What first interested you in astronomy?

CalliArcale · Mar 23, 2007

Here's a light thread topic as we approach the weekend. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Everybody who frequents this forum likes astronomy. That's a given. So let's have some fun and share what it was that first got you interested -- really interested -- in space! For me, it was the Voyager program. I was born in 1975, so I missed Apollo by a few years. (In fact, the last Apollo space capsule was in orbit when I was born; it was the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, a groundbreaking cooperative venture between the US and the USSR that would eventually lead by fits and starts to the ISS.) Viking was going on; in fact, Viking 1 landed on my first birthday! This intrigued me later on when I found a book for children at my school's library that talked about Mars and included the fact that Viking 1 touched down on July 20, 1976. Then the Shuttle program was coming into high gear, so that was also very interesting. My parents are both hopeless nerds, of course, so that helped, but the first thing that I can remember really captivating me about astronomy and not just spaceships was a Nova documentary about the Voyager program. At that point, the Voyagers had just passed Saturn, so this would've been late 1980 or early 1981 most likely. I don't remember the exact year. But the program utterly fascinated me, not just because Voyager itself was cool (which it was) but because what it was *seeing* was so cool. The endless possibilities of other worlds, out there, waiting to be seen.... That was what really grabbed me. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

MeteorWayne · Mar 23, 2007

For me, 3 things I think. First, I am a child of the space age. I was 7 years old at Sputnik, 17 on July 20, 1969 when we walked on the moon, 20 the last time we did <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> . (Kind of another interesting pre birthday coincidence for you, Calli <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> ) SO my childhood was spent watching every step we took into space...as we explore the outer solar system it continues to this day. I watched the first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th...(you get the idea) men walk on the moon. Wow, what a rush!! My most jaw dropping memory was watching on TV (must have been PBS?) the first images if Triton coming down from Voyager 2. I was as dumbfounded as the scientists in the room were. It was like nothing ever seen before, and was so unexpected. Now it seems old hat, since we know it so well, but trust me, those images were shocking. Second, the Old Man worked for an engineering division of Lockheed. (Stavid Engineering). So we kind of kept tuned in. I recall him taking us downstairs to the old B&W TV to watch the first TELSTAR intercontinental TV transmission from europe. Finally, we moved when I was 8, in the middle of in incredible snowstorm, to 3 acres in the country. It was 2 feet, with 6 foot drifts, looked like a moonscape. The last several hours were freezing rain, so this moonscape was coated with a layer of ice. And that night, with the full moon rising in the east, directly out our back door was Orion rising above the woods in the back yard, reflecting off the moonscape!! I'll never forget that image of Orion rising out that back door every winter. Hook line and sinker <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

silylene old · Mar 23, 2007

I was born in 1958. My father (who is a chemistry professor, so we had a very technology-savvy household) would plunk me down in front of the TV for every Mercury and Gemini mission. Actually, by the time Gemini, Surveyors, Pioneers, etc were launching I needed no further encouragement and was a space junkie the same way most boys my age knew baseball or football or automobile trivia. I knew the name of every astronaut, every mission, every statistic and every hitch that occured. I remember being very distraught over the Apollo 1 disaster. I stayed up all night and the next day with Apollo 11, fascinated with Walter Cronkite discussing with space experts (a TV classic). I faked getting sick so I could stay home and watch TV on Apollo 13 until it returned safely. As a kid, space, paleontology, biology, geology and politics were my passion. I could never get enough and read everything in the local library....then I discovered the university library and was in heaven. Nothing has never really changed as I grew older, except that my original interest in geology developed into a burning interest in the chemistry of materials. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function. </div> </div>

MeteorWayne · Mar 23, 2007

And for all you kids out there, too young to know the details, it was Sputnik, not Sputnick. LOL <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> The Old Man <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

logicize · Mar 23, 2007

All the hot chicks. Oh no, wait, that was the guitar.

