Introductions: How did you become interested in astronomy?

[Vishal Sharma]

I know who I am

[Bald Eagle]

My interest began with a college course in Astronomy, an ongoing casual interest in NASA and its accomplishments, then Feynman's books and on-line lectures, and then wonderful Hubble. Hubble really jump-started an intense interest that has led me to follow cosmology in general and also develop an interest in quantum physics. I read everything I can get my hands on about theses subjects and have developed quite a library of related books which I sometimes reread. I can follow the arguments, understand most of what I read, am often excited by the concepts, and wish that I could do better at grasping and following the math. But alas....

[rsuarez]

Hey Folks!,

I always be interested in space since i was a child. One of my bigger friends love disscussing 'bout astronomy and like I said before I really love too. So I start to being more informed about astronomy, the space and everything involved.

Best regards!




---------
Ricardo Suarez Caballero
Training Director in IIEMD.com

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Had an interest as a child, I have vague memories of a small yellow astronomy book with Saturn on the cover that I was given when very young. As an adult the discovery of Sedna rekindled my interest, it really brought home how much "unknown" there is out there.

[Jeff_Sullivan]

Hi, I'm Jeff Sullivan. I grew up watching the Apollo missions on TV, as well as Carl Sagan's Cosmos series. I received a 60mm telescope in 8th grade and took a photography course to learn 35mm photography and darkroom processing.

While in college at U.C. Berkeley I photographed the first space shuttle landing STS-1 on April 14, 1981 at Edwards AFB. I joined an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) student club. We won a design contest with a combustion experiment that could be conducted on the space shuttle in a self-contained Get Away Special (GAS) canister. Our team graduated before the experiment could be built, but our faculty adviser Professor Fernadez-Pello flew related experiments on STS–69 and STS–77. We obtained passes to watch the STS-4 space shuttle landing from the VIP/press tent (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysu ... 958820364/). Ronald Reagan gave a speech standing on the wing of a space shuttle while another flew overhead atop a 747.
Space Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-4, April 1982 by Jeff Sullivan, on Flickr

Upon graduating from college I worked at Tektronix as an Applications Engineer in their Graphic Printing and Imaging Division as the industry transitioned from storage tube displays to color raster graphics and UNIX workstations, and color inkjet and thermal transfer printers revolutionized printing. Eventually I moved from marketing into sales, and one of my customers was NASA Ames Research Center, including groups like the SETI project.

In the past decade I've continued my interest in astronomy and space through astrophotography, pursuing images of meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses, comets, meteor showers, moon rises and sets, conjunctions, and Asteroid (357439) 2004 BL86 using a Canon DSLR and lenses.

In recent years I have attended NASAsocial events at Vandenberg AFB for the OCO-2 satellite launch, and at Kennedy Space Center for the Orion EFT-1 launch. Recently I was fortunate to capture the Chinese CZ-7 rocket stage 2 when it reentered the earth's atmosphere on June 27, 2016.

In addition to still image astrophotography I also have been actively recording astronomy and space time-lapse videos, many of which have been uploaded to my YouTube and Vimeo accounts.

In recent years I have been leading night photography and astrophotography workshops in Yosemite, Death Valley, the Eastern Sierra, and the Wild West "ghost town" of Bodie, California.

I upload new images more or less daily to the usual photo sharing and social media sites, as well as to my Web site JeffSullivanPhotography. Samples of my work may also be seen in the following articles and publishing credits.

Re-Entering Chinese Rocket Booster Lights Up Western United States Skies
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... rn_us.html

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014, Judges' Advice
https://youtu.be/SEFplF9eMgE?list=PLlLN ... JD6ifDNn_6

Moon Rise over an Arsenic Lake | Bad Astronomy blog | Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... hadow.html

While the Sun Was Sleeping | Bad Astronomy blog | Discover Magazine
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... -sleeping/

Lunar Eclipse Time Lapse | Bad Astronomy blog | Discover Magazine
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... ime-lapse/

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011 (People and Space category):
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/ ... al-prizes/

Outdoor Photographer Magazine star trails cover, October 2011:
http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/imag ... s/1-lg.jpg

The Perseids, Writ Large | Bad Astronomy blog | Discover Magazine
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... rit-large/

[DEPUBLICAN76]

I watched THE U. S. NASA APOLLO's (11) LANDING ON THE MOON and HOLLYWOOD's 10 COMMANDMENTS AT THE DRIVE IN THEATRE in the 1960's.

For asking the question:
ThankYou Very Much. CiAO!

[witchcat]

It is not possible that the gegenschein is not a focus of light frequencies from the sun as they deferentially refract passing around the earth due to gravity?

[Chris Peterson]

It is not possible that the gegenschein is not a focus of light frequencies from the sun as they deferentially refract passing around the earth due to gravity?

The gravitational effect of the Earth on light is incredibly small. The gegenschein is completely understood as the product of simple backscatter.

