Astronomy

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I haven't been very good in mathematics at all. Everybody else here is. I've wondered if anybody else here was interested in the scientific field of astronomy.
I've been very intrigued by this field for the past week or so now. Intrigued to where I'm up to 2am watching documentaries and presentations on YouTube. I'm becoming more thirsty for knowlege about what goes on in space. I think I have a new obsession.
Do anybody else out there like astronomy? What planet in out solar system do you like?

I just started an Intro to Astronomy course on Coursera from Duke University.... and I'm two weeks behind. We'll see how it goes.

I like the gas giants, Jupiter & Saturn.
I'd like to know what's really going on under those clouds. Their atmospheres are such complex, dynamic systems.

I know it's not part of the solar system, but I find the galactic core really fascinating too.

A really cool program for astronomical type things is "Universe Sandbox". It's pretty much a gravitational simulator. You can fool around will all kinds of different star & planet combinations. It can be found on Steam. It runs about $15-$20. They're getting ready to release a new version sometime next year. They are currently on version 2.

Uranus is my favorite right now. When Voyager 2 did a flyby of Uranus in 1986, the planet was completely quiet. There was little feature on the planet. It all just looked like a huge blot. I like it. It's mysterious, eerie, and intriguing.

A little over a year and a half and we get the first close up photos of Pluto...

Nasa New Horizons probe

Oh yes, Astronomy is one of my big obsessions, I have always been fascinated and baffled by the universe, I just love it when I look up at the sky and see stars that are 1000 light years away.

My favorite Planet, Mars.
The Gas Giants are very intimidating although I've always preferred things with a surface.

Did You hear that the other day China landed a rover on the Moon?!

This is the first rover since the 70s

Anyway I'm getting my first telescope this Christmas, its a 130mm Newtonian, I was hoping to see Comet Ison with it, but unfortunately that isn't going to happen now.

Astronomy was one of my interests, when I was younger. I loved studying the moon, planets and stars. I used to love reading and re-reading my astronomy pocket book. Galileo was one of my first heroes. I remember writing a book report about him in elementary school.

When I was in middle school, I built a 5' Dobsonian reflector telescope with an 8" mirror (which I ground by hand). I had taken a telescope making class (back in mid 1970s) taught by John Dobson (http://www.sidewalkastronomers.us/id32.html), the creator of the Dobsonian telescope. I remember my mom driving me out to his apartment in San Francisco, to help get it completed.

I took several astronomy classes in college, but soon lost interest (as my passion shifted to computers).

I am hoping to get back into Astronomy sometime soon.

I love astronomy. I went to college for astrophysics, then transferred to astronomy path halfway through and finished out there. When I was astrophysics track, I focused on stellar science, then once I swapped to astronomy, I flipped over to a planetary focus. So I ended up fairly well-rounded lol.

But yeah, I still keep up on things by subscribing to NASA's press releases, checking up on NOAA and reading updates from the various large telescopes. I still have a great affection for space science It's just one of those perpetually fascinating subjects. I actually have an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain, but its mirror got jostled on our cross-country move, so while it's not damaged, it will have to be readjusted before I can find any objects with the finder scope. Just something I need to find time to get done so that I can start observing again.

I've read a lot of astronomy, and my favourite planet (apart fron the Earth) must be Saturn--given that it's both beautiful and mysterious. Saturn's most hospitable moon, Titan, is also very fascinating.

I love astronomy, but I don't spend as much time as I'd like with it. One problem is I don't really know anywhere I can go to look at the stars. All of the state/federal parks close at sunset, all of the empty fields are owned by farmers and have no trespassing signs on them, and anything else is either too close to the city to be able to see much of anything, or in a creepy/scary area that I wouldn't go to at night.

If you search for astronomical societies in your area, you can generally find something Also, you can search for dark sky festivals. I've been to a few and they are AMAZING! The sense of community is so wonderful-- people set up their telescopes and you can just go over and peek through someone's 16 in scope, right there in the camp! It's amazing. They'll also show you how to use your own scope if you bring one-- people at those are always so humble and welcoming. I really loved it.

I really like astronomy and I do amateur astrophotography through my 5" telescope. My favorite planets to photograph are Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. I also love taking pics of M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) and M42 (Orion Nebula)

Here's a composite I made of all of my best shots all in one picture: