What made us all interested to begin with?

[Metalhead]

I dont know if this has been asked before , but I wondered how  or what got us all interested in astronomy?  I personally  was always being shown the constellations  by my Dad from about 5 years old and have always remembered how he showed me how to find the pole star by following the two pointers in the big dipper. I got my first telescope (Tasco) when I was about 20 and had much pleasure with this for a few years. I lost interest for a while due to the fact that the 60mm Tasco was way too weak for me and I coudln't afford the 12 inch Reflector that I saw in magazines for ABOUT 3 YEARS WAGES !!!. I did get hold of an 8 inch reflector a few years later (It even had an Equatorial mount)  but as I lived in a tiny terraced house at the time it was far too heavy and cumbersome to be used to its best , so Alas this was sold. I now have the Celestron 127 SLT Mak which I find ideal for my uses ...until I get into DSO Photography ....The wife wont know how much I need to spend   ...will she ?...anyway Thats my story...it will be interesting to read some others when I get back from Spain in  10 days or so ....cheers all Pete

[LukeSkywatcher]

I suppose my very first venture into astronomy started at about age 5-6 when i asked my dad one night while we were somewhere doing something non-astro related: "What are those 3 white stars in a perfect line"?. He had no idea so the next thing i remember was a short time later my dad coming home with a pair of second-hand "Airport" 10x50 bins and a Phillips Planisphere for me. It turns out the stars were.....................Orion's belt. Then i started watching S@N on tv, or there was something else on on a saturday morning (i think) featuring Heather Couper. Maybe dad had recorded S@N on the Betamax or something. That same Christmas, i got my first scope which was a 60-70mm blue Prinz on a wooden German EQ tripod/mount.

I still have the 10x50 bins in a nice hard leather covered case and red felt lining. They must be nearly 60 yrs old by now.

Just googled the bins. Apparently the "Airport" bins are made by Elkow. There's no Elkow branding on the bins. I never remember seeing one either.

[John]

My brother was given "The Observers Book of Astronomy" in the late 1960's but he wasn't interested so I nicked it and found the book fascinating. I still have that copy !. I followed the Apollo programme culminating in the lunar landings when I was 9 years old and that fanned the flames of the interest. When I went to secondary school they had an Astronomy club with an 8" newtonian in a dome and a small planetarium so that moved my interest on. I borrowed a Tasco 60mm refractor on wobbly legs from a mate then eventually saved enough to buy my own. Seeing Saturn through that at 3:00 am one morning set the seal on a hobby that has lasted another 35+ years so far 

[baggywrinkle]

I was about 9 when I borrowed a pair of binoculars, that was it. Blown away by the Moon and fields of stars.

I was also hooked into watching every space shot leading up to Apollo 11.

From there to a 1" wee telescope and later a 60mm Prinz. I joined the Norwich Astronomical Club, they had a 10" refector, huge in those days (1969).

I did an O level, dropping French to do so.

I joined the RN in 1972 and there was not much observing...especially from a submarine.

Took it back up 18 months ago when I realised that the equipment was more affordable and accessible.

[oldpink]

been into fishing and camping since I was a pup
and always loved looking up into the sky at night and marveling at the beauty of the Milky Way
progressed from there

[tenbyfifty]

when i was a lad guys were landing on the moon and then there was sky lab and soyuz linking up

in the middle of the cold war and star trek and dr who were on telly and star wars and close encounters

were in the flix and patrick moore was either doing sky at night or being sent up by mike yarwood or ronnie barker

so i reckon i was brain washed really.

[boyfromlincs]

Always been one for looking up at the night sky when out with the dog or on hols or night fishing when i was younger.. then one evening about 2 years ago i saw the moon through a mates scope.. to say im hooked is an understatment... and the moon still amazes my little brain as does everything else i see...and its a hobby i can do from my own garden..bonus !!

[Hertford Stargazer]

Long story which I'll try and keep short.

