What got you into astronomy and what sustains your interest?

[LukeSkywatcher]

I really cant answer this question better then to say that; looking up to the stars has been something i have done MOST of my life and it is now second nature to breathing.

It is just something i do without having to think about doing it. It is just part of who and what i am. I dont need a scope or bins to enjoy it. The second i am outside and see a few stars or whatever..................i am transfixed.

[Mike_F]

Wow, great question..

For me, astronomy seems to be the perfect marriage of many factors:

• I have been, and always will be a scientist. Theory is only interesting as long as there are scientific methods being employed to disprove/prove it. Those who espouse/promote unproved or disproved theory as fact annoy/frustrate me intensely.
  
• Astronomy appears to be an area of science where exploration of theory by means of experimentation and measurement are most effective, and pleasurable.. What better reward from experimentation than a good clear view of M51 is there?
  
• I am a practical scientist. I love getting my hands dirty modifying instruments and equipment to suit my experimental needs.
  
• I'm also a frustrated and not very talented engineer, and am simultaneously fascinated and vexed by the precision to which I must set-up my mass-produced (read:cheap) instruments in order to use them effectively.
  
• I am frustrated by my place in the human time-line, and the technology available to me as an amateur to explore what else is going on beyond the boundaries of this (admittedly beautiful) planet and solar-system.
  

In short, there's so much to learn and so little time..

[Brunty12345]

for me it'l have to be years ago when i was younger i always wanted to learn more about the sky so i had a lil cheap telescope, when you were younger they'd seem amazing (we all had them,) and then november i thought to myself what would i like to learn more about then i remembered so i came online fount this amazing forum and iv learnt quite a lot from it =] thanks everyone who has given me advice and so on, before =]

[yeti monster]

I've always been into space (sky at night has been watched for decades in the Yeti household) and sci-fi, but never in an "anorac" sort of way, until 1999 when we were able to witness the partial solar eclipse. Shortly afterwards I bought my Prinz 86mm reflector (10 or 15 quid, of Todmorden flea market), with which I was able to view Saturn, Jupiter and Mars.

The scope got put away and forgotten many years ago, but last year I had the good fortune to witness the total solar eclipse and my interest has been rekindled, like never before.

I bought my celestron 114mm reflector (30 quid) and am looking forwards to my next scope/project (10" reflector) as well as some huge binos.......

I've started listing what I've observed and am really enjoying learning my way around the night skies.

Spending 1/2 the year in the tropics gives me good opportunity to see more of the stuff which is obscured by hills and atmosphere at home, and some day I shall cross the line and finally get to see the southern sky.

[mattifor]

What got me started, well in short my wife, forced retirement through ill health, boredome and lazyness.

: My wife had always been interested in the star and had always wanted a telescope and as the children had grown up and left home and we were now both retired money was no quite as thinly spread as it had been bringing up a family so We bought an Orion Optics UK Europa 250 tripod and mount.

:my job was to haul it out set it up align it then leave my wife observing and I would retire to the warmth untill she had finished then I would dismantle and haul it back inside.

Its suprising how heavy it becomes when cold and dark and you are tired, Then one day I tripped whilst carrying it resulting in me crushing it and killing it. (got no sympothy from the beter half more concerned with the dead scope).

That was it I decided that an Obsevatory was needed. So one was purchased and built. So no more setup needed.

It was about this time I started joining my wife in the observatory, It was not too cold and I quite enjoyed looking ocassionally at some object she had located.

Well I got hooked and a second scope was bought so we could both observe at the same time.

Now Grandson has showed some interest which is quite rewarding.

Not yet advanced into imaging but it is supprising how the time flies, once you have everything in an obs there is no more waiting for scopes to cool, just open the shutter on the obs get it in line with the part of the sky you want to observe and you are away.

For Christmas we have now a dedicated Lunt solar scope and a WO 80mm with Ha filter and blocker to observe the sun. real great.

