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Whats the Difference between Astronomy and Trainspotting?

sabana

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umadog

umadog

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How is astronomy anything at all like trainspotting? If you're asking this question you have totally missed the point of astronomy.

You know what I did last night? I took two mirrors and four little pieces of clear glass and saw another world--Jupiter. It's crazy to think that you can do so much with so little. There were countless cloud bands across the surface and I could watch it revolve as two large storms progressed across the NEB. Two nights before I saw a galaxy cluster located a quarter of a billion light years away. Several galaxies in the same field of view. Again, same simple way. This afternoon I shared views of the sun with co-workers. We watched sun-spot groups as a prominence erupted out of the sun's limb. The prominence changed visibly during the course of the observing session.

Astronomy allows you to connect with the rest of the universe in which we live. It tells us where we fit into the cosmos and where we came from. People care about it: each week 50 to 100 people turn up at our club to look through the scopes. A lot of them come away deeply moved by the experience.

And you're comparing all this to trainspotting?

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saturn4me

saturn4me

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How is astronomy anything at all like trainspotting? If you're asking this question you have totally missed the point of astronomy.

You know what I did last night? I took two mirrors and four little pieces of clear glass and saw another world--Jupiter. It's crazy to think that you can do so much with so little. There were countless cloud bands across the surface and I could watch it revolve as two large storms progressed across the NEB. Two nights before I saw a galaxy cluster located a quarter of a billion light years away. Several galaxies in the same field of view. Again, same simple way. This afternoon I shared views of the sun with co-workers. We watched sun-spot groups as a prominence erupted out of the sun's limb. The prominence changed visibly during the course of the observing session.

Astronomy allows you to connect with the rest of the universe in which we live. It tells us where we fit into the cosmos and where we came from. People care about it: each week 50 to 100 people turn up at our club to look through the scopes. A lot of them come away deeply moved by the experience.

And you're comparing all this to trainspotting?

Ok,so which one do you prefer?:):D

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nicnac

nicnac

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Umadog, chill out pal, i think it was a light hearted question.

Astronomy is considered a geeks thing by many, just like train spotting, the op is either having a chuckle, been asked the question or wondered.

i dont think the "point" of astronomy was a part of the question.

PS, if i read you wrong, its most likely because i've just woke up and logged right in to SGL with coffee number one :)

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ScubaMike

ScubaMike

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Distance?

You don't spot many trains at 250,000 miles (I'm assuming the Moon is the closest astronomical object regularly observed or imaged).

You'd have a hard time reading the number at that distance, although "The Sunday Sport" has probably published images of a train on the Moon at some point.

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Macavity

Macavity

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In the days of STEAM (just remembered here!) train spotting was exciting... Being blasted with steam (smuts!), as a locomotive sped past a station platform or under a bridge! A walk down to the local train "sheds" - Watching those... Leviathans being lubricated, watered, coaled, manipulated on "turntables" etc. In deference to today's train spotters, I find rather LITTLE excitement in the "Diesel Multiple Unit", but... ;)

By contrast, astronomical hardware, seems to become ever MORE exciting. :)

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E621Keith

E621Keith

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And is it more a male thing to do, cataloging information? Supposedly us men lean more towards the autistic, and such cataloging and ordering is perhaps part of that.

I thought research showed women are the ones who gathering and cataloguing things. They were the gatherers in the prehistoric society and tasked with looking for their 5-a-day. End result shopping, shopping, shopping... I cannot begin to count how many pairs of shoe and handbags in that cupboard still have price tags on, and have never been worn/used once. ever.

Men were the hunters, they were tasked with searching for prey and hunting them for meat. Plane and train spotting are no different from deer stalking. They go out and look for their prey, and when they found one they shoot it (with camera/gun). A stamp collector's stamp books are their trophy room, but instead of filling that with the head of dead animals, they filled it with stamps. As for astronomy, why do you think so many of us resist the idea of using GOTO. :)

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lukebl

lukebl

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Probably like a lot of members here, I initially bit my lip and tried to keep quiet when I saw the original post.

But comparing a seemingly mindless listing of passing trains which doesn't seem to have any intellectual value or require any effort, with the continuous research, development, learning, effort and heartache which we enthusiasts (or, at least, some of us) put in and get out of this pastime is a bit unfair. We also probably have emptier bank balances. However, if you're just interested in superficially ticking things off a list, then there isn't much difference. Dilettantes, I think one desribes them!

The night before last I showed a couple of aquaintances my obsy, after they'd expressed an interest in seeing what's out there. After their initial impressed expressions at seeing the size of a 10" Newt on an NEQ6 pier, I showed them Jupiter and its moons, M31, The Pleiades, and M57 through the eypiece, plus a few fainter galaxies and planetaries using my CCD.

After my enthusing effusively about these vast magnificent objects, explaining that some of which were millions of light years distant, and explaining about the hours I put into the hobby, one of them said 'Do you watch aeroplanes too?' Crestfallen is the best description of my mood after that.

I guess they assumed that beause I look through telescopes, I must like looking at any distant objects.

Which is why I won't bother to make any effort to outreach to anyone any more! They just don't get the point!

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Woking

Woking

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Cash, trainspotters only need a notebook, bobble hat, and a flask.

Trainspotting may have been interesting years ago, but why spot today's modern trains which all look the same?

Saying that, the other day at Woking station what could have been the Orient Express or similar? was standing on the south bound platform. It had the refurbed old fashioned dining carriages and actually looked rather nice, much more civilised than my morning Waterloo bound commuter train

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