Post by jeremy on Jul 20, 2011 14:28:25 GMT -6
Hi Everyone,
Am a new member of the site as of a few minutes ago. I've secretly been reading it though for the last several weeks. I live downtown, I am fortunate and that I have a nice deck to view the North, East, and Southern sky's without much obstruction. My view to the West is a bit more obstructed (unless I climb onto my roof), offering a view down to about 23 degrees.
I've always been a fan of all things space. I grew up outside of Washington DC so I was spoiled by the Air and Space museum. Recently my wife and I went to the Big Island and I got to go up Mauna Kea, did one of the tours first. I love every second. That was the first time I saw a planet through a scope (it was Jupiter). I had to go back so a couple of nights later we went back and did our own thing directly at the ranger station with the volunteers. Great program if anyone is ever in that area, they setup some great scopes for you to use, and there were plenty to go around. The ISS was flying by, so we got a clear view of that. Also I saw several deep space objects which just had my jaw on the ground.
After that trip I realized it really sparked up a life-long interest in learning about the sky, but had not been acted on yet. Once the weather turned warm this year, after reading a lot online, I jumped into purchasing a pair of binoculars. I purchased a Celestron Skymaster 9x63. I love these things. Every clear night now I am up on my deck watching what I can. Most recently I've been keeping myself entertained by watching for satellites, observing the moon, any planets I can see, as well as learning to star hop.
I now take these with me everywhere I travel. This week I've found myself with the clearest and cleanest skies yet down in Southern Virginia on the Chesapeake. I was finally able to pick out a couple of deep space objects that I couldn't see in Chicago!
I am nearing my phase of purchasing my first telescope, so I figured it was time to introduce myself as I can see this appears not to be just a passing hobby. I'm looking forward to coming out to a star viewing gathering to meet everyone!
Am a new member of the site as of a few minutes ago. I've secretly been reading it though for the last several weeks. I live downtown, I am fortunate and that I have a nice deck to view the North, East, and Southern sky's without much obstruction. My view to the West is a bit more obstructed (unless I climb onto my roof), offering a view down to about 23 degrees.
I've always been a fan of all things space. I grew up outside of Washington DC so I was spoiled by the Air and Space museum. Recently my wife and I went to the Big Island and I got to go up Mauna Kea, did one of the tours first. I love every second. That was the first time I saw a planet through a scope (it was Jupiter). I had to go back so a couple of nights later we went back and did our own thing directly at the ranger station with the volunteers. Great program if anyone is ever in that area, they setup some great scopes for you to use, and there were plenty to go around. The ISS was flying by, so we got a clear view of that. Also I saw several deep space objects which just had my jaw on the ground.
After that trip I realized it really sparked up a life-long interest in learning about the sky, but had not been acted on yet. Once the weather turned warm this year, after reading a lot online, I jumped into purchasing a pair of binoculars. I purchased a Celestron Skymaster 9x63. I love these things. Every clear night now I am up on my deck watching what I can. Most recently I've been keeping myself entertained by watching for satellites, observing the moon, any planets I can see, as well as learning to star hop.
I now take these with me everywhere I travel. This week I've found myself with the clearest and cleanest skies yet down in Southern Virginia on the Chesapeake. I was finally able to pick out a couple of deep space objects that I couldn't see in Chicago!
I am nearing my phase of purchasing my first telescope, so I figured it was time to introduce myself as I can see this appears not to be just a passing hobby. I'm looking forward to coming out to a star viewing gathering to meet everyone!