If you could experience just ONE of the above events in your life time, which would it be?

Personally, I'm going to say a manned mission to Mars. I wasn't alive when we went to the Moon and I believe it would be a hair raising experience to watch the first human being to step foot onto another planet.

BONUS: Which of the above do you think will be the FIRST to happen?

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"Sir I have a plan. Mein Führer, I can walk!"

By far, the discovery of life. The supernova and asteroid impact would be great events, but of importance mostly to astronomers and enthusiasts. The Moon and Mars travel will be of interest of many in the entire world. But the existence of life beyond Earth will change people's way of thinking about our own existence, virtually world-wide.

Yea, I was hesitant to even include that option because I figured it would garner all the picks and result in little to no discussion.

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"Sir I have a plan. Mein Führer, I can walk!"

Well, if it does just start another poll for the runner-up!

I was alive and watched the moon landing, and I followed the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet impact of Jupiter. So those two are checked off of my bucket list.

I'm rather torn between the Mars landing and the moon outpost, which I still feel should have been done shortly after our landing rather than spending the last 30 some-odd years stuch in low Earth orbit.

I do wish I had seen SN1987A though.

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I don't ask stupid questions. I just make stupid statements!!!
DETAILS: Where the Devil waits to ensnare the unprepared!
Remember. Just because I'm sure doesn't mean I'm right.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again.

Do you really think we had the capability to set-up an outpost on the moon in the 70's?

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"Sir I have a plan. Mein Führer, I can walk!"

I chose Manned Mission to Mars, but it was a tough choice. For the bonus question, asteroid-comet impact with another planet, since I've already been alive for one! I even joked at the time that Jupiter won't have dinosaurs for much longer.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

The choice which (right now) has no votes.

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"The facts gentlemen, and nothing but the facts, for careful eyes are narrowly watching." Isaac Asimov

We had the capability to start one. Remember, the only reason that we stopped going to the moon was that, once we proved that our missles were better than the Soviet Union's, our congress lost the political will to continue paying for it.

I still think that we could have learned more about the origins of our planet if we had continued to explore the moon, and the most efficient way to do that would have been with a station on the moon.

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I don't ask stupid questions. I just make stupid statements!!!
DETAILS: Where the Devil waits to ensnare the unprepared!
Remember. Just because I'm sure doesn't mean I'm right.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again.

Microbial life, followed by Mars mission and fully operational moon base.

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I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

I didn't choose "fully operational moonbase" only because it is likely a prerequisite to putting a man on Mars.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

A fully operational moonbase might be done first as that can be done without people and so shouldn't be too expensive.

After some deep thinking, I picked Discovery of Microbial Life on Another Planet. I'd sure love to witness all the other choices as well.

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"Science is physics and astronomy." -Me
"There is absolutely no law in physics that prevents time travel." -Dr. Michio Kaku

So, regarding microbial life. What are the odds of finding living microbes or bacteria on or in Mars? If not living, then does anyone think we'll find FOSSILIZED evidence of life on Mars?

Which do you think would be more likely, microbial life on Mars or one of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter?

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"Sir I have a plan. Mein Führer, I can walk!"

We have already seen a comet impact on another planet. I voted for "microbial life".

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What brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart

I'm sure there are other people on this board that are either younger than 15 or were too young to remember Shoemaker-Levy 9.

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"Sir I have a plan. Mein Führer, I can walk!"

Mars probably does have some sort of microbial life. Living or dead, is something we can't tell, though. But almost everything that has been discovered on Mars implies the existence of biological activity on the planet.

I'd say they are all equally likely.

Like me. I was like what, about 4 years old when the comet hit Jupiter.

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"Science is physics and astronomy." -Me
"There is absolutely no law in physics that prevents time travel." -Dr. Michio Kaku

Another one I am looking forward to is seeing Venus crossing the Sun. I really hope I don't get clouded out as it will be my only chance to see it.

That would rank lower than the ones in the survey, but is something I am looking forward to.

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"I'm as accurate as any psychic. And I'm a cartoon!" -- Squidward

"Arrrgh, the laws of physics be a harsh mistress!" -- Bender

Wow! I totally forgot to mention that! Yes, agree. I'd absolutely love to see a Venus/Mercury transit as well.

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"Science is physics and astronomy." -Me
"There is absolutely no law in physics that prevents time travel." -Dr. Michio Kaku

I was all set up for the last one, but it was obscured by clouds.Just to add to the list again, the 1966 Leonids.

I voted for the Moonbase Ampatent.

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I voted for the supernova, but it is a hard choice. As for transits, I've seen a Mercury transit, and it was one of the more memorable experiences I've had. I'd love to see a Venus transit.

