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Why Did You Start??

cloudsweeper

By cloudsweeper
in The Astro Lounge

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

Posted
Posted

Was fascinated by all the news that surrounded the Apollo 8 mission - first manned mission to leave earth's orbit. What an adventure! Hooked on all things "space" from that moment.

Only had a pair of cheap binds at that time, but as a 10-year-old I was ambitious. Saved my pocket money to buy a mirror grinding kit. But as was so often the case my ambition far outstripped my ability/commitment.

Still, I stuck with the hobby and just waited for bank account & prices to converge. 

BTW the mirror grinding kit was finally sold to someone on SGL a few years back,  so not a total waste.

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dweller25

dweller25

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In the summer of 1966 When  I was 6 I stayed over at my grandmas house because my grandad had just died and she was upset.

I woke up early one morning, just before sunrise and looked out of the south facing window to a totally clear sky with a very bright point of light that I knew was not a star so figured I had seen my first planet. That was the start of the hobby.

Three years later I saw Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon live on TV at school - I was hooked.

Anyone remember a weekly magazine that was put out during the Apollo landings - I think it was called Countdown ??

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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I’ve always been fascinated by Space and Physics. I’m a child of Captain Jean Luc Picard and the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew. My imagination was constantly fuelled with dreams of traveling the stars and wondering about the technology that would take us/me there. As an adult, I regularly take in information on science through books, TV, Podcasts and online articles. One of my sons refers to Brian Coxs as being “Daddy’s Friend” even though I’ve never met or spoken to him. All this meant, that I jumped on the smart phone apps that you could point at the sky and find out what you were looking at. I regularly went out and identified planets. People in my neighbourhood who wondered what I was up to would often get a triumphant point at the sky and “that’s Saturn!”. I remember seeing the Pleiades and telling people at work you could see all these tiny stars if you concentrated. Then came the years of running outside to watch the ISS pass overhead. I’d often bring the kids out to take a look too. One Christmas Eve we told them it was Santa Claus. My son panicked and ran straight to his bed to make sure he was asleep before he arrived!

Despite all this interest, I was 36 before I got a telescope. My wife asked what I wanted for Christmas and I said nothing because I’d seen the credit card bill. She was most insistent though. So late one night, I did 20 mins of Googling to find a telescope that would show me the rings of Saturn! That was my only criteria! On Christmas morning, I opened up a rather large box containing a SkyWatcher 130M on EQ2 Mount. The kids weren’t happy that I had the biggest present that year! It took until March for me to see Jupiter. It wasn’t the planet but those 4 little moons that blew my mind. I joined SGL soon after that as I looked into eyepiece upgrades. I don’t do hobbies by halves and have built up a good collection of kit and knowledge in a fairly short amount of time. This Christmas will be two years since my first scope arrived. I lead a busy life with 4 young children and Astronomy is something that I’ve been able to share with them but also gives me some much needed time to be me. It’s a wonderful way to relax, seeing amazing sights and is a constant source of learning. What more could you ask for!

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RiponJas

RiponJas

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I had a little tasco scope bought for me as a small child and remember looking at the moon and not being able to see anything else but it did leave me with a lunar obsession.  Then nothing for a long time. 

Fast forward nearly forty years and my wife and I bought our youngest son a starter scope for Xmas and it rekindled my interest again. And here I am a few months down the line skint and overloaded with bits and bobs!! ? 

Loving it.. Still fixated with the moon as well. 

 

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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Similar to some others I always was kind of looking up already because of the Apollo moon landings from the Space Race era, but I think it was also given a boost also around 1977 after Star Wars, but more importantly after seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind when it came out, which got me looking up in the skies more for UFO’s. Can’t say I ever really saw any, but remember seeing Orion in the sky (never knew it was Orion then), which kind of got me hankering after a telescope, which I got for Christmas the same year I believe. Only a cheap store bought Tasco, but started this walk down the path which has lead me here today! :) 

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DaveS

DaveS

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Can't remenber *why* I started astronomy, any more than I can remember why I started breathing, it's always been there. At first I had a pair of bins when I was about 8 I should think, still got them.

In a desultary fashion at first, but when I went up to senior school at 14, and was able to stay up till dark things started to gel, but my eyes were getting more short sighted so the stars got more fuzzy. When I finally got glasses and actually *wore* them (Afraid of being called four eyes etc), so could see better the interest really took off. Got my first real telescope, a 60mm frac from Dixons. I was in the senior house then, and set myself the task of learning a new constellation each clear night.

The rest is history.

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Gina

Gina

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Two sources excited my interest in astronomy - my grandfather and visiting the South Bank Exhibition in London in 1951.  My father introduced me to photography as a child - he gave me a Box Brownie.  The two come together in astro-photography.

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DaveS

DaveS

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Ah, the Box Brownie. My first camera too, age uncertain, but certainly before 10. Been photographing ever since. Now the two have come together, to the ruination of my bank balance.

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L8-Nite

L8-Nite

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What got me started was seeing a fireball one evening slowly streaking its way across the sky back around 1964. After that I spent too many evenings waiting for another to appear.  Being that I took such an interest in looking up, one weekend my parents took me over to the Griffith Park Observatory which was just a few miles away from our home.  I was fascinated with the Planetarium, but my biggest thrill was getting to look at the Moon through the 10" Zeiss refractor.  Wow !  After that, my Dad let me use his binoculars, but I craved having a telescope.  A few months later we were at our local Sears store where they were having a big sale in their underground parking lot, when my Dad spotted a box with a small refractor and a jumble of parts in it; lo and behold, I had my first telescope !  :icon_biggrin:

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bish

bish

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I don't remember exactly but I dug out an old encyclopedia  as a kid and was fascinated by the space section. Mainly old illustrations. I only ever looked at that section.

I grew up in a small village wirh very dark skies and street lights that went out about 1am. My friends and me would camp in the back garden so we could go off and wander in the dead of night. The Milky Way was great, but I also remember nights of the full moon when would cast a strong shadow with  no street light. 

Later I used to sit up and watch  old sci fi films and then of course Patrick Moore.

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Dave Lloyd

Dave Lloyd

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My grandparents bought me "Astronomy" by Patrick Moore in 1960 as I'd been mad about the stars as long as I could remember. Both sets of grandparents lived in the depths of the countryside and in those days skies were truly dark. The magic of those days has never left me. 

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