My father was into all things optical, he collected box & SLR cameras and we use to play around with a homemade refractor telescope and watch S@N when I was a young kid. Many years later after I grew up, got married and had kids he was diagnosed with cancer. During his treatment we were invited to an open evening at Bayfordbury Observatory, we had a great time looking through the scopes and talking to the experts. Afterwards he said to me that he enjoyed the evening so much that (for the first time) he actually forgot he had cancer for a couple of hours.

He use to have chemo in London and on one occasion while wandering the streets passing time before his appointment he found a shop selling telescopes. He kept talking about these scopes and so for Christmas we brought him a basic Helios reflector which I still have and use today. He was over the moon  with this scope and we spent several nights in the garden observing the night sky before he became too ill and died 5 months later. I inherited the scope which was subsequently stored away in the loft for several years.

Six years later I was diagnosed with cancer. For some reason I retrieved my fathers scope from the loft and spent hours in the garden observing planets and the moon over the two years of my treatments. It was an escape and (like my father) a way of forgetting I had cancer. Anyway for my fortieth birthday, after being given the all clear, my wife brought me a SW 130 on motorised EQ2 mount, since then I've added to my scopes (several times  ) and I'm totally hooked if a little skint 

[Sandraj]

Its all my husbands fault.

I was never interested in astronomy, its always been wildlife for me, Christmas just gone he bought me as a stocking filler a Lidl spotter scope, one evening I pointed it up to the sky and saw jupiter, I was then hooked and wanted a proper telescope.

I am very new and raw to all things in the sky and have loads to learn, with the help of this forum, Stellarium and Turn Left at Orion, I am slowly getting there.

[albedo0.39]

It was my early fascination with Gerry Anderson's UFO, Star Trek, Space 1999 and then my lovely old parents bought me a 40 mm Tasco telescope. My dad built a tripod for me and I used to sit on top of the flat roof of the extension at our old house.

I was hooked seeing Mars for the first time... Addictive. I was 8 years old.

I'm a little older now.

[ultramol]

My earliest recollection was when as a child (about 10 or 11) my bunk bed looked south out of the bedroom window. I used to lie there looking at all the stars and just wondering what they were. Then I had a dream, or I think it was a dream  that I floated out into space and what was wonderful was that I was neither cold nor hot but the euphoria of floating through the stars still gives me that feeling that I had then, to this day ! and that was fifty years ago. But the clincher was when I asked my dad what was out there he told me it was infinite and that it never ended, Hook, Line and sinker..... It troubled me then and it troubles me now. As a child I imagined a wall round the universe, But what was over the wall? My head was in a spin (and still is) but from those early days I loved looking up and just wondering about it all. This was topped off by exposure to Patrick Moore and the S@N and then Carl Sagan who, with the help of Vangelis, proceeded to blow my mind away. Astronomy can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, that is what is so wonderful about either laying back in a chair on a dark night and looking up, or running a 12 inch fully computerised telescope from your shed. It is breathtaking.....

[spike95609]

When I was 8 the family had a fortnight's holiday in Florida and we spent a day at the Kennedy Space Center. Huge rockets all over the place, very difficult not to be inspired by all of that stuff. I've always been interested in space but it's only recently that I've started observing properly. I had a telescope when I was about 9 or 10, but it was just one of those rubbish things from Argos which would wobble all over the place if so much as a thought entered your head.

[scarp15]

Got into astronomy whilst still at school. watching the Sky at Night was the influence and so because I was at school, used one of my jotters to compile my own astronomy reference book, still got it somewhere, along with Observers Book of Astronomy amongst others. Also as a child, I can just recall the moon landings on TV. No astronomy club at the school unfortunately which might have retained my interest. Growing up in Blackpool (with its illuminations) was not exactly the best location for astronomy, though we were close to the sea front. As I recall my telescope at the time cost the princely sum of £11. 

Simply put, more recently, just over six years ago, it was the events that were gaining publicity and momentum at Kielder, an area I knew well and visited frequently, that caught my attention and got me hooked.