As yet not progressed to Star parties. where we live have quite a lot of Light pollution to East and North, South and West not quite as bad.

I remember the sky as a boy and the beautiful sight of the Milky way. unfortunatly due to light pollution not visible at our present location.

[Darren B]

I first got into astronomy when my father brought a book about the night sky with a picture of Saturn on front of it and I was transfixed. I use to watch Doctor Who, Star Trek (the original series) UFO ( the guy with the white eyes and hair use to freak me out) as well as the serious programs like Horizon which use to feature the Viking and Voyager missions. I found it all very exciting at the time.

I'd drifted away from it during my teenage years and got back into through my wife. We were walking along Bournemouth cliff top one clear night and we started chatting about the stars and I pointed out one or two that I could remember and told her that I was really into it as a child. She told me that I should get a telescope and I thought YESSSSS. I was a bit surprised by my own reaction, but knew it was the right thing to do. I've owned a few little scopes over the past 12 years and I'm happy with what what I've got now.

There isn't any reason what sustains my interest except that I just like to get out there and observe, maybe that zen like feeling being at one with nature and doing something I love.

[Permanent Midnight]

hubble ultradeepfield documentary on youtube , that got me in.

its good to know that its mutch mo biger than "unbelieveable" can be imagined.

greetings

Teo

[ron.s.g]

just love the views.

ron.s.g

[Neutrino]

The Geminids shower!!!

I have always been interested in and looked up at a clear sky in amazement.

Wanting to see some Geminids in 2009 (!) brought me here and I have been visiting ever since. Love the photography on here and dream of doing some myself.

[DannyL]

Me an my mum standing watching a meteor shower in a trailer park on the outskirts of Springfield, Mass. autumn 1955. Came home to Blighty on the Queen Mary the following year, and sat on deck under blankets to see the night sky over the Atlantic. I was only four / five but I've never forgotten those two nights.

Since then I have had telescopes and not had telescopes, the interest wanes or is replaced by something else, but always I come back. I cant think of any other interest I've had over the same fifty odd years. ( except praps breathing)

Usually it is something like seeing a truly dark sky, like I did last year in North Wales that sent me rushing to get the scope out of the loft. Or a newish challenge like since I read you can use a webcam and smart software to produce stunning images,

That is my current motivation, to achieve decent imaging results

[AndyC]

Like most people I became interested at a young age, 5 or 6 walking, yes walking, to school in the wintertime and seeing the moon and Venus in the morning sky. More interested in Pre-teen years than later, but never really left me even when I lived near London I still managed to see Hale-Bopp and Halley, but little else.

Now in the Midlands for 10 years and skies darker (still not that good) than anywhere I've lived before. I finally took the plunge to get a scope, and am hooked again. Should have done it years ago. Now I'm finding that I'm spending even more time just looking, and even away from the eyepiece enjoying the sights and re-learning the constellations. Like trying to count the Pleiades with the naked eye each time I see them and last night I caught myself thinking "Oh yes there's Triangulum I can see it clearly".

No doubt though soon I'll be wanting a bigger better tool of the trade and demanding crystal clear pitch black nights:D But for now I'm content to look and discover things new to me.

Andy

[callisto]

It was about 1985, my dad bought me a Tasco 60mm refractor for the approach of Halleys comet.

That was the first time i saw Jupiter through a telescope, Bang, that was it for me.

(p.s. never ever saw the comet).

Mark..

[marcdearn]

Always had an interest in science in general and "space" in particular.

I suppose it is to do with being 8 when the moon landings happened?

That and "UFO" and "Space 1999" (Always wanted a car like Col. Strakers!!!)

I vividly remember making "star distance measurers" as a young kid (pre-11 anyway)

I got a wooden ice lolly stick and because I knew Vega was 100 LY away (for instance) and Rigel was 50 LY away there fore the distance between them was 50 LY!!

Oh How I laugh at that now I actually understand 4dimensional space-time!!!!

anyhoo, got My 6 yearold daughter interested in starts and planets recently and had a Celestron 130 Newt for Xmas so I am back again !!

