Just introducing myself

Pog (Pog) · #1 29-03-2010, 08:43 PM

Hey, I'm a new guy on the forums introducing myself. I am 15 years old, and want to persue a career in astronomy. My real goals actually expand to space travel but the crushing blow is that it'll never happen in my life time, and even if it did I wouldn't get to join, but whatever. I am trying to convince my parents to buy me a Celestron FirstScope while it's on offer for just under $50, but mum says not until dad gets back from the gulf (in 3 months

)

So that's me! I hope you can help me with all the complex space lingo and mathematical jargon I may encounter! Thanks in advance, see you later!

[1ponders] (Paul) · #2 29-03-2010, 08:53 PM

Pog. You've come to the right place if you want to learn about astronomy. Heaps of people here to help out and offer advice. The first bit, if you've got 3 months before Dad gets home, how about saving up as much as you can and see if he'll match you $ for $ on a scope that you well get a much bigger kick out of than the Celestron First Scope. Something along the lines of a 6 - 8" Dob.

leon · #3 29-03-2010, 08:59 PM

Welcome aboard Pog, mate i'm sure you will get all the help you need here on IIS, it is a great place to be and learn.

If I can pick it up at my age i'm sure a young fella like you will do it in a heart beat, good luck.

Leon

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #4 29-03-2010, 09:05 PM

Welcome Pog. Back up everything Paul said, but would also add:
1) get even a basic pait of 10x50 binos. Will show heaps more than the Firstscope, and you will continue to use even after you get a big scope.
2) Join a club or society, get along to observing nights and see what options there are in scopes.
3) Some clubs have loan scopes that give you taste of observing without the outlay
4) If looking for a 6 or 8" dob, which would be my recommendation as a good point to start, try second hand if a new one is out of reach. They come up fairly regularly in the trade forums here on IIS.

Kevnool (Kev) · #5 29-03-2010, 09:17 PM

Welcome young Pog if you want space travel hard enough ( Never say never )then really make it one of your goals do the study and time and you'll never now you may just go one day.......good luck.
Cheers Kev.

Pog (Pog) · #6 29-03-2010, 09:17 PM

Thanks guys! You're so helpful! I've already got some decent binoculars, not sure about measurements but they're my parents and they're damn decent for birdwatching and on clear nights I just stare at the moon, when you can actually see it as being more than just a disk in the sky and actually a spherical object, beautiful!

phranticsnr (Dan) · #7 30-03-2010, 10:05 PM

Hey Pog, I'm a few years older than you, but still a newbie at this myself. My advice - download Stellarium from http://www.stellarium.org/ and get a feel for it. It's probably the best free bit of software out there that I've found so far!

Then, using stellarium and your binos, get out there and learn the sky! Just knowing your way around the constellations is going to help you jump right in when you do get a scope. If you live in a nice, dark area there are plenty of clusters that will look amazing in your binos, too.

Have fun!

that_guy (Tony) · #8 31-03-2010, 09:19 AM

thats another youngling on the hook!

mozzie (Peter) · #9 31-03-2010, 03:39 PM

welcome pog

binos are a great way to start,lay back on a banana chair and slowly observe the sky.be a good lad for your mum and you never know dad may get you a nice little dobby scope

Quark (Trevor) · #10 31-03-2010, 06:01 PM

Welcome young Pog,

Great to see a youngster into science.

Wish someone had lit a fire under me when I was your age, regarding science, astronomy in particular.

After 34 yrs working on the Broken Hill Mines I pulled on a Grad Cert Sc in Astronomy with Swinburne Uni, did ok, even got my faculties Award for Excellence as the top graduating student in my program.

It is great to have goals and very sweet when you attain them.

Good luck with you goals, work hard and I am sure you will attain them.

Regards
Trevor

M54 (Molly) · #11 31-03-2010, 08:31 PM

Hi Pog,

Welcome to IIS.

Check out your local library. There'll be plenty of astronomy books there.
Maybe the school library too.
As stated above, stellarium will help you get to know the night sky, and get a planisphere, I think you can get them at the Australian Geographic shop. Then get out with the binoculars and start finding stuff.

I see you are in Adelaide, so here's a link to the Astro Society of South Australia. They will have viewing nights you could maybe talk your mum into taking you to.

www.assa.org.au

And if you think you want to be a professional astronomer (or astronaut for that matter) pay attention in maths, physics and chemistry classes. They are hugely relevant to astronomy.

Molly.

Liz · #12 01-04-2010, 08:45 AM

Yes, welcome Pog
Wonderful advice below .... enjoy this wonderful hobby

supernova1965 (Warren) · #13 01-04-2010, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pog

Hey, I'm a new guy on the forums introducing myself. I am 15 years old, and want to persue a career in astronomy. My real goals actually expand to space travel but the crushing blow is that it'll never happen in my life time, and even if it did I wouldn't get to join, but whatever. I am trying to convince my parents to buy me a Celestron FirstScope while it's on offer for just under $50, but mum says not until dad gets back from the gulf (in 3 months

)

So that's me! I hope you can help me with all the complex space lingo and mathematical jargon I may encounter! Thanks in advance, see you later!

