Introductions: How did you become interested in astronomy?

[ERS]

Hello,

When I was eight years old I always have my eyes turned to the night skys, and have many questions (and theories) about what I saw...
Lot of dreams and serious readings later, I offer my pation a 60/700 refractor just in time to discover Mars white's pole by myself in 2003 and I was 39 years old!

Then, wanting to share my observations, I learned step by step how to make pictures and get another telescope for planets and the Moon: a SC280 F/10!
Now I'm very fond of planetary observations and send my pictures to SAF (I'm french), ALPO and ALPO-Japan to makes my pictures useful if necessary...

You can follow my work by visiting my own site:

http://www.astrosurf.com/ers/Accueil.html

Emmanuel

[MargaritaMc]

I've been reading through some of the other posts in this thread, and I feel a little like Charlie Brown when he replied to Linus, "Well, I thought they looked like a horsie and a doggie..."

I am 64 and first discovered that that bright light in the sky was NOT a geo-stationary orbit last August. Because there were two of them when I took my pre-dawn coffee out on the terrace. Huh? thought I. I don't think I can capture the enormity of the task that was involved before I managed to discover that - goodness me! what do you know?! - those lights were ... stunned pause ... VENUS and JUPITER.
I got up at five o' clock for a couple of weeks, just to look at them.
And when the Moon was up against them (conjunct) I got goose bumps ...
And then, oh, the magic of seeing a crescent Moon rise over the hills to the east of us...

I couldn't believe that this mind-altering beauty happened night after night, and I had not realized it before.

I bought books, got the Stellarium program on my computer, learnt some of the constellations, found out all I could about the stars that are naked-eye visible here (Tenerife, at sea level). Found Wikipedia to be a gold mine. Did a YouTube search on "astronomy". Hit pay dirt - Robert Nemiroff's full course. Oh frabjous day!

That, pretty obviously, gives a straight link to Apod. The link to this Forum isn't so straight forward. If I hadn't clicked the link to get the 2013 Apod calender I wouldn't have known it exists. But I did, so I do.

So I know almost nothing about astronomy - I'm only at lecture 5 of the course. And I've never looked through a telescope...

I tried looking through binoculars, but my arms are very weak (paralysed really) because of childhood polio so this was not successful. Working out a telescope that I can manage and can afford is on my ToDo list. But, realistically, the seeing here is so hazy that it might not improve things much. And because of my health (don't go there!) I can't get out of the garden often.

But Apod is there. My window into the stars. And now this Starship Asterisk*!
I look forward to learning from and with you all.
Best wishes
Margarita

[makc]

I have found small pocket sized book reprinted from some early XX century german book about solar system, stars, telescopes and such when I was a kid. Although badly damaged, it got me interested enough to remember most of basic stuff. Then I went to school and there was some astronomy introduction classes too, I think. But I only remember the book.

[owlice]

Margarita, welcome to Asterisk!!

[MargaritaMc]

Thank you, Owlice! Good to be here.
Would it be inappropriate to ask if your Forum name is Ow lice or Owl ice? Both options are intriguing!
Regards
Margarita

[owlice]

It's not inappropriate, and actually, thanks for asking and not assuming it's Ow lice! It's Owl-ice, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

[MargaritaMc]

Thank you!
Regards M

[Terry D]

Hello all. I'm Terry D, an avid backyard stargeezer with an 18" Obsession dob who finally acted on my life-long interest in astronomy just seven years ago. I'm a little bit older than rock-and-roll, but feel far younger

[MargaritaMc]

Hello all. I'm Terry D, an avid backyard stargeezer with an 18" Obsession dob who finally acted on my life-long interest in astronomy just seven years ago. I'm a little bit older than rock-and-roll, but feel far younger

I love the term 'stargeezer', Terry! Welcome aboard.
Margarita

[sheershoff]

Hello all. My name is Ilya Sheershov (though spelling in Latin alphabet may vary from document to document), I'm web-developer. I'm 31 and I'm fond of APOD for ~17 years already. It'll be a long post.

Why am I interested in astronomy? My mind is always pledging for more information on the structure of Universe on thinner levels or galactic scales, or just interesting scientific facts.

Back in ~1996 i was 14 and studied in the seventh form (or how do English-speaking people call the number of years studied in the school) of an usual school here in the very center of Russia, 30 miles from Europe-Asia border. I had an 486SX with 200Mb HDD, and since I studied well my parents bought me a modem and I became one of the first 3000 dial-up internet users in our 1.2M population city. I already had 3rd FIDO address in 2:5080 area and a BBS that drove my mother crazy because she always forgot to turn off the phone in her room in the evening.

