What interests you about space?

[empleh]

Hello, im new on the forum, looking forward to learning a thing or two here.

I have a question for everyone here,

What interests you about space?

I'm researching for a project at university and would like to know what it is that fuels your passion for the subject. I'd like to know how you first got into astronomy and what you think of it as subject.

Finally, what would you say to a man on a corner who knows nothing about astronomy, what would you say to make him look up at the night sky?

I look forward to your responses.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well, EVERYTHING

I am a curious person, and want to know as much as I can about everything. We are learning more about space every day with many missions in progress. Our earth based astronomy discovers something new every day. I'm in awe about how much we learn aevery day.

I got into astronomy as age 6 when I saw Orion rising over an ice covered snowy back yard, reflecting off the ice surface. I grew up during the Mercury program, and the effort to reach the moon; watched all that live.

What do I say to the guy on the street? I smack him in the back of the head and say LOOK UP!!!
Not really

I conduct public sessions at my local astronomy club with the largest publicly accessable telescope in NJ, and thoroughly enjoy giving folks enough knowledge about the sky to pique their interest...especially the youngun's.

As for me, you might guess, I'm most interested in meteor showers

Meteor Wayne

 

[adrenalynn]

I couldn't tell you when I first became interested. Some of my earliest memories.

My primary focus is on transients. Comets, Asteroids, Meteors, Nova, ... I enjoy the challenge of capturing a peek at these short-lived [at least in our sky] objects.

That passion probably started with first visiting Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Az and learning how Pluto was discovered.

I also enjoy photographing these objects - creating a permanent record, a momentary snapshot, of these short-lived events (often more challenging than just observing them)

 

[10_stone_5]

I read my first physics/astronomy book when I was 6/7 ...
... fast forward -- and these days I'm mostly interested in Alan Guth's inflationary theory.

But I'm sure that'll change.

 

[nailpounder]

I am 45. I will always remember watching Apollo 11 on our 13" black/white. When Neil set his foot onto the Moon, I was 6 yrs. old and right there with him, not 230,000 mi. distant, right there with him! My grandfather worked at Northrup. He worked on the flying wing, and ended his carrer working on the F-20 Tigershark which was beat out by the F-18. Grandma worked at Rockwell, she brought home some plans for the space shuttle, 8 yrs before it ever flew! Nothing too complex, just a few pages that had cutaways showing cockpit, cargo bay, engines and the arm! I had to have those plans and still do! Summer camp, '72 , I remember standing around the fire, listening as one of the counselors showed us the constellations, the first objects in space other than the moon I ever learned of! At 35 I bought my first and only
telescope, and got a book that had some star charts and minimal info. A month later I took a class in Astronomy at the local college, I wanted to KNOW what I was looking at! That class had a lot of astrophysics, more than I bargained for!
A year later I was studying QM and GUT's (quantum mechanics and grand unification theories). I soon realized I knew nothing of relativity, and hence spent three more years studying relativity.

What interests me about space? A spoonful of neutron star weighs 100 million tons! Our galaxy is 100,000 light years across! Our sun is 93 million mi. distant, yet we feel it's warmth! Other galaxies so far away, that we view the most ancient past! It is but my only chance to understand the mind of God, albeit only a fraction of a fraction. Why wouldn't one find it shocking and awe-inspiring!

As for the man on the corner, I'd wait for his head to stop throbbing from MW's whack, hehehe, and would say to him the most profound thing I can think of, " you know...every atom in your body, every atom that ever made anyone who has or hasn't yet ever existed, including everything that you consider part of your physical reality, from the dinosaurs to your computer, was formed in the bosom of the stars..." If that didn't wake him up I'd give MW a baseball bat.

 

[BoJangles2]

Cosmology is where its at for me, for some reason understanding the universe in my own special way is some how enlightening, everything else in life seems just a little bit more real and pallatable knowing our insignificant place in the cosmos.

 

[eosophobiac]

What interests me about space? The infinite-ness (is that a word? LOL!), the limitless-ness of it. The beauty. (That sounds kinda corny)
This may sound even cornier: I first became interested in the night sky when I was around 12-13 yrs old. I grew up on a small farm in upstate NY, and on those long winter nights when I got tired of my siblings, I'd go outside and just look. I remember the bright constellations of Orion and Cassiopeia (sp?), as well as the asterism of the Big Dipper. My gram gave me a series of star charts that had belonged to my grandfather, and I almost wore them out! (More recently I lost them.... ) And I concur with some of the other posters re: meteors and transients. (Though I'm still not absolutely positive I was able to see Comet Lulin, it was fun just to be out there trying!)
I'm not sure what I'd say to "a man on a corner", except - without knocking him around, :mrgreen: - "go outside and look up!"

Interesting topic, btw!

 

[weeman]

What interests me is its size and its power! The fact that it is so massive is absolutely staggering, which keeps me looking up all the time.

Not only is the universe big, but its very powerful! There are events that take place that almost seem to defy science (black holes, supernovae, etc.).

It's amazing to me that it takes light 4 years to reach Earth from our nearest star! It's amazing to me that cosmic events can produce light emission that is 1,000's of times brighter than our Sun! It is amazing to me that black holes have such gravitational pull that light itself has no chance!