dlee0708 · Mar 23, 2007

I was born in 1958 and really didn't have that much fascination with science/space and then in 7th grade science class the science book had the 7 theories on the creation of the Universe. They to me were just wild guesses and all went against my upbringing from church etc. I felt I could come up with theories just as good as these. Then I got to the theory on the big bang and they explained that all the galaxies in space they observe they can measure their speed and direction by the shift in the light-wave frequencies and that they all are going away from each other. That instantly turned me towards science (not so much specifically on space, but science). I found it fascinating how simple an observation can be and how much it could tell you. Then more recently when I heard about how the expansion of the universe is accelerating and that interested me because it violated the laws of physics with our current understanding of physics and what we think is out there. That has gotten me more interested in space and I hope with the new telescopes being put up in the sky that hopefully in my lifetime we will figure out what the deal is with this dark-energy and maybe it would as eye-opening as when Copernicus and Galileo discovered that earth was not the center of the universe.

abq_farside · Mar 23, 2007

Apollo - still remember trying to stay up while visiting my grandparents and waiting for the landing and watching on a smal B/W TV. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Don't let who you are keep you from becoming who you want to be! </div>

emperor_of_localgroup · Mar 23, 2007

Glad you asked. I was in 8th or 9th grade living in a smallest of the small towns and used to frequent a barely existing local library. Usually I used to check out fantasy or fairy tales books but one day I checked out an English translation of a Russian astronomer's book. The book opened my eyes to see how vast and mysterious the univrse is. Since then I'm not the same person anymore. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Earth is Boring </div>

robnissen · Mar 23, 2007

Interesting topic. I was born in November 1957. I always thought that was about the ideal time to be born to have an interest in space. My entire boyhood, there were always men entering space, whether Mercury, Gemini or Apollo. I was caught up in the excitment of getting to the moon before 1970. But before that, the Christmas eve reading of Genisis while Apollo 8 circled the moon was one of the coolest experiences of my young life. If I wasn't hooked before, I was hooked then. BTW, I think my hypothesis about the ideal year to be born to be a space junkie seems to be born out here, the 1957-58 time frame seems to be overrepresented.

MeteorWayne · Mar 23, 2007

Maybe you're right, but old farts like me (1952) got to be aware of the space age from the very beginning. Like I said, age 7 for Sputnik. 17 for the moon. Unfortunately, you will probably see a part of the very interesting future I will miss <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> PS. And to the Goddess of SDC, Calli, thanx very much for the thread. PPS. trofast, you are the princess <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

Aetius · Mar 23, 2007

The series Cosmos, hosted by Carl Sagan, and the Voyager missions, were what really turned me on to planetary science. As a boy, I'd lay down outside at night and look up at the stars for hours, until I felt like I could fall into the sky. I'll never forget watching Carl Sagan as a 10-year old, or seeing the cover of National Geographic from January 1980 (?) showing a volcanic eruption on Io. Those two things began my lifelong obsession with the Solar System.

JonClarke · Mar 23, 2007

It's hard to know what interested me in astronomy. Some of by first memories of books and magazines include looking at pictures of the planets and space missions. that would have been 1961 or so. i can still recall those pictures. I can remember getting Rey's wonderful book of the consellations when I was 8, and starting to learn them. I remembering looking at the Moon through binoculars when I was 9 or so, and discovering it was a real world. Then of course there was Apollo and Luna and Mariner, and Viking, and Venera and Soyuz and Salyut and Skylab. Anf of course National geographic. I remember seeing the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, binary stars, and the phases of Venus when I was 13. That's when I wanted to be an astromer. One of the saddest days of my life was when I was 17and finally admitted I did not have the maths to do so. It was years before I could bring myself look through a telescope again. Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

qso1 · Mar 24, 2007

The planets. I remember when Jupiter had only 12 moons, no rings, and Saturn had 9 moons. Thats what was taught in elementary school circa 1965. I later discovered we were sending men into space and tied my interest in astronomy and human spaceflight together. When I was 10 years old, a Batman episode was interrupted by some space emergency. I complained and my Mom responded by saying I should listen, it was something historical. I later found it was the Gemini 8 mission that had interrupted Batman that day. That was 1966. By 1971, my Mom lived to regret her own words when I watched live, uninterrupted coverage of Apollo 15 on the moon. The coverage lasted for hours. I'd also looked at a lot of astronomical objects by this time. Saw comet Bennet in 1970 at 13. Saw a total eclipse in 1970. Saw all the planets except Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto through a backyard scope. I never had anything bigger than a backyard type scope. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> My borrowed quote for the time being:There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened. </div>

weeman · Mar 24, 2007

It's hard to say exactly what first interested me in Astronomy. I know that one thing was when I first saw the Milky Way in detail. I've seen it in the Rocky Mountains not far from my house, and also on the islands of Hawaii, and it is one of the most breathtaking sights! Also, one of the most amazing things I've seen was Hale Bopp's appearance in 1997. I was with my family and we had a great opportunity to see it when we were at Arches National Park outside of Moab. The sky was clear, the stars shined bright (including the milky way <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> ), and I couldn't believe how awesome Hale Bopp was! I've always been interested because Space is SOOO massive, and it has infinite things to learn and explore. The Universe is also very, very beautiful. Just take a look at all the pictures that Hubble has captured, it leaves you speechless! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Techies: We do it in the dark. "Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity." -Albert Einstein </div>

portercc · Mar 24, 2007

What a neat thread, I've smiled at every post. I was born in 1956 and remember being fascinated that we were sending monkeys into space. I watched every Mercury and Gemini launch on my brother's b&w television - we had to constantly adjust the rabbit ears. I always drew Saturn and rockets on the "vanilla" paper we colored on in elementary school. Publishers could never decide if Jupiter's Red Spot was in the northern or southern hemisphere. I got my Tasco reflector when I was in the sixth grade - I still have it. I remember the winter nights when I first saw Saturn and Jupiter and jumped around my backyard. I was bummed at the sight of craters when the first pictures of Mars were transmitted....no canals. As a kid, I wanted to live to see Halley's Comet, it seemed as if it was a lifetime away. Now it seems like a lifetime ago. Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Mariner, Voyager, Galileo...hopefully I won't get hit by a truck before New Horizons gets to Pluto....I've seen some really cool stuff. What a wonderful time to exist.

djd1 · Mar 24, 2007

Patrick Moore

ice9 · Mar 25, 2007

Born in 54 For me it was a weekly reader story on the mercury Astronauts and listening in class to Sheppards launch. I was hooked from then on . Was stunned by the Apollo 1 deaths, Amazed by Apollo 8 and could'nt wait for the landing. Which i slept through! I've regretted that ever since. I made up for that somewhat by being at Kennedy for the Apollo 17 night launch and Columbias first flight. I hope to be able to see the last shuttle launch sad as it will be. It was a sixth grade trip to the Hayden Planeterium in NYC that expanded my interest beyond spaceflight.

alkalin · Mar 25, 2007

I was born in the Midwest in the country where the stars were easy to see. When young I wanted to know what that broad bright band was out there. My parents said it was the Milky Way, but they could tell me very little about it. When about ten, I found in an encyclopedia what the Milky Way was, and even universe origins where discussed, and I got the bug to keep hunting for more answers ever since. I built a Newtonian six inch telescope when I was about twenty that could clearly show Saturn’s rings, and features on the moon. But I became more interested in cosmology as time went on, since once you have seen Saturn’s rings, especially in a small scope, there is no more challenge to it. But my early interest in astronomy was helpful in getting started in the optical engineering field that proved very rewarding in many ways. I have been retired for a number of years from it, so that makes me perhaps the oldest so far in this discussion. What is important to me now is the opportunity to spend more time just in trying to understand more of the universe.

search · Mar 25, 2007

Since I was a small child I used to sneak out of my room with a blanket and spend countless nights in the terrace watching the stars. I could see the Milky Way and shooting stars and I was so impressed. There was hardly any satellites then just the natural objects but occasionaly I could see those then strange steady night travelers. I did not know much about stars until I start reading but they were already in my heart.

michaelmozina · Mar 25, 2007

The Gemini and Apollo missions are what first attracted me to astronomy. I was completely hooked on astronomy the moment I saw the Earth from space, and certainly when I saw Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon. I've been fascinated with space ever since the early Gemini and Apollo missions, but the moon landings in particular made me really appreciate the effort and courage of early "pioneers" of space exploration. If you've ever been to NASA and seen the size of the rockets that they built during that program, it's truly awe inspiring. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume that the whole of space is filled with electrons and flying electric ions of all kinds. - Kristian Birkeland </div>

