What does your other half, family, friends, think

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

As with most hobbies, Astronomy can be extremely addictive, time consuming and dollar consuming. (not to mention strange looking, with eye patches, red torches etc)

What do your Wives, Husbands, partners, family or friends think about your hobby?
Are you seen as a lunatic, geek or budding scientist!

I am lucky enough to have a family that support and enjoy sharing my hobby.
Cheryl loves it while I am out in the paddocks observing as she says "at least I get the computer back for a while".

BUT! if I don't show her something in the heavens of special interest she gets annoyed.

My kids enjoy it, especially the 2 boys.

My friends think it is too Nerdy/Geeky although they let out the loudest "Ooooh, Aaaaaah" when they see something.

Next door neighbour loves astronomy and shares some viewing nights with me, so no problems from him.

In general, My family and friends are fine with it. Just as long as they don't have to stand out in the cold for too long and they don't think I'm "Wierd".

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

So long as I do the Family things too,it is mostly OK.
Kids love it (within the attention span of a 3 & 6 Y.O !)
I pick the best things to show my wife which she enjoys.
I Dont get much of the "Too Nerdy or geeky", just dont get a lot of teenagers invoved.
Except some keen young club members !

[ving (David)]

Gawd, your lucky!

Cheryl just isnt interested. she tries to listen when I am rabbiting on about some fuzzy galaxy somewhere but in seconds her attention is elsewhere... I have tried showing her some of the brighter objects and planets but once shown she's not really interested in seeing them again. Just as well she love me because of my geeky ways
As for Bec, we used to view together and spot satelites too, but now shes over it. She is too cool at 14yo to hang out in the backyard with me. Just as well she enjoys my geeky ways too.

as for the rest of my relos' well they show no interest at all.... I have a freind who is interested... but he spends his time looking for "other thing" in the sky. The truth is out there you know. He has a small refractor but his boss (reads wife) has too tight a leash and he rarely uses it (it probably more likely he is too lazy).

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

David, he might give it too you. WELL, he's not using it!!

[ving (David)]

No, he would instist he uses it to "spot UFOs" or the neighbours or sumpin
besides I have a 60mm wobblotronic anyhow... tho his mount is 10x better being from a meade

[cahullian]

My wife and kids are ok with my hobby.They all like to have a quick squiz every now and again. But I do most of my viewing away from home as I only have a postage stamp of night sky to view from my own yard. The local footy (AFL) field is about
500 M away so I go there for a good night out. Sometimes my wife will come for a short time or drop me off some hot chocolate.

[Striker (Tony)]

My wife doesn't give 2 hootes about astronomy.....and she would kill me if she new how much money I have spent lately....lol

She once asked me if I could track a plane (747) so she can see the people inside...I said NO and even if I could I cant see the excitment in that anyway.

As long as I spend a decent amount of time with her she doesn't mind me spending time in the observatory......mind due I have never gone past 10:00pm so that could change if I decide to stretch the friendship a little further.

[h0ughy (David)]

I am afriad that like Striker , my wife would kill me if she knew how much I spent! She hates astronomy, but doesn't openly critisise it infrom of the kids anymore. As long as there is some "educational" benifit she doesn't speak out against it much. my sone is a bit too young although he would love to play with the goto bits. My daughter is scientifically challenged, as it is not fashionable or cool to do. Also she is normally asleep by 8. the wife by 8.30 and my son, well if he is in the mood he will outlast everyone . As for the rest of the family, couldn't give two hoots

[elusiver]

the mrs is quite supportive.. she doesn't really mind me spending money on it.. but i think that's because when she wants something it goes a little like "the shoes are only $150... how much have you spent on your scope??" i also get the "you're such a nerd" call from her also when i tinkering with stuff or on the computer. I'll usually sit on the couch at home with her and have my lappy on just reading the forums and she'll glance over and say "lookin at your nerd boards again? " but she's all cool with it.

all my mates are interested and apart from the odd Uranus joke i don't cop any flak.

i am quite the nerd.. which i myself find a little strange. Seeing as I'm only 25 and it was only a few years ago when i was one of the 'cool' people going out a partying and stuff like that. But i've matured alot and mellowed out.. which is why i LOVE my hobbies(astronomy, fishing etc) because they suit the type of person i've become.

el

[ving (David)]

Actually reading all this its supprising that astronomy hasnt gone underground!!!

Cheryl is really quite supportive for someone who isnt interested tho. She tells me to spend what I like and I find its me (or rather my bank account) holding back the purchases. She doesnt like me being away too long tho, LOL. But I can generally go away for a night once in a while
You see it's not dangerous like my other past-time mountain biking and it keeps me of the streets (like that was ever a problem).

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

My lovely wife keeps asking me why aren't I outside, its beautiful tonight. And to think I was going to spend the night with her She still thinks I'm a nerd but cheers me on all the same. When I see something I like she's "Well why don't you get it" "money Dear Money" She says, "you cant take it with you" (She's into books. Buying reading and selling secondhand books)

My 14 year old son and 17 year old daughter couldn't give too hoots. he's into warhammer big time and she's into making enough money so she can go to England next year. We're all as bad as one another

[toetoe (Peter)]

In this house i am pretty much on my own when it comes to astronomy. I have tried to get my wife involved but it's just not for her, Sandi (my wife) seems to think everything looks the same up there, my 2 boys (17 & 21) just think i am a bit wierd going out all the time looking at objects which i find facinating. It dosn't bother me what other people think about me and my telescope as i enjoy this hobby greatly. My brother in law views a lot with me as he does not have a scope and his wife thinks along the same lines as my wife. I know for a fact that our cat likes my telescope as it will smooch the tripod legs all the time i am out there, why do they do that when your trying to view though.

