When and why did you get into this game?

[Qualia]

It just seemed a natural progression from my main hobby interest: the ongoing pursuit of wanting to know.

I always figured I ought to be able to do a number of fundamental things in this particular 'hobby' of needing to know and I set myself a number of tasks: to speak fluently another language, to play a musical instrument, have a decent grounding in grammar, history, geography, world religions and philosophy, that kind of thing. And astronomy is just a part of this pursuit. I need to understand the heavens.

But this isn't meant in an intellectual manner.

I recognise that astronomy fulfills a very strong emotional need. It isn't about learning a science, or a physics of stars, the motion of planets, special relativity, or quantum mechanics. These might be interesting topics, but first and foremost it is simply about contemplating the heavens, in much the same manner that I need to contemplate a philosophical argument, sit back and listen to a piece of music, just to look at the beautiful sparklers, planets and fuzzy cloud-like objects, alone with myself, in peace. It kind of grounds humility.

And finally, I also recognise that it has enhanced - for good or bad, time will tell, - a more primordial, basic emotion, namely, the pride of ownership. I've never really experienced this sensation. I don't much care for things and try not to clutter my life with possessions. I don't own a house or car, for example, don't much care for having a career, but looking at my telescope, the EPs, mount and tripod and caring for them to the best of my abilities, fills me with a curious sense of pride and joy.

[rustyjames]

I used to work a lot of night shifts,so would be outside in the early hours in the summer with a mug of tea looking up! Then my daughter meg saw Brian cox on tv and started asking questions I couldn't answer ,we've now got stellarium on pc and a few apps on iPad and some bins,so it begins.......

[Marki]

<And finally, I also recognise that it has enhanced - for good or bad, time will tell, - a more primordial, basic emotion, namely, the pride of ownership. I've never really experienced this sensation. I don't much care for things and try not to clutter my life with possessions. I don't own a house or car, for example, don't much care for having a career, but looking at my telescope, the EPs, mount and tripod and caring for them to the best of my abilities, fills me with a curious sense of pride and joy.>

I can identify with that Qualia; I feel a bit the same with my books (of which I have way too many on all sorts of random subjects); I'll sometimes just get one of the scopes out on a rainy evening and look at it and in my mind I can realise the possibilities that it offers.... . And then I remember the rain and put it away again and fire up Stellarium or look at some the imaging forums here to try get my astro "fix".

[Albenn]

I have always been interested in space and technology ever since I can remember. I am now 53 and remember sitting enthralled by the Apollo missions and being mesmerised by the moon landings.

I regret not getting a telescope until last year but am so glad I did as it has been something else seeing the objects I had only read about and seen in pictures.

[Ganymede12]

Where to start!

I got interested in space when Doctor Who returned in 2005. Documentaries such as "The Universe" and of course Brian Cox's "Wonders of the Solar System/Universe" helped. At first, I was happy just to, every now and then, take the latest issues of "Focus" outside and look at there little star chart.

Then, one day I was in the car with my parents going home after walking the dog and an Argos catalogue was lying on the seat beside me and I thought -quite randomly- "How much does a telescope cost?" I flicked to the page and saw a national geographic telescope for £30. I asked my parents f I could get it and they thought I should do more research first. I did, used the internet and even asked my physics teacher, and found that the national geographic one wouldn't have been very good.

Then my dad remembered that one of the shops that the company he worked for did business with sold telescopes. I went to J&A cameras and bought my Mercury707. I also started reading "Sky at Night" and after my first night with my scope I have been hooked!

I think I would have been into astronomy quicker had the stars not been obscured by clouds so often!

I can still remember back in Yr 6 in school when we had to write down everything we knew about space. I filled the entire page and still had information to share.

I also remember explaining how a black hole formed and my class being very confused about it.

[Hex]

Sat cross legged in the school hall wearing short pants aged 5 and watching the first Moon shot on a massive school TV. I saved up and bought a 2 inch frac and a copy of my favorite all time astronomy book, Mr Moore's "Observers book of Astronomy" Magic! I think I was now about 10. At secondary school I discovered another lad who had also caught the bug and we went "two's up" on a 6 inch Newton on a dodgy wooden tripod. What I really wanted was a 4 inch refractor but back in the early 70's a frac of this size was way out of my league. We started making Planetariums too around this time and used to put on shows for parents and siblings before perfecting them and taking them into out school to wow our mates and teachers. Forget all this stuff you may have seen in professional observatories' planetariums, no a proper planetarium is made from biscuit tins with holes punched in them and powered by bulbs and batteries nicked form bicycle lamps. We borrows a slide projector and used to show slides of M42 and what have you after pointing out where they were to be found in the constellations which were projected on the bedroom/class room ceiling. We even pre-recorded sound tracks to our shows recorded in one take on a mono tape recorder and played Holst's "Planets suite" as backing Music.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I was about 6-7 yrs old and i asked my dad what the 3 bright stars in a line were. He had no idea, but he soon bought me a pair of secondhand "Airport" 10X50 bins and a planisphere.

I was then able to tell him the 3 bright stars in a row was Orion's belt.

p.s.~~~i'll be 39 in March.

[Davey-T]

I used to live on the Isle of Wight as a boy and looked at the sky with my dads bin's, then we moved to the big city and someone turned out the stars.

I had small refractor for many years but now I'm retired I've spent far too much on stuff, still you can't take it with you.

Dave