I was fascinated by
space when I was a child. Back then the space race was on and you couldn't even
buy an ice lolly that didn't look like a spaceship. Dad was fascinated and
carried me with him. I had a telescope as a child and one night, bored, I
focused my telescope on what I imagined was a star only to have the image
resolve into the crescent shape of Venus. I think from that moment I was
hooked. The moon landings were an amazing thing to me as a child and I
don't think the wonder of those years has ever really left me.
Later, in
my 20s a friend bought me a halfway decent telescope and I started to learn in
earnest but my career in the IT industry (though it was called DP back then)
plus marriage and children meant I had no time to indulge my
hobby.
Recently with time on my hands I decided to get back into my old
hobby and was amazed at what was available in the world of astronomy. I always
wanted a decent telescope but it was always out of my reach back in the 1970s a
good scope would have cost as much as a family car. Nowadays telescopes with
incredible features are available at very reasonable prices and I at last have
the sort of telescope I always dreamed about.
I'm not a terribly
scientific observer I just love to see the wonders of the universe. I think of
it as a way of communing with the infinite rather than a scientific
puzzle.
"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed
to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit"