By that time I was fond of science, as long as you can call the things we were taught in schools "science". Plus I've been a frequent visitor of the Central City Children's Library and often I fetched Nuclear Physics or Quantum Mechanics textbooks to read at home. Though it was all gibberish to me, it was very interesting and I liked reading them. As for now I wonder how did it came that Nuclear Physics and Quantum Mechanics textbook are in the Children's library (this questions resembles me the scene in Man in Black when agent J shoot a child with Quantum Mechanics textbook ).

So I had a BBS, internet access and FIDO. And I knew English pretty well. Surfing the web I stumbled upon the APOD site. And I was hitting "previous image" for a half of the night. Now if one would awake me in the night and ask "what's the address of the APOD site", I'd spell it "http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/", since it was the address of APOD at that time and I've learned it by heart. Then I contacted Dr. Robert Nemiroff to allow me holding images and descriptions of images (with Russian translation made by me) on my BBS, so people that do not have access to the internet or lack of knowledge of English language were able to enjoy the beauty of the Universe. Having received a letter describing the things like "copyright" I started making an archive. I translated around 80 descriptions. That's around 40 days in line - posting a today's picture with translated description and one of the previous date's. Then I've found out that no one of my FIDO friends is interested. There was only one download of one picture with description. So I quit translating, but still was visiting APOD site almost every night. Until today I was an admiring visitor.

Now I have an image I'd like the community to evaluate whether it is interesting for APOD readers, so I've registered to come aboard this spaceship (thank's for reading )

[Night eyes]

Like many my interest began very early I life. I suspect it was the evening star poem: Starlight, Starbright and the relative lack of light polluted sky that made me look up to wonder what true stars were all about. The clincher was being an avid reader who advanced early into the adult section of the local library where I discovered a book featuring beautiful photos of real nebulae. I am strictly an armchair astronomer keenly enthusiastic about the awesome technology now available, APOD is at top of my learning curve, a daily bit of brain candy. When I have time I research the highlighted suggestion for further reading and always feel not only more knowledgeable but very grateful for the site. It has furnished a huge upgrade to my personal life of living through the years of remarkable scientific exploration between 1949, when first wondering, and the present.

[MargaritaMc]

Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

Isn't it lovely that a simple childhood rhyme can give rise to such deep wondering? Reading what you wrote made me recall the impression that the nursery rhyme

" Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are,
High above the earth so high,
Like a diamond in the sky"

had on me...
Thank you for reminding me, and welcome to Starship Asterisk. I'm still a newcomer myself, and have found it a very welcoming vessel, full of helpful and knowledgeable people.

Margarita

[Mangalnathan]

Hello,
My name is Mangalnathan.
I am from Bangalore , India.
I love stars and the universe beyond.
Astronomy never bores me.
I have registered in this site.
Thank you starship asterisk* for this wonderful initiative.
I hope i grasp basics and intermediates of astronomy from this glorious site.

[MargaritaMc]

Hello,
My name is Mangalnathan.
I am from Bangalore , India.
I love stars and the universe beyond.
Astronomy never bores me.
I have registered in this site.
Thank you starship asterisk* for this wonderful initiative.
I hope i grasp basics and intermediates of astronomy from this glorious site.

Welcome to starship Asterisk, Mangalnathan, I am sure you will enjoy learning about astronomy here. I certainly am doing so!
Best wishes
Margarita

[jurisvaldisjanmeijs]

I have always been interested in the `Cosmos`. I would have liked to have studied it further at a `Tertiary `level,but that didn`t eventuate. I have however retained an interest as an amateur. Hopefully ,I will be able to `vicariously ` understand more through my daughter , who will graduate from her Physics & Mathematics degree from Durham University next year.

[owlice]

Welcome to Asterisk, and congratulations to your daughter!

[Dave Morgan]

Hi ! Dave Morgan here I am now 80, been amateur astronomer since age of 16 built several Newtonian/Dobs up to 16" over the years. Astronomy has come a long way since then. How does sand on surface of Mars stick to the rover wheels ( static electricity or moisture) Anyone?

[geckzilla]

Hi ! Dave Morgan here I am now 80, been amateur astronomer since age of 16 built several Newtonian/Dobs up to 16" over the years. Astronomy has come a long way since then. How does sand on surface of Mars stick to the rover wheels ( static electricity or moisture) Anyone?