[simon84]

For me it was when I was about 8 and my Dad had just bought me one of those sliding refractors, must have only been 30mm but it was huge back then.

Anyhow, one night there was a full moon so we set up the scope on the little table top tripod and had a look, it was ok, but my Dad said he could make it look bigger, so he got his 10x50 bins and lined them up behind the scope and messed about with it for a bit and we eventually got some fairly blurred image of the moon. It was great fun and after that we spent many clear nights out in the garden with the bins.

I only got my first scope last September but have always stopped and looked up on a clear night and love that feeling, and now and again I pop round to see my Dad with my son and we just stand in the garden in silence just enjoying the views.

[russ]

I very clearly remember being about six or seven coming back in the car from my grandparents house at night and pressing my face against the car window so I could see 'up' as much as possible!

Spooky, i could recount my first memory of being interested as being the same almost word for word. I suppose the only difference was mum had an interest and pointed out the constellations as i looked out the window. My real interest didn't start until years later though. Initially with a pair of 7x50 bins when i was 12 but i wasn't impressed at all with binoculars. So the real spark was Christmas 1983 with my Tasco refractor.......best Christmas present ever.

Despite their reputation, that little Tasco didn't disappoint. I was just one of those people who needed a scope not binoculars to start me off. My initial interest was the moon and planets, not the stars.

I became obsessed with the hobby throughout my teens and i mean obsessed. Couldn't wait for school/college/work to finish so i could plunge myself into the hobby.

Met Patrick Moore at the Portsmouth Guildhall (i think in 1987) and couldn't get a single word out. Had waited years to meet him and i got stage struck. He probably thought i was a mute! It still bugs me to this day.

Attended Astro Camp in Ashdown Forest every year from 1987 to 1990 (very briefly in 1991). Met Heather Cooper a couple of times, although I’m not sure I got much out again.

Pulled back a little bit from the hobby throughout the 90's due to work, studying, marriage, kids and buying a house. Then fully back into it from 2000 onwards...obsessed again!!!! Couple of dips in 2007 and early 2009. Realised i couldn't afford to pursue imaging and had to rediscover the hobby again as a purely visual observer. That took some adjusting.

And that's it. My enthusiasm levels are currently where they were in the 80's.

I'm loving it!

Russ

[dark knight]

Always been interested in the stars since my first all night carp fishing expedition. It was summer so I just lay on my back on a camp bed in my army sleeping bag (no tent or shelter). Spent the whole night just looking up, counting shooting stars and trying to name constellations, I would have been about 14yrs old (wow that is a long time ago)....

What keeps my interest going......Hope...

Hope for clear skies.

Hope I can better my imaging skills.

Hope for less light pollution.

Hope that my son will still have good skies when he reaches my age.

Hope that the community spirit of astronomy never diminishes and I can always be an active part of it.

Hope that I can attend more star parties than the year before.

Yep, definitely hope....

carl

[arad85]

Always had a passing interest, but went to Spain in 2008 to stay with my partners father. He lives in Tarragona and has pretty dark skies. He had a cheapo 114/900 badly setup 'scope that he didn't really know how to use. I caught enough of the bug to buy a Celestron 6SE about 12 months later (when I had the money). Within 6 weeks, I'd upgraded to a C9.25 on CG5-GT and within the last year I've added a dob, 450D, some decent eyepieces and an imaging setup. I wouldn't say I was obsessed - I'm not out EVERY clear night - but I love the tremendous software/hardware/mechanical challenge of getting everything working for the imaging side (there is so much you need to understand/get working which I enjoy) and once getting a big dob and wideangle eyepieces, I enjoy scanning the heavens for those little faint fuzzies.

Personally, I enjoy planetary and DSO astrophotography together with visual observing. I'm also enjoying understanding exactly how violent and incredibly huge the universe is - the physics of it all is quite staggering once you start to delve under the glossy words you just read if you pick up a mainstream book on the subject. I'm also a geek at heart and the EQ6 is about as close as I've come to owning some form of computer controlled "robot". That, together with the stunning images that people produce drive me on in this hobby....

