Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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Was there a particular moment in your life that got you started on the road to astronomy?
For me, it was my Grade 4 teacher. She took the chalk and drew a huge circle on the blackboard. She said this is the sun. She then drew a tiny dot inside the big circle. She said this is the Earth. I was HOOKED!!!
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Celestron CPC 1100 
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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ndelo
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/02/06
Posts: 528
Loc: Light-polluted New Jersey
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For me it was a total bolt out of the blue. I was reading some news about the ISS and thinking to myself how cool it would be to go up into outerspace--then BLAMO! I thought "hey I should buy a telescope."
I have no idea where this thought came from or why. I had never in my life thought about astronomy or telescopes. Total impulse. Now I'm hooked.
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16271
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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In 1975 I saw a bright dot up in the night sky and wondered what it was. It turned out to be Jupiter and that began my journey.
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Ted
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tatarjj
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/20/04
Posts: 1134
Loc: Austin, TX
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I always liked science. At the age of 5 I remember being able to recognize Orion, as my mother would point it out to me, and she got my sister and I a planisphere. At around the age of 7 or 8, I watched a couple shows on astronomy and became fascinated by the science. At age 9, I started checking out astronomy books from the school's library and used one to find the Orion nebula with binoculars. Later, I "discovered" Jupiter's moons with my father's 60mm spotting scope. At age 10 my parents, finally convinced I wouldn't grow out of it, bought me a 4.5" GEM Meade reflector (model 4500 if anyone remembers those). So there was never a specific moment when I became hooked, just a gradual progression. The good news was I entirely avoided the department store telescope blues because as a kid with no money, I learned alot about astronomy, telescopes, and how to navigate around the sky before I ever even got my first real telescope. The fact that I had access to my father's quality hunting optics like binoculars and spotting scopes helped too.
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John T.
Austin, TX
25" f/4.2 Dob
18" Obsession #701
4" Stellar Vue Achromat
8X56 Binos
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rocco13
Got Milk?
Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 2648
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
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I can't say there was any one event or person that got me interested. Just remember as a kid I was always looking up at the night sky. As I entered elementary school, I remember the 'space' books were my first choice when we went to the library. I basically learned everything on my own during my formative years, and (with all modesty and humility), would say I knew more about astronomy and space than ANY of my high school science teachers. As the years went by, I never really did have any friends or mentors or anyone else who even showed a fleeting interest in the hobby or science. Just me, myself, and I.
Which is why I appreciate this site so much. When we buy a new scope, or have a great observing session, etc, nobody in MY world cares one iota. Except my friends here on CN!
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Rocco
Zhumell Z12
Super C8 (1984 vintage)
Celestron 102 f/5
and a cheap pair of binoculars
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Arizona-Ken
sage
Reged: 08/31/08
Posts: 307
Loc: Scottsdale, Arizona
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I got a book on the Solar System when I was 8 years old. I can remember what that book looked like to this day. The space race started a couple of years later. My first telescope was a three inch newtonian, which was a terrible scope, but I could see the planets ... there's a lot more to the story, but that is how I got started.
Arizona Ken
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"Considered as a collector of rare and precious things, the amateur astronomer has a great advantage over amateurs in other fields ... the amateur astronomer has access at all times to the original objects of his study; the masterworks of the heavens belong to him as much as to the great observatories of the world. And there is no privilege like that of being allowed to stand in the presence of the original."
--Robert Burnham Jr, Burnham's Celestial Handbook
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Dain
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/24/05
Posts: 1596
Loc: N.Y. Adirondack Mnts. NGC 4565...
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I've always been into space exploration my whole life. As a kid, I was also heavily into Star Wars and Battlestar Galatica, so that basically paved the ground for my interest in anything involved with space.
Much later on, a buddy of mine (already involved in astronomy had a 5" Mak) had me pick him up so we could go out 'observing'. Initially, the idea was interesting..but nothing exciting. I thought.."well, this could be cool..we can chat, hang out..and look at the stars". And I thought it was just *that*..you just look at the stars through a telescope. Doesn't sound much exciting. Well, after he had set up, he slewed his scope over to Saturn and the rest is history. I'll never forget that first view since it's been etched into my memory.
To add to this,I think alot of folks get the wrong concept of astronomy like I did and that's why we don't have alot more folks into this hobby, simply because I think alot of folks just think you take a telescope outdoors and look at the stars. They don't realize what can be seen through the eyepiece, so that's why we must encourage youths and adults to come to star parties and show them what they're missing! Sometimes all it takes is to hand over a pair of your binocluars to a friend or family member and have them look at the Moon, or the summer Milky Way down through Sagittarrius.
Clear Skies to All!
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Best,
Dain
Adirondack Mountains (my true dark sky site)
@ Cedar River Flow
Local Site
Clear Skies?
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sgottlieb
sage
Reged: 07/22/07
Posts: 339
Loc: SF Bay area
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It's been a lifetime fascination since early elementary school. I remember begging my parents to take me on weekends to Griffith Park Observatory and later to buy me a telescope (they were hesitant since they figured it was a just passing phase).