billslugg · Mar 25, 2007

In 1959 we moved to a house on Montgomery Ave in Phila next door to a woman we knew as "Granny Frannie". Turns out she was Charles Conrad's stepmother. He stopped by one day when I was 7 years old and talked to me about the space program. He had not yet been chosen an astronaut, but was in the running. Then, in 1962, when I was 10, Echo 1A was launched and we used to go out in the front yard and watch it go by. In 1964, our pool installation guy left a transit in our yard for about 2 months. I used it to look at everything in the sky, including comet Ikea-Seki. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

kyle_baron · Mar 25, 2007

I was born in 1959. When I was a kid, my favorite program was "Lost in Space". My favorite part of the program, was when Will's father flew around in the "jet pack". Then I saw the very same jet pack at the begining of the very 1st Super Bowl. I told my parents that I wanted one of those for Christmas. Needless to say, I didn't get one from Santa. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> Then all of the Apollo missions, of course. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

vandivx · Mar 26, 2007

I only got to know astronomy through physics, it started when I was pondering how gravitation and inertia works and eventually it lead to cosmology and along the road I read up on astronomy quite a bit but I never looked much at sky or was too excited over spacefaring that happened (for Sputnic I was still way too young and then I lived in communist country and all the space news comming from USSR was couched in propaganda same as everything else plus it was hard to come by any technical details of anything that would make it interesting, just the talk about the grand success of socialist astronauts... I suppose that may have been why I shrugged it off together with everything else and didn't pay much attention, the Western spaceflights on the other hand weren't much publicized although most important TV broadcasts about it were shown but in obscure times (at least I have seen the 'first man on the moon' broadcast), still there were others there who got interested in space because of that, same as you guys who lived out in the West, I suppose I just wasn't too interested, I did my own thing in those days like read tons of books, I remember when I was around ten to fifteen years old having a turnover about 10 to 15 books biweekly from the local library, the physics and astronomy came only much later though when I was around twenty five, thirty years old and living out in the West by far I learned about and got interested the most in astronomy and space when I was reading those books astronomers write about their discoveries, about history of astronomy, about other astronomers... that was during the time when I was finding all I could about Dark Matter and if I was to pinpoint something, that and the pondering of gravitation was what got interested me most in space but in the end astronomy is 'experimental' science and I am by nature theorist and I let others do it like launch those probes and take pictures by telescopes, I am interested in pl <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

space_coops · Mar 26, 2007

I have always been a night owl. I stayed up after i was supposed to go to sleep and look out my window and look at the stars. At the time (4 years old) i thought they were all planets with people on them waving at me. I told mum and she got me these big glossy books about our solar system, milkyway, black holes and quasars etc. Mum would read them to me and i started to get a grip of the structure of our Universe. I had quite an imagination which i think helped visulise the vastness of space and time. This was why i continue to study and learn. During high school i got into physics and my view of the Universe was refreshed. Now i find the more i understand about physics i keep getting that wondrous childlike feeling like i did when i looked out the window as a young fella. Now 10 years out of High school, my passion is increasing. There is so much to learn and i cant wait to buy the same books and teach my children (when i have some) the same way my mum did.

Saiph · Mar 27, 2007

I've always been a "science kid". Always asking questions about why and how things work. I relished my science classes (tolerated the math ones), and I went through all sorts of fads about which ones I liked: Geology, Paleontology, electronics etc. Never really hooked onto astronomy though, despite my knack for it. E.g. in 3rd grade a teacher asked the class about the moon, and if it rotates as well as revolves around the earth. I.e. how can it do that, and show us the same face all the time. I nailed that question immediately despite having never learned about the moons motion at that time, even did a demonstration to the class when my explanaition alone proved inadequate. What really hooked me however was reading Micheal A. Seeds "Astronomy" textbook in highschool for an astronomy class offered by a teacher there (who's an enthusiast and managed to get the unusual class offered <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> ). I realized I was hooked when I read the entire text front to back by the 3rd week of class. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

What first interested you in astronomy?

CalliArcale

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MeteorWayne

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silylene old

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MeteorWayne

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logicize

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dlee0708

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abq_farside

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emperor_of_localgroup

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robnissen

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MeteorWayne

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Aetius

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JonClarke

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qso1

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weeman

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portercc

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djd1

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ice9

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alkalin

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search

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michaelmozina

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billslugg

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kyle_baron

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vandivx

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space_coops

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Saiph

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