When are you not a beginner?

[Liz]

I have been viewing for the last 20 years or so, but is a huge learning process!!
Alas, I still consider myself a beginner as so much to learn and take in, and what you learn the previous year of the night sky, seems to have evaporated by the time you drag the scope out 6 months later.
Am always learning, and appreciating tips of observing .. new stuff all the time!!!
So, when do you become 'not a beginner'?

[multiweb (Marc)]

never

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

There's always something new to learn.
Love it!!

[Liz]

Originally Posted by multiweb

never

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

There's always something new to learn.


Love it!!

Glad to hear it!!! Was feeling like i wasnt in the next league.
But its sooo true ... always something to learn and enjoy.

[M54 (Molly)]

I've been interested since I was in primary school (a very long time ago), but have only recently joined the local astro society and I feel like a rank beginner all the time.
The subject is not just called astronomy, it's astronomical in scope!!!

[GrahamL]

and what you learn the previous year of the night sky, seems to have evaporated by the time you drag the scope out 6 months later.

One of the joys of mid life dementia that visits us all Liz
Whats old is now new again

Not a beginner ?.. I'd reckon when you see someone regularly push there scope to a range of fairly obscure planetaries.. useing a medium power eyepiece only ,
no finder ,telrad ,etc .. your a little reminded how much there is to take in over a lifetime .

[Liz]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

One of the joys of mid life dementia that visits us all Liz
Whats old is now new again

dementia ... yikes!!!!!!
Whats old is new again.

very true also Molly!!

[marki]

You are always a student until you stop learning (usually occurs at death but some get there earlier then others ).

Mark

[TrevorW]

The Universe is a wonderous place full of things we will never see or understand yet with all it's complexities we as humans fired by our unquenchable fevour for learning will forever search it's depths in the quest for knowledge

[leon]

You are never a beginner, we are all that all the time, as we do our stuff we learn again, over and over and new things come up and then we have to learn again of how to get past that one.

Learing last until you die.

leon

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by leon

Learing last until you die.

leon

I was going to say when we are dead but I believe we come back again so that wont work for me

[leon]

Sorry Warren, but you had it nailed

Leon

[Suzy]

It's interesting getting that perspective from you Liz, seeng as you've been doing this for so long. If that's the case, then as a newcomer to this hobby - it makes me very excited for the future as a constant student.

It's quite awesome knowing I will forever be learning. How exciting that is.I'm glad the skies will forever be full of surprises. Everytime I look at an object, I hope to see more and more detail as my eyes get better trained.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

So when you do learn something new another hurdle pops up and away we go again and againn
Cheers Kev.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by TrevorW

The Universe is a wonderous place full of things we will never see or understand yet with all it's complexities we as humans fired by our unquenchable fevour for learning will forever search it's depths in the quest for knowledge

Nicely said Trevor.

Yes, you are all right, we are forever learning in Astronomy ....... and other areas of our life. So much to learn and so little time. I just wish that what I learnt 2 years ago was still there, instead of learning it all again. I am forever discovering new stuff in the Beginners section.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

I think there are too distinct things to consider here.

The fact we never stop learning has nothing to do with the fact at some stage of our astronomical pursuits you take the next step and might be considered to have some idea of what you are doing.

Whilst you might not give yourself an award for reaching a milestone, you can at least sometimes allow yourself the joy of the warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I allowed myself the warm and fuzzy feeling and considered I had "gone somewhere"; when I could find and identify without charts or computer, over 100 deep sky targets. That was before I had turned 18, which is just over 33 years ago.

Then you get people like Rev Bob Evans who takes things to a whole different level. Bob Evans can find and identify well over a thousand galaxies without charts or computers and more importantly, has memorised the surrounding and embedded star fields of every single one of those galaxies. At no stretch of the imagination could I call Bob a beginner, notwithstanding he may still have something to learn.

Of course modern technology spoils us all and with about 8 or 9 years of solid Argo Navis use, I don't think I could find the LMC without the Argo these days. The downside of the Argo is that I have lost my ability to reel off target after target without charts or computer. The upside of the Argo is that I have observed many hundreds more targets than I would have otherwise had the time to observe over the past few years. IMO that's what it's really all about.

Cheers,
John B

[Jen]

We are all still beginners................
Beginning to sleep less when its a clear night
Beginning to realise that size does matter
Beginning to notice that we want more astro toys
Beginning to realise we cant afford all those nice astro toys that we drool about
Beginning to spend more time on the internet looking @ Space sites
Beginning to know IIS members by their real names
and it goes on and on

[asimov (John)]

I've been into it for......(out with the calculator) 36 years & still learning something new everyday!

[renormalised (Carl)]

You know you're not a beginner anymore when you can rattle off the catalogue name of some obscure 10 mag' star you see in your ep, but you forget the names of the big bright ones you can see...that's when it gets "sirius"

Or, is that just early onset senile dementia??!!