[Hawksmoor]

My interest was kindled by "The Observers Book of Astronomy"  purchased at the beginning of the 1960's with Christmas present cash given to me by my great and now late; Aunts Elsie, Flo  and Alice - (all in half crowns). Closely followed up by a visit to the old planetarium in Baker Street.  Over the years maintained by S@N, refreshed by a seven year stint at Manchester University which included a visit to the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank and sharing a house with an astrophysicist.  Currently sponsored by my wife's goodwill and aided and abetted by Suffolk County Council who have the decency to turn off the street lights at midnight.

[knobby]

By accident really...

wandering around shopping for that last minute Christmas eve pressie for the mrs. Found Photo optix were closing down and had loads of telescopes ( losely described) on clearance.

I remembered the wife telling me that she'd always wanted one when she was little.

She loved the present ( horrible 60 mm x 700 mm frac) but soon lost interest when it was cold outside...

but I was hooked  !

[Caldwell14]

Neil Armstrong I would say was my starting point, I was 5 years old when he took his giant step. At about 10 I got my first scope' a Captain Pugwash affair, shortly followed by a 2 inch refractor with a tripod of sorts. Later on I went twos up on a 6 inch Newtonian with a wooden tripod with which at the age of 12 I saw Saturn for the first time.

[Christhorpe]

I remember being mesmerised by the observer books series as a kid. The small hardback books looked cool and was my first non fiction book I owned. Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I bought my first scope and had the usual set up problems for the first few nights. Getting frustrated, I eventually sorted the problem and.......then Saturn came into view through the eyepiece for the first time. Hooked ever since !!

[sbj]

Moving to the Scottish Borders and experiencing dark for the first time.  No street lights for 3 miles.  So may stars and fuzzy patches I had to look closer.

[laser_jock99]

I got brought a Tasco 60mm scope for Christmas as a kid. Using that little scope we saw a hell of lot stuff - I remember particularly it gave nice views of open star clusters and the moon. I have still have the scope and my observing notes from those days.

After a 20 year break I'm back into astronomy- for two main reasons :

1) The Internet is a huge resource of knowledge and like minded individuals.

2) CCD's- a vast improvement over the film cameras I struggled with. They are the real revolution in recent astronomy.

Me & my first scope (in my younger days!!) 

[Paul M]

I'm not totally sure but I worshiped this Ladybird book:

That takes me back to 8 years old or younger. So that's when I started playing with lenses mounted on a 12in ruler using Plasticine.

I remember the realisation that light is "something" and looking in a mirror to see if I could see it entering my eyes (??)

Then I was bought a pretty useless plastic toy telescope from Woolworth's. As little as I knew, I knew that scope was pants!

As for astronomy as a hobby distinct from my general love of science, that came a few years later when my overpowering dislike of football became an issue. At my school games lessons meant football . Long story short... I ended up being sent to the school library as punishment for my refusal to partake! That's some punishment for a book worm

I picked up a book in the school library that showed a bewildering array of constellations and diagrams that I didn't understand. But thumbing through  I spotted something that looked like those 3 stars in a line I'd watched through my bedroom window many, many times. With that book I went on to find other constellations and then...."is that really a planet?"

I was hooked.

[lhuchison]

I remember sending off for moon landing pictures when I was 10 from Heinz beans.

The image of the earth from the moon fascinated me but I never owned a telescope till fairly recently.

Now I'm getting it all coming back, the amazement and awe!

[jason.p]

This book which my parents bought me back in the fifties. I've still got it!

[laser_jock99]

This book which my parents bought me back in the fifties. I've still got it!

Now that you mention it this little book helped me immensely too:

[JimmyC]

OP, largely the same as you, I

[JimmyC]

OP, largely the same as you. I remember my first look at Saturn like it was yesterday. Absolutely jaw dropping sight - seeing our planet Saturn in all her glory with my own eyes! I will never forget that 'rugby ball' moment. Me and my father always used to sit out on the bench and look for satellites and shooting stars when i was in my early ages. I will never forget it and i cannot thank him enough for sharing the experience with me.

As time went on i lost interest in this hobby due to GCSE's and AS/A2 commitments, but the recent SN2014J has pulled me right back in, leading to my purchase of almost £2k worth of equipment off the bat!

Clear skies all....