In 1959, I organized a little astronomy club with the kids on my block (I was 10 years old!) -- the focus of the club was newspaper clippings I had collected on the early U.S. and Russian space launches as well as "lectures" I gave on the solar system and stars. I think that lasted two meetings before the kids I had corralled ran back to the schoolyard to play over-the-line baseball. That's when I realized that astronomy is not everyone's cup of tea.
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Steve Gottlieb
18" f/4.3 Starmaster
Adventures In Deep Space
7500+ NGC/IC Visual Descriptions
NGC/IC Project
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Rat
super member
Reged: 10/13/06
Posts: 150
Loc: USA
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The return of Halley's comet!
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astrokido
space wanderer
Reged: 06/09/08
Posts: 662
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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It was watching the late 60's lunar missions live on tv that turned my attention to everything about space. We live in a fascinating age of discovering the universe around us.
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- Gill C. - Celestron Cometron CO-100, 10x25, 20x80, Binochair, Nikon D40
The Night Sky Atlas: www.nightskyatlas.com
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Feidb
super member
Reged: 10/09/09
Posts: 127
Loc: Nevada
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For me it was a clear night in 1957 in Playa del Rey, California. My grandpa took me out in the back yard and showed me this light moving across the sky. It was Sputnik, or more correctly (as we found out recently), the booster rocket following Sputnik. We tried to look at it through Grandpas Navy spyglass but it was like looking through a soda straw.
That progressed to monster movies and Star Trek. I got my first telescope in 1966. A Sears 60mm refractor. It soon wasn't big enough so I started grinding an 8" mirror. I'm not much interested in the science of it all, but love visual observing and telescope making. I've never looked back.
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Present gear:
16" Meade LightBridge
Meade 50mm straight through-finder
Lumicon green laser pointer
Orion Q-70 26mm, 32mm, and 38mm
Parks 2X 2" Barlow
Hyperion 17mm, 8mm
1 1/4" 18mm Russell Optics Bertele
1 1/4" 12.5mm and 6mm Coulter Optical Orthoscopics
1 1/4" X 2" 32mm Edmund Scientific war surplus Erfle
Tirion star atlas (white stars, black background) hand-laminated
Megastar
And a partridge in a pear tree
To nudge or not to nudge, that is the question
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tcat
sage
Reged: 06/02/08
Posts: 233
Loc: Va
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When I was young (1950's) one of my Christmas presents was a miniature model of the Mount Palomar telescope. It was all plastic but actually worked, albeit not very well. I was so fascinated with magnifying images that my father took me to see a friend's Unitron refractor. One look at it and through it and I was hooked for life. My own small Unitron followed shortly and a variety of telescopes thereafter. The more I see out there under dark skies the more I want to see. At this age I am unlikely to change, or run out of exciting new things to see.
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Tom
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Orion 102ED / AT Voyager
ST80 / EQ-1
NexStar6 SE
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paysonmike
journeyman
Reged: 10/18/09
Posts: 9
Loc: mesa del cabballo 34.17 111.1...
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halley and the other comets that where naked eye using bino's on camping trips in some very dark areas to see a whole array of sights in the sky a gift of a tasco, a meade 4.5" the need to see more then a purchase of the 12" dob and the hyperion ep's 
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loged on formly as fireman mike have a 12" dob with circles and dig. level main eye pieces are hyperion's 8-13-21
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RAKing
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/28/07
Posts: 2083
Loc: West of the D.C. Nebula
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It was in 1964. One night I was looking up at the crystal clear Oklahoma skies. The Milky Way looked like a white river and it was awesome. 
My Dad (ex-WW2 Navigator) started pointing out the various stars and some of the brighter Messier objects and I was hooked. 
Ron
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Time spent looking at the stars is added to your life.
Tak FS-128, C925-CF, C6SE, other stray cats and refractors.
A-P Mach1 GTO
Zeiss orthos to Ethos - and some stuff in between.
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1512
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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I don't recall a specific event except when I was about 7 or 8 I have clear memories of seeing the night sky at my grandmother's house far from the city. I remember how cool that looked seeing the bright band of the milky and even seeing a lot of meteors on one particular trip. That was probably the beginning of my interest. But it was a friend with nice 60mm refractor when I was about 15 that really got me hooked. He got the new scope and we found M7 and M6 the first night and that was about all it took for me. Right after that I starting building my first 8" dob.
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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Starman1
Vendor - Scope City
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 12221
Loc: Los Angeles
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It grew slowly:
--seeing Sputnik pass over in 1957 with a bunch of neighbors looking up.
--seeing a total eclipse of the Moon in 1961
--seeing the moons of Jupiter in 7x50 binos in 1962
--earning an astronomy merit badge in Boy Scouts by learning the constellations in 1962.
--buying my first telescope in 1963.
--and, like all of my generation, following the space program from the beginning.