Hi Dave, I copied your post over to today's APOD discussion thread. It's more likely to get answered there. See: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 64#p200564

[budd weston]

Hello to all;

Hi the name is Budd, I have been interested in Astronomy and the cosmos since I can remember. I became interested in amateur astronomy at the age of about seven!
When at this time I saved up and purchased my first telescope and since have added to the collection. Thus I continue my fascination with the whole of creation.
I am a creator (as I call myself), an artist, designer and maker. This includes such things as drawing painting and sculpture, as well as building things to even blacksmithing. Some of my artistic pursuits relate to cosmology and our place as a integral part of it.
During My many years observing or simply looking at the sky and other things around me, the wonderment and joy of knowing more continues.
And it is here that I must express my pleasure at viewing the fantastic images and information shared on this terrific site!
I like to do my part to share on some of this kind of exploration to others, in order to enlighten their horizons as I believe this knowledge ought to be passed along to this end.
Having seen some stunning things in my own experience and on here, I also justly like to thank those involved in bringing this amazement to my eyes and ears!!
In particular I would like to identify my appreciation for the comparison of stars, that I can share with others that they may realise some of the true scale of our universe!
May I say.. keep it coming..!!

[carlos baldrico]

Hi

My name is Carlos and I am from Portugal. I am 43 years old
I became interested ins Astronomy when i saw TV series' Cosmos by Carl Sagan when i was 13 Since that time Astronomy is one of my favourite hobbies
Thank you for this great site, which i visit daily since 2005

Best regards

[Sandgirl]

Hello!

I have just joined this forum.

I have been interested in the astronomy from the very early age. I grew up in the countryside with very little of light pollution - the night sky fascinated me probably from the first time I looked at it - what is this 'cloud' in the sky? What is this big bright object and other tiny lights?... Childish wonder that stayed with me forever

[owlice]

Welcome to Asterisk, Sandgirl!

[robought1]

My Father used to take me to lectures at the University of Toronto. That would have started in about 1955. I've had an interest ever since. Half the books I buy and keep
are science books.
Back 1987 or 88 I took my father to a lecture by Ian Shelton the discoverer. He was amazed that I remembered those early lectures and never fully realized how much
they shaped my interests and outlook.
Roger

[Poule rouge]

Our dad was an amateur astronomer. When we were kids he told us that when man walked on the moon he would leave his footprints in the dust. Dang, he was right!
Message this time: GREAT PHOTO OF "Saturn, Titan, Rings, and Haze" today! Fantastic graphics (I'm an art teacher!) Fascinating story. THANKS for the daily distraction, a little light relief from responsibility! Keeps things in a wider perspective. Oh, and and I'm old enough to remember when there were a gazillion stars each night, now one has to go to the center of Australia to see half that many. Who moved them? Oh, all right, it's partly my fault too.

[Thomas]

Sirs.
Thank you for this box. I am over 70 years old and the question is offensive. Everyone is interested in astronomy to some degree or another. You start learning when young with the sun and moon. Then the Plough and North star, and Orion can not be missed from October onwards. I have lived in cities all my life, but in the countryside there is a mass of stars.

I was at the end of Technical School in 1961 when Commander Shephard took his first suborbital flight. I was lucky to work in Britain's Aircraft Industry in the 60's and 70's and followed the Gemini and Apollo programmes throughout. I was 26 at Christmas 1968 when "someone" went round the Moon because the Lunar Lander was not quite ready. Apollo 10 (Charlie Brown and Snoopy) went to the Moon in May 1969, John Wayne made True Grit. Apollo 13 was a worry but got home safely. Apollo 14 followed. Apollos 15 16 and 17 took the cars and Apollo 17 stayed on the Lunar Surface for 2 weeks. Yea it was fun, exciting when someone else was doing it. Commander Shephard on Apollo 14 hit 2 golf balls. The 2nd went "miles and miles and miles" and I have a picture of the 1st one. Heady days put together by America's Aircraft Industry. They did you proud. You cannot Not be interested in Astronomy after that. BUT everywhere else is a long long way away. Russia started with Sputnik ! what became a race.

What on earth Starship Asterisk is about is beyond me. All is necessary is a simple comments box for "ooh and aahs and comments ". For us simple folk. The universe belongs to everyone. Hubble has opened it up. It is not secret. Else what is it doing on the internet. Unless you are keeping it from us peasants. We certainly don't get overexposed to it on the Eastern side of the Atlantic.

Enough. Must get some kip and food. DTR.

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