miles up I am. These are from power plants. The event that I am witnessing while traveling is global warming. Lovely.

poochie

During my father's funeral this past December at Arlington National Cemetary I looked up at the sky and there was this really weird tunnel cloud formation on the sun. It looked like a tornado(but it obviously wasn't). It was so strange, it went straight vertically through the center of the sun and nowhere else. Everyone else saw it too. Kind of eerie and cool at the same time.

GoTravel

poochie that gave me goose bumps!

The coolest thing I've seen in the sky is the big orange Harvest Moon over the ocean. I love the way the reflection cuts an orange path through the water.

gotribe

I saw a couple having sex on the plane.

blake

I posted this several months ago on another thread >>>

A few years ago on an overnight flight from North America to Europe I saw a beautiful phenomenon just before sunrise. We were far north over the Baffin Bay area and the horizon to the north started shifting through all the colors of the spectrum. It was like flying by a giant prism and each color held for about 15 seconds before morphing into the next (ROYGBIV) on the spectrum. These were absolultely the most vivid, saturated colors I've ever experienced seeing. I was glad I was restless that night and was staring out the window - never got the chance to ask the pilot about it when we landed. I attributed it to the orb of the sun being just below the visible horizon with its approaching rays of light being bent through ice crystals in the frigid atmosphere. Maybe it was the "flash of green" phenomenon I've heard about.

Tandoori_Girl

jeez, I hope they at least had one of those little blankies to cover themselves up. You didn't walk in on them in the bathroom, did you? Right on the plane? Holy smokes.

Gardyloo

On a late-winter flight from London to LA we caught a mighty tailwind and caught up to the sun, which I watched rise in the west.

On a long-ago red-eye Pan Am flight between Seattle and Fairbanks, I saw another plane going the other way pass within 500 feet of us - I literally could see the cabin lights, although our closing speed was over 1000 miles per hour. The "deadheading" Pan Am captain sitting in front of me turned around when I went "oof" and he said, "That's the closest I've been."

GoTravel

I watched a thunderstorm that was a mile or so away while flying cross country. It was wild being eye level with the storm.

carolyn

I love the beautiful rainbows in Hawaii that seem to come right down to the ground and be so close that you could walk to them. Made me understand where the "pot of gold at the end" bit came from.

One of my favorite memories is seeing, on my first night in Edinburgh, the lighted castle sitting on its dark rock and seeming to float under an almost full moon.

Smokyboy

I second the 2001 meteor shower. I was atop a NC mountain on a perfect night; it was spectacular. But my most fond memory was driving back from a fishing trip in the north Ga. mountains in 1997? It was near day break and as I rounded a curve I witnessed one of the most breathtaking sights I had ever seen in the sky. It was the Halle-Bop comet. It must have been the best time; It was like no other thing I had ever seen in the sky. I stayed there until the sun came up. It was awe-inspiring.

Borealis

I second the sighting of Comet Hale-Bopp: first saw it mid-February 1997 on a trip to Vancouver Island, and then watched from home (March and April) as it grew brighter and larger with amazing tails (one white "dust tail" and one blue ionized particle trail).

GBelle

We saw (and took pictures of) a double rainbow over the Cliffs of Mohr in Ireland. Great sight!

PaulRabe

Two that stand out:

1) the Aurora Borealis in North Dakota (100% dumb luck, I should have been in bed HOURS earlier as I drove north).

2) a TRIPLE rainbow after an intense thunderstorm in the Badlands of SD. This was 42 years ago and, even though I've seen a few double rainbows since then, I've never again seen a triple again. I doubt I will.

cyberUK

We were coming in low over Long Island, for a landing at Islip airport about 9:30 PM on July 4th many years ago. The fireworks show from one of the South Shore beaches (Jones, or Rob't Moses). The giant mortar bursts seemed to be right outside our window. It was pretty spectacular.

Meesthare

Two things stand out, perhaps because they were both unexpectedly glorious events in rather prosaic settings. The first was in Albuquerque during the balloon festival. There was an event cancelled late one afternoon because a thunderstorm had been observed in the area and the event coordinators had decided, quite rightly, not to take the chance of sending a bunch of balloons aloft. Everybody was disappointed and trundled out to the parking lot. Of course with everyone leaving at the same time, it took ages to get out on to the main road, but as we rounded the corner on to the highway, a brilliant gold and coral sunset emerged from behind the clouds - it lit up the entire sky. It was a lovely consolation prize from the weather gods.
The other one happened a couple of years ago after a day of shopping at the outlet mall in Niagara Falls, NY. It had been raining on and off all day, with sunny periods in between. As we left the restaurant where we had had dinner, rainbows started to appear and disappear while we drove back to our hotel. There must have been 20 or 30 of them that danced in front of us and then vanished.