For all of us interested in astronomy, it would be fun to find out how we got here. For me, I was a very youngster during the Apollo missions. Don’t remember the first landing, but the last couple I do. Got a small scope from my uncle in 1973, pointed it at the moon, and as a 7 year old I was blown away. Even with all the moon and astronaut posters I had on my bedroom wall, it was awesome to see it for myself through a scope. That’s how my astronomy journey started. How did it start for you? Thanks!
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I was hooked after a friend of mine bought an 8 inch Meade Schmidt Cassigrain and brought it over to set up in my backyard . We looked at Saturn and I couldn’t even believe it was real . A few years later I bought my first scope and three weeks after that I bought my second scope .
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The thing that got me interested was John Glenn’s flight. After all that I followed everything from Gemini through Apollo. I got my first telescope when I was 16, by saving money from summer jobs. By then I was hooked. I got a BS in astronomy and a PhD in physics, and retired from NASA, where I worked with the Pioneer and Voyager programs. Now I keep busy with three telescopes.
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I really don’t know of one thing. I’ve always liked looking at the stars. they make me think about the vastness of the universe. psalm 19:1 really resonates when I look up
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When I was 10 years old my father showed me Mizar and Alcor through his binoculars. Then, I signed out this book from our local library in 1965: Introducing Astronomy, J.B. Sidgwick, Faber & Faber Ltd., London, UK (1958). I was hooked! When the library closed many years later, they let me keep the book since I was the only one to ever sign it out - over and over.
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i personally have been interested since i was a child. my dad had this ipad with a constellation app, and i’d spend as long as i could outside picking out the constellations and stars. now, i’m majoring in astrophysics and i’m getting my first telescope quite soon! so excited to continue my space-loving journey in life, and hopefully in my career.
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Good luck with that! I also majored in astrophysics, but I let my undergrad advisor talk me into getting my PhD in physics instead. It turned out to be just as good.
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