I could cover everything that I love about Astronomy, but I'd be sitting here way past dinner time!

 

[crazyeddie]

What interests you about space?

I'm researching for a project at university and would like to know what it is that fuels your passion for the subject. I'd like to know how you first got into astronomy and what you think of it as subject.

Finally, what would you say to a man on a corner who knows nothing about astronomy, what would you say to make him look up at the night sky?

Space, specifically astronomy, is my most personal and intimate connection to the natural world. Some people like bugs or animals, others like mountain climbing or skin diving. I like gazing at the stars and marveling at the beauty and vastness of it all.

As a toddler in the early 1960's, I remember my father picking me up and pointing up into the sky at the brilliant Echo satellite passing overhead, in the days when satellites were new. The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects were, at the time, a seemingly never-ending source of wonder and amazement. Watching men first step onto the moon on television in 1969 is the kind of thing you never forget, so visceral was the thrill of it....a collective experience shared by a billion other people around the world. When my parents indulged my budding interest by buying me books and telescopes, I discovered the wonders to be seen through the eyepiece: the craters of the moon, where I imagined myself walking someday (in my daydreams), the ever-shifting moons of Jupiter, and the awesome spectacle of the rings of Saturn. In my mind, I could lose myself amid the filaments of the Orion nebula, or the glittering star clusters, or the glowing clouds of stardust and distant galaxies. Space, simply put, just has too much beauty to take in at once!

As for the man on the street, it usually doesn't take much to make them look up. Some people will notice you looking up, and wonder what in the hell you're looking at, and before you know it, they are looking too, and you are explaining what it is you're seeing. Some are really interested, most, sadly, are not. But a telescope is an irresistible draw to many people....just set one up in a public place, and people will invariably come to you. I can't tell you how satisfying it is when you hear the gasps and the squeals of delight when you show someone Saturn or Jupiter or some open star cluster....they have no idea you can see such things with your own eyes!

 

[aphh]

Even if this may sound corny to you,

but what interests me most about space are space-babes in tight spacesuits. I grew up watching series like Space1999 and Battlestar Galactica (the original 80ies series) and ofcourse Star Wars and Princess Leia.

Now that I study astronomy and physics in University, I have found many of the fellow student women intriquing enough, so that I sometimes envision them in tigh spacesuits in tiny cramped quarters and confined space of a spacecraft.

Space can be sexy. It has to be, if we wanted to get the person on the corner interested.

 

[sacr3]

Well, I'm a young man. Only in my 20's, but regardless I've always had an interest in whats up above. The specific interests are, what does it all look like? I look at Belteguese and just ponder its size.. I sometimes sit there, looking at the sky and wondering... if i had 1 chance to just see them all, how amazing it would be. To fly by the massive stars, to see the land on exotic planets, to see these solar systems and how they function.. to stare into a galaxy.. and the millions of stars.. solar systems..

There is so much out there, so much mysteriousness, its endless.... it is absolutely endless and beautiful. I wish I could afford a telescope so I could view it all, but until then Binoculars and a clear night sky will do just fine.

The size, the inner workings, everything about what you see in that sky amazes me.. So much.. So very much out there.

What would I tell the guy on the street? If I had a telescope i'd ask him politely to view the cosmos, and explain to him with enthusiasm what he sees, and what it all means.

If that doesn't work, then hey, not everyone is interested in that type of stuff. Can't force em to be.

 

[Danzi]

All of it

Striding to learn new knowledge!!

I particulary love seeing anything of intrest through a telescope. planets, Nebula, and Galaxys mainly

But all of it is just great! Stars, planets, meteorites, i eve get thrills looking at the moon!
I remember the first time i saw the luna surface through a telescope, (a powerful one) and just being amazed at what the surface was like.

Love all of it!

 

[Marc_Elliott]

I wish I could afford a telescope so I could view it all, but until then Binoculars and a clear night sky will do just fine.

I couldn't agree more...everything about the starry skies interest me...our solar system, the galaxies, the extraordinary size and diversity of it all... And I find that binoculars can actually give you a better picture...or at least a wider field of view...to enjoy all of it at once.

 

[majornature]

Everything basically.

The composition of stars. Formation of Galaxies and clusters. The fact that man can not travel beyond the speed of life. And the fact that the universe is HUGE...with millions of places to visit if we ever get that chance. More importantly new worlds that are being discovered...may harbor life (microbial) :mrgreen:

GO GREEN!!

 

[silylene]

I love learning, complexity, knowledge and beauty. Astronomy is an area where there is much to be learned, and it is complex, and beautiful. Space and astronomy has had a grip on my interest since I was a young child.

As a young child, I liked reptiles, astronomy & space, large construction machinery, spelunking, geology and chemistry. I later learned to love more subjects such as anthropology and history.

I recall reading my father's college astronomy text when I was in grade school. I watched every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo mission I could. I pored through information sources about every unmanned mission as it progressed. I inhaled all the astronomy books available in the bookmobile when that came by. I got a small scope when I was about 10, and saw Saturn's rings for the first time.

I've maintained my interest in space, but now I'd say that my interest is keenest on the chemistry of planetary environments.

 

[ArcCentral]

There is nothing about space that interest me. Thats whats so interesting about it. :mrgreen: