What sparked your interest in astronomy?

[timegazer24]

For me the first time i saw pictures in an astronomy magazine i was hooked. I actually could not beleive they were real pictures(i did not know anything about what i was looking at other than it was a very long ways from here and that it was magnificent) Soon after i watched the movie Contact, a splendid movie which drove the nail in just a little more...

[somecdnguy]

To be honest I cant remember. I've been interested in it since before grade school.

[Dublin sky watch]

As kids back in the 70's, we were always allowed to stay out late because there were no worries in doing that. We would be more scared of the dark then of anybody actually in the dark back then. Man was not long landed on the Moon so looking up was natural thing to do in the beautiful dark nights. No light pollution either.

To be honest as well, you could see so much more with the naked eye back then plus your eyes were in good order as well.. We put a few pennies together and buy some sweets and then go and just lie in the grass on our backs and just stare up at the inky black sky with not a care in the world. Seeing a satellite back then was a real bonus and who ever spotted the most in an hour got an extra sweet. So funny now!!

But yeah thats how it started off for me. Even though I have the fancy telescope with the fancy camera on the end of it today...I still miss those very simple times of innocents and working hard for that extra sweet.

[adeybaby]

I used to be into it when i was at school but couldnt afford a telescope, last year went looking for saturn after seeing a news report( cant remember exactly what was said) with my binoculars. Looked at Orion saw m42 and decided "i'm getting a scope".
Three scopes later, an eyepiece set, DSLR, numerous accessories i would say i'm now well and truly hooked!
Now where did i put that scope catalogue?
:-)

clear skies

[timegazer24]

Thanks, sometimes i wish i could have been around then, it would be nice to see things a little slower/simpler with all the rushing around today, thanks for sharing

[HeXploiT]

My Dads interests were astronomy and physics so from a very young age I became interested. I was reading sky & telescope even as a young teenager. As a matter of fact I think I have all my Dads old issues from the 80's.

[PBalu]

I really don't remember what set this interest off but I remember my dad waking me up in the middle of the night when I was very young and showing me a comet. I do not remember which year it was but it was sometime in the 1970s. I would watch stars everytime I went to a tiger reserve near Hyderabad in India, where I would spend about four to five days a month and was fascinated by how much more I could see compared to the city I lived in.
Ever since I came to the US, I wanted to get myself a telescope, which I did late last year and now recently upgrade to an 8 inch dob.

[timegazer24]

They may be worth money someday.... thanks

[darkskies]

I had been interested in astronomy for a long time but never did anything about it. Then, last summer, when we were camping with some friends, a buddy of mine brought out his binoculars and we looked at Jupiter. After that I was hooked.

[timegazer24]

Thats interesting i would have liked going to india as a child as well... thanks