I sold my old 10” dob late last year to my daughters father-in-law as he had some interest in astronomy ( only reading books etc..) and wanted to take the next step.
He wasn’t confident at all using the telescope ( even though I showed him previously, in the day time, plus gave him notes etc... )so it stayed in his garage for months and months
He asked me recently could I come over on a clear night and do some observing. So last light I went over to his place and we rolled the scope out into his backyard ( it’s on a flat trolley).I suggested he try everything himself first, select an eye piece, use finder , star hop , point and find , focus etc....and I’ll guide and help
He was absolutely amazed when he found Omega Centauri, like a kid in a lolly shop !!
He’s nearly 70 years of age
He went on to look at few bright stars , Jupiter with moons , Saturn and a few others
He was totally hooked !!
I gave him the link to Cloud Free Night , so at the end of our observing session we had a cup of tea inside out of the cold and he’s eagerly checking on his iphone to see when the next clear night will be. I also asked him to download Stellarium on his laptop to assist in finding objects , again he was amazed at the detail in this planetarium.
I suppose the moral to the story is “Astronomy, you won’t know until you try“
It’s great to see a man of his age with such excitement and enthusiasm. That telescope could have stayed in the garage for years and years never to be used , but something clicked and prompted him to ask me to come over.
A great night for both of us !
An Amazing hobby !!
same I've seen happen with many interests. Most hinderances is that people have preconceived assumptions so dont even bother to try something new when the opportunity arises.
I love that story. Makes me very happy.
Another moral to that story is: It's never too late!
Your right inline, it is never too late. I took up a new hobby of photography at the age of 60. Struggled with it for a while, then decided to get serious about photography by doing a Bachelor of Arts (Photography).
Cheers Peter
Last edited by Stardrifter_WA; 20-06-2019 at 10:58 PM.
Hi Jeremy
I am glad you have such a great attitude.
I have met men who at 50 I would call old..
I am 72 and that number just seems wrong as I dont feel that age...my crook legs restrict me a bit because they feel like I am up to my knees in boiling water..all the time...I dont think of it as pain anymore but it is just annoying cause it is always there..I dont take pain killers simply because I dont want my driving impaired and to get reliable feed back when I should rest. ..they really start to burn to the point where I have to back off...if that were masked I think I could over do things.
I do find astronomy difficult because I am not too flash with computing but rather than throw my hands up as old folk do I simply grind away until this or that problem is overcome and just keep chipping away...addmittedly I am slower but I get there and frankly looking around me at people half my age I find most of them do not know as much about computers as I do.
And I do think it is important to keep educating yourself..I study history (and by necessity with such a pursuit religion) non stop ...and I like to read about cosmology and physics both classic and the other stuff☺ even maths which I am usless at..but I read the index of maths books to know what they talk about at least...with a realisation that each line of an index probably represents a multitude of lifetime works to develop that branch of maths...and music..particularly stuff I dont like simply to know about trends...last night I was into the world of rc car racing and how to run in a motor and the associated complexity of that world...
But the way it goes...someone says I want to do this or that and this is a signal for every negative person he knows to start offerring advice...when I wanted to be the oldest man to sail around the world no one said to me " now that is a great idea" and all they could say was it would be too hard..too hard in this day and age of push button navigation and food in a can and unsinkable boats...the money could be a problem but hey you have croud funding these days...I decided against it only because I just cant fit it in...I want to spend my time with my Dad and daughter really.
Jeremy you certainlt are not old and hopefully you never grow old.
Alex
I am with Martin's daughter's father in law.
Nearly 5 years ago as a birthday present for my own 70th birthday I bought myself a Mewlon 210 , a Canon 60Da and a HEQ5-pro. My first Telescope,camera and mount ever.
Since then I have enjoyed myself. The Mewlon now lives on a pier on a Mesu mount 200 and is controlled by Sitech with CDC planetarium. What a joy.
The setup gets used every clear night.
I hope Martins pupil has the same happy path in front of him.
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