The rest is history.
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Don Pensack
12.5" Truss Dob, 5" Maksutov, Fujinon Binos
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member
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HfxObserver
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/12/04
Posts: 788
Loc: Regina, SK, Canada
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Laying intoxicated on a burial mound on while lost in the English countryside one evening....I became fascinated with the stars hanging there "in the sky the way that bricks don't"
-Chris
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Chris
7X50 Vixen,22X100 Antares
80mm William Optics Megrez II ED
Santel MK6
Borg 125SD f6 (Pentax/Oasis version)
Tak-Lapides
Pentax XW's 40,20,14,10,5mm XO, 3.5, 3.8XP, Speers 5-8, 30mm Widescan III
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earthbot1
super member
Reged: 08/27/09
Posts: 173
Loc: Central Virginia
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I took astronomy in middle school. We had a planetarium at our school and I made my own out of a wooden box for a project. I never had access to a telescope, so that was that. I used to know some basic constellations, but not much more.
My neighbor had built a huge dob and took me to the country one night. Very cool. Saw Crab Neb and a few other things.
On another night in our backyard he showed me Saturn. Wow.
Still I had no scope and I moved across the river to a new house. But I soon found myself looking up at the night sky, because the view was much better than when I lived in the city. Still no scope, but was beginning to be aware.
This summer someone posted a link for the Galileoscopes so I ordered one. Took so long that I eventually got a small Mak. Now I have an 8" Nexstar.I have not even opened the box for the Galileoscope. Will probably give to one of my nieces for Christmas.
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Nexstar 8
Meade/Celestron EPs
Bushnell 90mm Mak-Cass
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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That was an interesting tale. It sounds like the seed was planted for you a long time ago. But the seed didn't sprout until this summer, and now the seed has suddenly turned into large tree!
Everyone here has told a great story. Some of these responses also provide us a lesson in history.
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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wfj
sage
Reged: 01/10/08
Posts: 259
Loc: California, Santa Cruz County
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A vague early memory of the stars. Later in the year I was born Sputnik was launched, and my parents always took out the family to see the "drifting star" (like in the movie "October Sky"). From that point on would be found outside under the stars at night.
My dad got a job at GE in satellites (starting with Nimbus) - did that the rest of his life. There was a star party at the Franklin Museum where I learned to love a 6" reflector (larger than me!) from many encouraging amateurs showing me DSO's like M13 and M57 - thank you Mrs. Kemplin (kindergarten and first grade) for taking me and planting the seeds.
When we moved (again ... aerospace families are migratory), my Dad agreed to build a telescope at Marvin Vann's Foothill College ATM class(6th grade) - a 6" f/8.3 I'd held out for - did many a star party / outreach event with it.
Set it up nights ago on Jupiter and M57 - still amazed at what it shows me.
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Don M
member
Reged: 10/12/08
Posts: 53
Loc: Roseau, Minnesota
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As a JPL Solar System Ambassador this is my bio. I will never forget that evening as it catapulted me into the world of space science and astronomy!
Don Miller grew up on a dairy farm in northern Minnesota. One evening in October 1957, the adolescent Don was in the dairy barn teaching a young calf to drink milk from a pail when the local radio announcer reported that the Russian Sputnik satellite would be visible in the northwest sky in the next few minutes. He dropped the pail of milk, dashed outside in the cool fall air and gazed into the sky. Don expected to see nothing. After a couple of minutes the satellite flickered into view, and he was in shock. It was as if Sir Isaac Newton, Jules Verne, and Columbus had all collided. His father's account of the Wright brothers and Charles Lindberg flights, now raced through his mind like a crazy movie! From airplanes to space! Was this actually happening? Was he part of this, or was he dreaming? Don's emotions ranged from intense fear to elation, realizing that mankind was about to embark upon an adventure, the likes of which had never been experienced before. After the satellite passed from view, Don slowly walked backwards to the barn in the dark, keeping his eyes fixed on the spot in the sky where he lost sight of the satellite. When Don got to the barn, he stood with his back pressed against the door and for a minute or two and gazed at that spot in the sky. Don knew one thing for certain; we would never be the same again! From that moment on he was hooked. Don teaches physics and electronics at a public high school in Roseau, Minnesota.
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 5750
Loc: London UK
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Is this thread lost in Deep Sky space 
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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+e-finder+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9+Lodestar CCDs/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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Another thing I would like to add. Part of astronomy is optics. Early on in life (Grade 2), I also developed a love of optics while owning a magnifying glass. I went on to a microscope, then a telescope. I often look at my 2" EP's in the same awe that I used to see my magnifying glass. Only this time, I get to keep all this beautiful glass. (My mom took away my magnifying glass because I started a fire with it!)
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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starrancher
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/09/09
Posts: 606
Loc: Northern Arizona
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 Thanks Jack ! 
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LXD75 AR5
LXD75 SN8
Series 4000 Plossls
Misc. other stuff
Fort Rock , Az .
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