Two Down, One to Go
Two Down, One to Go
[There are three rows equally filled with squares and above are year dates beginning from 2002 until 2017. The first year (2002) is cut on the left and the color is light gray. It fades in to black, which it becomes in in 2005. To the left of the three rows the text reads:] Total eclipse Aurora Meteor storm [Below the year 2017 the squares in the first two rows are checked.]

In this comic, Randall lists three of the most spectacular astronomical sights: a total solar eclipse , an aurora (Aurora Borealis in the northern hemisphere and Aurora Australis in the south), and a meteor storm . In 2017, the first two of these phenomena happened within weeks of each other for observers in much of the US - a coincidence that Randall celebrates.
In the title text, Randall suggests the next meteor storm could be 2034, probably because this is predicted to be a good year for Leonids .
Randall then continues by saying that if he manages to see a supernova during the daytime, he will drop the goal for the meteor storm and call it 3 of 3. This is because such an event is so unlikely that he hasn't even included it in his bucket list, and he would be happy to switch between the two types of events if he had the chance. A few stars, when they turn supernova, could be so bright that they can be seen during the day time here  on Earth. The brightest supernova recorded in human history was SN 1006 which was sixteen times brighter than Venus but still not bright as the full moon. SN 1054 is an other example. When such an extremely rare event might happen is impossible to predict. There is a (very small) chance that the giant star Betelgeuse will go supernova within Randall's lifetime, allowing him to tick this off the list too. Randall even mentioned that this could not happen soon enough in 1644: Stargazing . Note that if you could see it during the day time, it would be one of the brightest objects in the night sky after the Moon.  Also keep in mind that if Betelgeuse were to go supernova in Randall's lifetime, he wouldn't see it since it's over 600 light years away.  For Randall to see it during his lifetime, it must have already gone supernova some 600 odd years ago, and we won't know that until we actually see it 613-881 years after it happened.
Astronomical backgrounds
[There are three rows equally filled with squares and above are year dates beginning from 2002 until 2017. The first year (2002) is cut on the left and the color is light gray. It fades in to black, which it becomes in in 2005. To the left of the three rows the text reads:] Total eclipse Aurora Meteor storm [Below the year 2017 the squares in the first two rows are checked.]