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WANTED:

Schroedinger's Cat

Dead And Alive

I voted the Mars mission. It's right up there next to sustained fusion for me.

I'd love to see a naked-eye supernova, yes, but "naked eye" can be fourth magnitude... I want a repeat of SN 185 or SN 1006!!!

Moonbase - sure, great, but, as others stated, probably a prerequisite for the Mars mission.

Impact: I was 17 when Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter, and I was already extremely interested in Astronomy. I kept all the newspaper articles. So been there, done that. Though a 1 km impactor into the Moon's near side when it is in shadow would be incredible.

Microbial life: Similar to the naked-eye SN. It's not so much microbial life that would be an utter blast... But microbial life not based on DNA (I am talking carbon-based life here, just something different from DNA as a genetic encoder)! If it's based on DNA, a lot of panspermia papers will be written, but it wouldn't really be alien.

Concerning bonus question: I say the moonbase happens first. SN and impact are stochastic events, and I think Mars mission needs moonbase, and microbial life possibly needs Mars mission. Unless they really send a dedicated probe into the Enceladus plumes (and all the big ifs are answered with yes, of course).

Concerning what might be added to poll: Yeah, something like the 1966 Leonids would also be awesome. Maybe the most impressive visually. I can add further:
- Roughly Earth-mass planet in habitable zone with biosphere markers (ozone, methane).
- 1859-like solar superflare (not desired, but all too likely...)
- "classical" (not low-luminosity) Gamma-Ray Burst in local universe (like possibly 830801B)
- Comet like McNaught or the Great Comet of 1910 in the northern hemisphere!! Hale-Bopp was lovely, but you can do better, Solar System, I know it.

Finally: I saw the Venus transit, we had perfect weather in central Germany, even had had subarcsecond (!!!) seeing the night before. Ingress was rock-solid. Haven't actually seen a Mercury transit, last one was clouded out (where I was, most of Germany was clear...).

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David Alexander Kann
PhD student
Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg

Ignite our minds and let's burn brighter
These are the wonders at your feet
- Dark Tranquillity, The Wonders At Your Feet

Yes and no. Yeah, we could have thrown warm bodies out there, but our poor understanding of the challenge at the time would have made it more trouble than its worth.

We had not enough understanding about the radiation exposure one experiences in space or how to cope with it. Solar power technology was in its laboratory infancy, life support was extremely crude and inefficient.

A brute force long term mission could have been done, but the human cost would have been unacceptably high.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

I think we already have the technology required to get us to Mars today. I honestly can't think of anything we lack technology-wise.

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"Science is physics and astronomy." -Me
"There is absolutely no law in physics that prevents time travel." -Dr. Michio Kaku

Not on your list, but we have the technology for sending a probe to the nearest star today, and get signals back in our lifetime (I'm thinking of a dual spacecraft--the main probe accelerates to near the speed of light and does a flyby at that speed, taking whatever photos, radar images, etc. that it can. A smaller one detaches halfway there and uses a solar sail to decelerate and gets there several years later than the big one, and sticks around for in-depth studies, perhaps even following instructions sent to it after we see the result of the big probe). There are a few things in the way: money, treaties against nuclear weapons in space, etc. But wouldn't it be such a boost to the space program and interest in science in general if 10 years from now we were seeing pictures of planets around Alpha Centauri A and B. (Of course, if one turned out to look like an Earth twin....follow up missions to see if there's higher life there would be immanent.)

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

I know the poll is asking for what we'd personally like to see, but I'd like to see the one that sparks a direct public movement for much more space involvement. Since the general public's attention is so fleeting, I'm not sure any of the listed would do it. Look how big a concern NEOs were publicly after Shoemaker-Levy, and look how it's been all but forgotten. The first shuttle launch was a huge thing, they later became second page news. Apollo 12 (the whole we've been to the moon already by the media).

While my initial vote would probably be for life elsewhere, because it really would be a huge discovery overshadowing the others, I don't know if that would even make the news these days, because it's too "sciency" for the media.

A morbid thought...but maybe Clarke's foreword for Rendezvous with Rama (or the end of 2010) would work. A wake up call.

Since there was no "Invited to join United Federation of Planets" option, I picked microbial life. Living to see an interstellar probe arrive would be even better since I'm 57 now.

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Life is like a box of chocolates. All of your choices are bad for you.

This actually makes me feel much better than I did before.

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I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

To be frank, I wouldn't say money is an obstacle.

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"Science is physics and astronomy." -Me
"There is absolutely no law in physics that prevents time travel." -Dr. Michio Kaku