[patrickelliott]

Hi and good morning from Northern California! I guess this is as good a place as any to introduce myself - my Dad got me a telescope as a kid and I used to take it out in the front yard and look at the moon and stars (back in Central Virginia - a lot less light pollution!). Around 1997 or so, when I was in high school, I discovered APOD and have followed it since. No good reason why it's taken me so long to join the discussion board, but, 20 years later here I am. I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia in college thinking about the universe, and life. After school I found that professional philosophy wouldn't pay the bills, so I went the software route. Spent almost 10 years in Seattle and last year moved to Silicon Valley.

Dr. Nemiroff's free Intro Astronomy and Physics courses (I think that's been almost 10 years ago?) were probably some of the most informative lectures I've watched, and I actually recently started re-watching them on YouTube (which led me here, finally)

A goal of mine this year is to visit Alaska at the right time (I've been twice, at the wrong times) to see the aurora, and take a half way decent picture of it. Any recommendations for that are very much welcome!

Patrick

[billbruehl]

I''m Bill Bruehl in South Carolina and a fan of APOD since your first days long ago. I submitted a couple questions years ago, haven't lately but watch for your images and explanations everyday. It has been an education in the cosmos. And thank you.

Today's image of Star formation & the tadpoles motivated a long held question; to wit, you often give the width of a galaxy or other formation, but I don't recall that we've ever been told the "depth". For instance what is the "depth" of today's image down from the dark edges of the circle deep into the dark red center? it is clearly 3D. I just wonder how many light years it would take to get to the deep center from the dark edge.

I often find myself asking that question. Images are flat, it is easy for naïve people like me to think galaxies are flat; I'm sure they are not.
Bill

[Chris Peterson]

Today's image of Star formation & the tadpoles motivated a long held question; to wit, you often give the width of a galaxy or other formation, but I don't recall that we've ever been told the "depth". For instance what is the "depth" of today's image down from the dark edges of the circle deep into the dark red center? it is clearly 3D. I just wonder how many light years it would take to get to the deep center from the dark edge.

In most cases we don't have accurate measures of how deep things are. Broadly, nebulas like this one can be thought of as spherical- that is, they usually have similar dimensions in all three axes. Of course, in many cases they may be stretched or distorted, but still, it's not bad to think of them as a "blob".

Galaxies are a different matter. They tend to be flattened (although some are nearly spherical). But the most picturesque galaxies, the ones that tend to show up in APOD, are spiral galaxies, and those are very flat. They are something like a dinner plate that has a blob in the center. When we see them straight on, they are round; when we see them at different angles they appear oval or even linear- the latter being an edge-on view that also lets us see the thickness of the central bulge.

While you are correct that all these images have depth, it is usually hidden by the 2D nature of the images, and when things appear 3D it is often an illusion. Not that they aren't 3D, of course, but things that appear to have depth may not, or they may extend in the opposite direction that our brain tries to convince us of.

[jcrans1271]

My name is Jim C
I have been interested astronomy and the Cosmos since childhood and I recently turned 79.
I noticed on the photo of Ganymede, on the APOD for May 14,2017, surface feature relationships reminding me of similar earth surface features such as the coastline between East Africa and Madagascar and Eastern South America and West Africa which are attributed to continental shift. The relationship between the dark and light area's on Ganymede look as thought may have accreted mass on the far (not visible) side causing a spreading of existing surface features. Is this possible?

[geckzilla]

My name is Jim C
I have been interested astronomy and the Cosmos since childhood and I recently turned 79.
I noticed on the photo of Ganymede, on the APOD for May 14,2017, surface feature relationships reminding me of similar earth surface features such as the coastline between East Africa and Madagascar and Eastern South America and West Africa which are attributed to continental shift. The relationship between the dark and light area's on Ganymede look as thought may have accreted mass on the far (not visible) side causing a spreading of existing surface features. Is this possible?

Greetings, Jim.

You might try asking in this thread, which is the discussion thread for the Ganymede APOD. Follow the link:
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=37180

Normally I could move your post over and send you a private message, but I am unable to send private messages to guest accounts. Up to you if you would like to re-post.

[warmingwarmingwarming]

Maybe it was Jules Verne's 'From the Earth to the Moon' or the question 'If there was a Big Bang what exploded?' but my pals in Elementary School gave me the nickname 'Sputnick' for my interest in cosmology. I was also interested in fast airplanes and rockets. I sure wanted to be on another planet when the atomic war broke out.

[neufer]

Maybe it was Jules Verne's 'From the Earth to the Moon' or the question 'If there was a Big Bang what exploded?' but my pals in Elementary School gave me the nickname 'Sputnick' for my interest in cosmology. I was also interested in fast airplanes and rockets. I sure wanted to be on another planet when the atomic war broke out.

So you were in Elementary School in 1957 (; i.e.,about my age).

[warmingwarmingwarming]

Maybe it was Jules Verne's 'From the Earth to the Moon' or the question 'If there was a Big Bang what exploded?' but my pals in Elementary School gave me the nickname 'Sputnick' for my interest in cosmology. I was also interested in fast airplanes and rockets. I sure wanted to be on another planet when the atomic war broke out.