And it's gone full circle. We bought my partners father the S&T Pocket Sky Atlas for Christmas so he can go and enjoy the ~mag 6 skies he has where he lives. He was chuffed to bits with that as a present

[Starman1]

I have become more interested in ~Astronomy as i have got older. I believe that there is life out there somwhere as we cannot be the only planet with a form of intelligent life on it in the vastness of time and space.

Also the other thing that intrigues me is the fact that some of the stars we see in the night sky are years or centuries old with their light taking as long to reach us. This poses a question. If light from the stars takes years or decades or centuries to reach us and we are in a way looking into the past, is that not a form of time travel but via the night sky?

[paulhereford]

For me there has never been a time in my life even as a small child when I haven't looked up into the sky in absolute wonder.....wonder being the operative word as it has always made me think that we are merely a speck in an enormous cosmos that we know so little about. Now in my 40s I find myself spending more time gazing and re-learning the night sky and by the end of the coming week I will hopefully have received my first telescope to take things to the next level.

Most of my stargazing to date has been with the naked eye, small pair of binoculars and recently through an old russian night sight. Using a night sight has been absolutely amasing with hundreds of stars out of reach with the naked eye or binoculars appearing.

I viewed an aeroplane through the nightsight last week that was accompanied by a moving star like speck/object that I could clearly see through the sight but was undetectable through my bins. What the object was I do not know but seeing it has galvanised my interest even further.

Paul Hereford

[greenninja]

When I was about 9 I was really into the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. On a trip to the the library with the school my mate pulled out a copy of the Observers Guide to Astronomy in which we were amazed to find there really was a star called Betelguese. We were even more amazed that night when we managed to find it in the sky (no sign of a small planet somewhere in the vacinity of it). I had a few scopes really up into my late teens, when a combination or work, bad skies and lack of time kind of diverted my interest into guitars and motorcycles. That said I've always kept a working knowledge of the sky.

A couple of months back I started pointing my camera at the the moon and suddenly realised that I have time, skies and a bit of cash to devout to the hobby. Now I just need to get started properly.

Incidently I think I would have probably kept it up if the internet had of been around in those early years. In the week or so I've been a member of SGL I've got ideas and inspiration in equal measures.

[Ogri]

SGLplate

I don't know their names

but they always give waves

good friends in the clear sky above

when I'm out on my own

they light my way home

or down through the hills

for a beer

Often they're hiding

(I think they're just skiving)

sending rain in their stead

and the badgers to bed

all grumpy and quite out of sorts

We once saw a bright one

it was such a nice one

with tails streaming

all through the sky

Yes two tails!

(yes really!)

and the badgers looked leery

that's not one of us

up on high!

So they scurried away

and came out in the day!

until odd thing had gone

then they sighed

There's funny old stuff

looking down from above

can you watch it and keep us informed?

Well I'll do what I can!

so star watching's the plan

but what do I need for this course?

So online I go

(uphill both ways in snow)

to seek out

who can point me the way

Stargazers! one said

(and I'm easily lead)

over yonder

at that website there!

So that's how it came

that I started this game

with no 'scope in my hands

at this date

But that's easily fixed

these kind folks do insist

in their Stargazers

lounging at ease

Just spend all your money!

(I think it's quite funny)

and we'll fix you up grand

just like that!

Well I huffed and I puffed

but they sure knew their stuff

and the ending's now visibly clear

Then one of them said

just wait, and you'll see

in a year

maybe less, maybe more

You'll have so much gear

and be in such a good cheer

That you'll wish you had met us

before.

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Watching Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain stargazing live featuring epic images from observatories around the globe.

And got small telescope for christmas 2010 it made me go out and get another scope and binos and using stellarium software

i looked up at stars facinating and relaxing observing sky's

a new hobby