[iceman (Mike)]

My wife tries to be interested or show an interest, but she's generally not interested. She's into scrapbooking, which is a long way from the scientific pursuits of astronomy

She's mostly supportive of my hobby.. well, let's be fair and call it an obsession, especially given that IceInSpace takes up a major part of that obsession.. I keep her informed of the latest goings on with the site and forums, how many members we've reached now, etc

She doesn't like me spending much money on the hobby, which is fair when there's a mortgage and 3 kids to spend it on first. But if I want to buy something, it's usually through negotiation and the equivalent amount of money spent on her hobby

As long as I spend enough time with her and the kids, she's pretty cool with it all.

My son Jacob (6 yrs old) is interested in space and astronomy, but doesn't get much time to look thru the scope though because he's usually in bed by 7:30pm. He likes learning about it though, and when he comes downstairs and sees me on the computer he says "looking at the iceinspace forums again?" Also, the neighbours asked for my email address to send me a photo, and jacob replied to them "iceman at iceinspace.com.au"

My daughter Eliza is only 4, so she hasn't shown much interest yet.. she likes to look at the moon though, when she can get her eye lined up at the eyepiece properly.

The rest of family have a mild interest.. i've taken my Dad to a Kulnura session once which he enjoyed, and we've been to Koolang observatory a few times. A few other family members liked looking through the scope and talking astronomy at my brithday party last February, but most of them were drunk so who knows if they were really interested

[xstream (John)]

Well I have to curb the wife from spending to much money on this hobby of hers.
My main past time was fishing but have always had a latent interest in Astronomy, so it didn't take much coaxing to drag me in.
All in all it's probably been a good thing as it's an interest that we can both share and enjoy together.
I would venture to say that it's bought us even closer together. Isn't Love grand!

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

My wife, daughter and son have come along with me to two SPSPs, to observing nights at Linden and Kulnura, to a weekend at Magellan Observatory, to the Parkes Radio Telescope, chased and imaged the Venus transit,and come with me to the Australia Telescope at Narrabri, Gilgandra, Skywatch (Coonabarabaran), Dubbo and Darby Falls Observatories etc. (Dont know how we missed the total eclipse at Ceduna). So astronomy hasnt taken me away from the family at all.

My son images with me -except for last couple of months-HSC coming up.
My daughter absolutely hates imaging-only likes visual observing.

[Soldant]

My Dad loves it and (when he has the time) comes out to get involved. Deep sky objects don't do much for him, but he loves the planets and moon. My mum displays detached interest, her fav object is Saturn. They're used to my expensive hobbies, considering I collect random computer junk, build up a system where it sits under the bed when something else has consumed me. Then there's the computer I keep upgrading and recycling old parts from so astronomy is just one other expensive hobby, but one where it doesn't outdate every four months

One of my friends is obsessed with space (specifically the crab nebula, no idea why) but he doesn't have the patience for the hobby, nobody else really cares what I do so yeah

[Daring Dave]

My missus reckons 'If you want to go out in the cold all night, your mad !'

She has no real interest but did take a peek at Saturn awhile back and was impressed. She is cool with anything I purchase astro related and isn't too fussed at all.

The last 6 or so weeks the scope has been spoilt with dry conditions and central heating...hasn't been outside for ages...

If I could only get her to stop turning on the outside spotlights when she comes outside to see what I'm doing.. !!

[RAJAH235]

I live alone, by choice, own everything, no dependents, save for my young sister who had a stroke. I can buy stuff when I decide I NEED it, provided it's at the right price. That's the Jordie in me. Friends are either into Astronomy or Radio Yachting, so no probs. anywhere really. Just wish I had a little more money..... No I don't. Happy & content with where I am............No one to nag me!!!!! AAAhhhhh, Independence...... It's great. L.
ps. Sorry guys, It's just the way I am.....L.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Me too Rajah , no finance commitee to deal with here !

I have an understanding with my next door neighbor. He leaves his back light off on clear nights, and he comes over for an occasional peel through the eyepiece.

[TidaLpHasE]

Well the missus is pretty cool about me getting into astronomy, and spending the $'s on equipment.

She thinks i am crazy to sit out the back yard in the freezing cold getting a strained neck looking through my binocs at the dark sky, but will have a look herself if i say "look at this"

As far as the relo's go, my brother thinks i'm mad planning to spend big $$$ on a pair of binno's, and "say what" $$$$ for a scope

I see having hobbies, even if they are expensive ones, as an investment into your sanity, i love my fishing and have spent squillions on all my gear to enjoy the sport, the scenery and wild places it takes me.

I look forward to my binno's and scope (when i finally decide what to buy) giving me as much pleasure as i get from watching a sunrise or sunset, rods in the water, camera at hand, and a couple of fish on ICE for a delicous fresh feed.....