Don't be so sure that your chance to go to space is gone stranger things have happened. Sometimes what seems to be nowhere near in the future is closer than we think you never know what is around the corner so get yourself ready to make sure that when the chance comes you are ready for it. Anyway welcome to our group nice to have you

DavidTrap (David) · #14 01-04-2010, 10:08 AM

Welcome aboard.

Listen to the advice regarding scopes. Being "impatient" to get a telescope and buying something like the Celestron First Scope will just cost you more money in the long run as the inevitable upgrade will come too soon.

Buy a book like "Heavens Above - A Binocular Guide to the Southern Skies by Robert Bee" - ($24 at Bintel, but will probably be available at an astro-shop in Adelaide) will help you learn the sky with the binoculars you have already and save up for a "decent" scope. Don't be frightened of buying second hand - but being in a club will help you get advice from the older and wiser to make sure you don't get ripped off. The entry level scopes don't hold their value so well, so you might pick up a bargain from someone who discovers Astronomy isn't for them.

Remember that a surprising number of "professional astronomers" don't know their way around the night sky. Some time spent now learning the basics will help you down the track.

Just my 2 cents worth,

David T

Pog (Pog) · #15 01-04-2010, 08:29 PM

Wow! Incredible amounts of help, any recommendations for a good, cheap, reliable dobsonian for beginners would be immensely helpful! Also I was just wondering about how chemistry fits into astronomy (and for that matter becoming an astronaut). Is it just calculating what stars, planets and other celestial bodies are made of or even the complex mechanics that may lurk behind rocket fuel if you are an astronaut!

DavidTrap (David) · #16 01-04-2010, 10:03 PM

Any sort of science is important to Astronomy. It's not just the facts that you learn in a class that are important - it's the "process" of investigation to work something out - remember a professional scientist tries to find out new things.

When the USA embarked on the Apollo program to go to the moon, they didn't have all the answers of how to do it, but they had the processes in place to work it out.

DT

M54 (Molly) · #17 01-04-2010, 11:10 PM

Hi Pog,

Just a rough idea of the relevance of chemistry...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrochemistry

Suzy · #18 01-04-2010, 11:54 PM

A classic case for the need of maths and physics is the Apollo 13 mission. You should watch this movie if you can. The crew, both ground and on board agreed that this was a very accurate depiction of what really happened. Do you remember the famous words "Houston we have a problem". Though it's really "Houston we've had a problem", but that got changed for the movie. Gene Kranntz the flight director told the crew they had to figure out a way to fit a square peg in a round hole and that he wasn't going to lose an astronaut on his watch and drew upon all the powers of maths and physics along with the help of on board crew and ground crew to get them back safely. There are plenty of chemicals on board a rocket, you have to know your physics and maths. Then to stretch the limits of the available fuel, they had to figure out how to get back the most economical way on what little fuel they had. The mission was called a "successful failure". They were lucky to return alive. Aside from that you also need to know your maths and physics as it has everything to do with how the universe was formed. All the atoms etc that form different stuff- your quarks and neutrinos and protons and neutrons and blah blah and what makes up the elements of hydrogen, helium, carbon blah blah. You can't fly a ship and not know this stuff as you would cause a fire before you even said "hello mr rocket ship". lol. As a parent myself, i'm sure if you showed very keen interest and do your background study like the others have mentioned, your parents will probably think what you're getting into is serious and not a passing phase. They would see you applying yourself and learning and no doubt be very proud of that and perhaps get you a decent beginners scope. Get out there at night every opportunity you can and study the constellations etc with the help of a map and books. All of us have to go thru this to learn the sky, so you should spend that time now while you've got it. That way when you get your scope you'll be readily knowledgable straight away.

Keep up the enthusiasm. The great people working for Nasa and JPL are people just like us that wanted to learn more and went for it.

chris1964 (Chris) · #19 02-04-2010, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pog

Hey, I'm a new guy on the forums introducing myself. I am 15 years old, and want to persue a career in astronomy. My real goals actually expand to space travel but the crushing blow is that it'll never happen in my life time, and even if it did I wouldn't get to join, but whatever. I am trying to convince my parents to buy me a Celestron FirstScope while it's on offer for just under $50, but mum says not until dad gets back from the gulf (in 3 months

)

So that's me! I hope you can help me with all the complex space lingo and mathematical jargon I may encounter! Thanks in advance, see you later!

Hi Pog. I'm in Adelaide too . The Heights school in Modbury have their own observatory with free admission once a month. Go check it out. Also, Mawson Lakes have a planetarium which you have to see.

orestis · #20 02-04-2010, 10:37 AM

Hi pog

,

Great to see another youngster on the hook,i myself am only 14 yrs old and in yr 9 and i too am very interested in astronomy especially the physical side of it.i haven't owned a dob but have seen through one and would strongly recomend it as it is very easy to use and fairly cheap.
I've been into astronomy for about 2 years now and have learned heaps

so get out there and enjoy yourself in the night sky,if you live in suburbia then i would recomend that you go to a dark sy site and see for yourself how beautifull the night time sky is

.

hope you get a scope soon and start having lots of fun.
regards orestis