So you were in Elementary School in 1957 (; i.e.,about my age).

Yes, I was 10 in '57. I thought we were about the same age. I really enjoy your posts, Neufer. How did you gain your interest in cosmology?

[Veronica Starlover!]

I am Veronica I'm 32 with five children and I've always had a love of the stars and planets and anything to do with astronomy! I don't know what it is there's just something about it that fascinates me Beyond anything I can imagine!!

[JusPatty]

Hello. I am Patty, live in Florida and became interested in astronomy after visiting my father's home town and seeing an actual real dark sky for the first time...ever. We have a couple of places in Florida where we have so-so sky, enough to drag out a telescope and do some searching. I have a Newtonian telescope and got so good at finding obscure things that I am accused of having a GoTo on my scope, which is not equipped with a GoTo. I don't get out much anymore with the scope, but I enjoy Astronomy Pic of the Day, which depicts objects ever so slightly better than my 10" or 12.5" scopes.

[maldec]

Hello, my name is Chan and I live in England. My interest was initiated by simply looking at the night sky as a 5 year old in London back in 1967 in London, England - so not dark skies!! But,Jupiter was very visible. Then, every book I could get was on astronomy by the local free library, as we did not have the financial means then. Other influences included all those 1950's and 1960's sci-fi movies such as Invaders From Mars, I Married a Monster From Outer-Space, Forbidden Planet, and of course Star Trek series.
I am an amateur astronomer now, but my early interest in astronomy had a strong influence in my career choice as a research scientist working in many fields over the last 30+ years principally in the chemical sector.

[gonzogonzales1940]

i am 77 y.o. - nam vet - first interested in star study as a First Class Scout candidate (1952) -
then again when i was in LRRP in Viet Nam -
got into a heated argument with a "LECTURER" in AST 301 - never went back

suggested name for NGC 7027 "THE BOWTIE NEBULAE"
it's probably been suggested before

just thought i'd into myself

keep up the good work -
this is the first read EVERY DAY

gonzo

[justatouchfromu@gmail.com]

Very young. I could not walk yet but I looked up and was instantly " homesick. I knew that I did not come from this place. I've been searching since then for my way back. I mentiined the ZEPNOS nebula earlier, after the Greek God of slumber.
Michael W. Burke

[fred87]

Wow....

As i read all your stories I ask my self more and more how I got to that point.

Like many others i was very interested in astronauts and spacecrafts while i was a kid.
I got my first scope and a book as a present by my parents. We life i a very small town, and i often had the chance to observe the skies.
But like many other interests of kids, mine was struggeling while i became older. With 22 I restarted that in a completly different way. I helped out with Seti@home and tried to work on different civil project belonging to our sky. My learning curve went high, and still is climbing up. I made my first astro images with my very, very old telescope, but found out that there are remote telescopes all over the world. So I started to make images for my self. After a year a friend just showed up at home while i was processing one of my images. He said that it looked pretty cool and i realised that even people who don`t mind what Lamda is, and why anyone would be interested in reading and calculating colored lines, are interested in that awsome sights.

I foud this group as I do lot of things - by reading, and learning.

I see my self as astro beginner, but what i do, i am used to do with all I`ve got. Some of my Images are not bad i would say... I will try to attach some of my images. And my Flickr account for more images upcomming
www.flickr.com/photos/139853447@N04/

NGC3372 - total 5x 600 sec exposure

www.flickr.com/photos/139853447@N04/407 ... /lightbox/

Or NGC 2070

www.flickr.com/photos/139853447@N04/399 ... /lightbox/
www.flickr.com/photos/139853447@N04/392 ... /lightbox/


Waaaaittt.. I forgot sth importent...

I am Fred, 30 years, and I am comming from Germany. Hope you don`t mind my little mistakes in my little posts

@mods - couldn`t [img] those flickr links, following this warning: It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct. what have I done wrong?

[Jaybird]

Howdy. I recall being interested in space and rockets from an early age seeing images and shows about Mercury, Gemini and Apollo on t.v. and in books but I guess my first real experience with astronomy was at age 7 when Dad took me up to Cornell University in 1968 to see an astronomy lecture and look through the big telescopes (he worked in Ithaca at the time and we were living in Horseheads). The lecture included a fascinating slide show of celestial objects and some really amazing ideas about planetary systems and galaxies and so forth. Sadly, all I could see through the big scope were my eyelashes. Nevertheless, I've been hooked on and intrigued by the cosmic view ever since. There never seems to be any lack of new things to discover and understand. Wonderous!

[AstroTurf]

My parents started taking me camping before I could walk. I was drawn to the stars. As I got older my interest in the night sky continued. Long story short, I taught astronomy at my local JC. My latest interest is Milky Way photography.

[ellismajestic777@gmail.com]

the one at the center of the Milky Way is closer, non?