Why you like the Sky.

[Adrian-H]

I thought it would be interesting to see why everyone here loves astronomy and the sky individually.

i like the sky, cause i kinda see the sky like a gateway or the heavens or something like that kinda like how they say "pillars of creation", so it gives me a pleasureable feeling looking at all the stuff up there. gives me knowledge too of course.

[Robert_T]

Hi Adrian, I find it calms me and puts the little niggles of life into a better perspective... plus I like shiny things and there's lot's of those

cheers,

[ving (David)]

Just the thought of anything beyond our planet... I look up and think "all those suns, planets and stuff... gee!".
and its purdy too...
and it gets my otherwise inactive brain moving

[acropolite (Phil)]

I like the sky because it makes me realise how insignificant I really am.

[Mick (Michael)]

Originally Posted by acropolite

I like the sky because it makes me realise how insignificant I really am.

Same as acropolite, as well as the distance/time aspect.

[astroron (Ron)]

Astronomy and looking up at the night sky is the most fantastic free show on earth, I don't have TV so I spend a lot of time both day and night looking up.
At night when it is all quiet,except the sound of the night creatures and I look up at the Milky Way and think of all the millions of stars and possible planets out there my mind is just filled with wonder.

[newbie]

My great regret(?is that the right word) in life is that I was born about 100 years too early - I think by that time space travel will be like flying in a plane is to us. And it just kills me that I will never be able to take a trip to the moon or mars - so looking up at it and admiring seems to be the next best thing.
Beth

[astroron (Ron)]

Hi Beth and welcome, Mankind landed on the Moon in my lifetime,but unless they get their finger out I wont see them landing on Mars,(they might make it back to the Moon) so I get as much pleasure out of what's happening now. Ron

[johnno]

Hi Beth,
Welcome from me also,
I agree with all the previous comments,
the night sky to me in 1 word,
is simply Fascinating,even for someone,who is not an experienced viewer,there is just so much to see,even in Lowly Binoculars.

Best Regards.
John

[Sonia]

Hi all

For me it has to be everything, from our galaxy, to planets, moons and stars. Without seeing them i dunno what id do. I think it a calming place and not a care in the world when i see them.

[Adrian-H]

Watching Life in motion is a wonderfull thing. Espeically in its most Anicent Forms.
i find astronomy better in alot of aspects compared to tv, cause you only look at the things you want to, you dont have someone elese feeding you what they want you to see.

[Dennis]

When I gaze heavenwards, the little me is left behind; swamped by the be-jewelled splendour of the cosmos. I feel large and small; proud and humble.

Large enough to absorb the awesome majesty of the rich tapestry of our cosmos, pregnant and bursting with life. Small because my ego is but an insignificant and fleeting spec in the eternity of existence.

Proud to be drenched in this wondrous existence called life and humbled by the knowledge that it does not require me to do anything, yet provides me with all that I need.

I also like lots an’ lotsa gadgets.

Cheers

Dennis

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

You are a poetic bunch.
Here are the lyrics to The Galaxy Song, and it explains why I enjoy looking up.

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough...

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the "Milky Way".

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

(Animated calliope interlude)

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I can't really put it down to just one thing...

I like the quiet when observing, except when those noisy possums scare the hell out of me.

I like the travel through time and space when looking at some distant cluster and wonder if there is some one at the other end looking at me!

I like the idea that the light I am seeing was created thousands or millions of years ago and traversed the vastness of space to finally enter my eye at the end of it's journey (this is not really true, but it sounds good when I say it to those who don't know better).

I like to wonder how anything so wonderous could possibly have been made according to some plan, rather than it just IS how it IS.

I like the amazement when other people gaze through my scope and see things they never imagined existed. They may have seen pictures of the Orion Nebula or Saturn's rings...but seeing the real thing always seems to make people truly amazed.

I like having an interest that almost everyone is interested in, not many people would like to come over and have a look at a stamp collection or see my latest macrame creation.

I guess...I just LIKE it!

[cjmarsh81]

I like the idea that no matter how much I look I will never see it all. There is so much stuff out there and I am just beginning. I only recently got into astronomy because my Dad was in a shop buying a spotting scope. I looked over the other side of the shop and saw an 8" reflector. It just hit me that I had never looked up! Since then I bought my scope and after seeing Saturn I can't believe I never took the time before to get a telescope and look into space.

[space lover]

I just love space and the sky. The main reason is because when observing its just like a dream. I know that the light I see from the stars is hundreds, thousands and even millions of years old, so its like seeing history happen before your eyes. Basically Astronomy is just out of this world.

[GrampianStars (Rob)]

When I'm at the scope alone at 3 am in my obs
& try to squeeze out those dim galaxys
I'm reminded It's a big arse sky

[mickoking]

Hey great thread

The universe is awsome and all emcompasing. If we didn't look up we would miss most of nature, where we come from and what is ultimately our destiny.

Chill