Oortrageous

Matt, very true! To echo your sentiment, it is the possibility of one day being able to possibly provide some meaningful contribution to the repository of human knowledge that got me interested! Regarding your comment on spectroscopy, I attended my first meeting of my local astronomy society (Reading) last night, and we had a talk from one of the lead engineers involved in the mid- infra red instrument, with some (I assume basic) explanation of spectrography. There was also a very friendly member of the society present who is apparently the local authority on the matter! I went from having not really heard of a subject to very interested in it over the course of the evening haha! One thousand times this. I'm treating Astronomy like sport - train with people better than you! Clear skies! Ryan

Thanks so much for this post - I have to say, as an absolute beginner, I find the images of what to expect to see more inspiring than a tempering of expectations! Thanks for taking the time to make this detailed post, which has helped a great deal with identifying objects for me!