Astronomer romance

[kittenshark (Cheryl-Ann Tan)]

I've known a number of friends who, like myself, met their other halves while doing astronomy, but I was curious to know for those of you here...

What was/is the most romantic astro-related thing that he/she has given you that started it all?

After we touched hands while I was passing him a T-ring, he gave me a copy of PixInSight.

I'm thinking of 3-D printing a miniature gold version of that T-ring to wear!

[silv (Annette)]

After we touched hands while I was passing him a T-ring, he gave me a copy of PixInSight.

I would love to find this sentence in a novel!


No romance to contribute, here. Not even fantasies. I don't share my sky with anybody in real life.

[xelasnave]

Bah humbug, astronomy should be done alone, in the dark and cold.
Oh good luck I am moved but enough of this mushy stuff.
I patted my dog once does that count?
Alex

[OICURMT]

My better half says the stars are for romance and that I ruin it for her with all the scientific ramblings...

[Juno]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Bah humbug, astronomy should be done alone, in the dark and cold.
Oh good luck I am moved but enough of this mushy stuff.
I patted my dog once does that count?
Alex

[PeterM]

I fell in love with port under a dark starry sky, she keeps me warm on those cold winter nights... now she is known as tawny... Start with one bottle of Big Sams, then onto the Penfolds, the Grant Burge and end up with the Cockburns - that is a legit name on a bottle of Port and not something I ended up with after drinking it!
There is another bottle that Astrojunk (and maybe a few others from Astrofest) know very well and can be bought from the fruit n vegie shop at Aratula, but I can't mention her here, her initials are FGP ... she is a Good Port.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Don't tell my better half, cos it wasn't her in this instance

I went to what was then a rural college in the 1980's and there was a hill behind the campus, covered in trees, with a fire tower on the top. Oddly enough, it was called "one tree hill", (which I guess will pin point it exactly for some of you). I used to walk the dirt road to the top on a regular basis and often had female company cos I was seen as a "non mauler".

One evening in mid Autumn, I went up with the daughter of a diplomat who was studying on campus. We climbed that tower and squeezed under a security gate so that we could get to a higher level. We sat down and just started talking about "stuff" and after a couple of hours of that, I glanced at the night sky. She asked me what was worth looking at, more than her, (Definitely a legitimate question!!). When I explained, she got curious and we ended up lying on that platform all night exploring the night sky. Didn' lay a finger on her but it was incredibly romantic.

We walked back down at dawn and every eyebrow in the common kitchen shot up when I opened the door, somewhat dishevelled. We both must have picked it up because she suddenly threw her arms around me and gave me a kiss that would make a lady of the night blush. When she let go, she said in a husky voice, "Please, can we do that again ALL NIGHT tonight as well!" before wiggling off suggestively.

We did, half a dozen nights in a row, and I was a legend, for a while...

[kittenshark (Cheryl-Ann Tan)]

Originally Posted by silv

I would love to find this sentence in a novel!


No romance to contribute, here. Not even fantasies. I don't share my sky with anybody in real life.

Nah, fiction needs to be somewhat believable.

You just can't make this stuff up!

Do you think the lack of girls in astronomy means that it might be harder to pair up?

I've seen some pretty fierce competition among the guys when a girly girl wanders into the group. Not speaking from first-hand experience tho!

I was looking at our Facebook ads stats for our shop website, and found something interesting... our ads are served to anyone with certain affinities and interests (mostly astronomy and related interests), and for most part it is equal across genders, but the big difference is who's clicking on the ads--

Girls in their early teens have been clicking a lot more on the ads, but after about 18 and early 20s it drops dramatically. For the boys they don't seem to care much in their early to mid teens, but then the clicks grow exponentially as they get older through their 20s to the late 50s.

One wonders what the situation is here! So if you're in your late teens, you'd probably have better luck with finding an astro-partner of the opposite sex!

[silv (Annette)]

So if you're in your late teens, you'd probably have better luck with finding an astro-partner of the opposite sex!

Now you tell me?!

Very interesting stats, though.
I wonder what makes the young girls click on the ads??? Do they come with pretty boys or pink unicorns or something?
(I'm a girl. I'm allowed to throw dirt )

[silv (Annette)]

Love Rom's nerdy legendary romance at One Tree Hill college.

[silv (Annette)]

My (female) path to astronomy needed a big push in general emancipation and liberation from long-adopted expectations before "it" could happen to me.

I was 45 when I finally dared to buy a telescope.
I thought about it (very rarely) before that time but adhered to the rule that my brain is just not good enough to understand all the physics and other science required BEFORE buying a scope.

"Just do it and see how it goes" was a frame of mind I was lucky enough to develop all of a sudden due to going and living abroad on my own at age 38.
Nowadays, I would still not consider pairing up with an astronomer.
My take of the matter is not through-and-through scientific and my joy would be in danger if someone kept telling me about my stupid mistakes and idiotic ideas.
Only when considering going to a dark site I miss (being) a man.

[deanm (Dean)]

Super.

[leon]

Hey peter it is funny that you mention that port that you cant mention here.
I had never heard of until someone gave me a bottle on Thursday just gone.
And you are right ?GP it is too.

Leon

[silv (Annette)]

Girls in their early teens have been clicking a lot more on the ads, but after about 18 and early 20s it drops dramatically. For the boys they don't seem to care much in their early to mid teens, but then the clicks grow exponentially as they get older through their 20s to the late 50s

Attention to detail in girls's brains is higher than in boys' when growing up.
So if something like your ads appears in a girl's news feed she actually SEEs it and wonders why it is that it appeared in her news feed.
So she clicks it.
Boys don't click cause they overlook it, they don't see any significance related to their expectations of what they will find in the news feed - so their brains discard the ad altogether.

Older girls still see the ad - but now they're more educated, internet-wise, and do not click it anymore. Because they recognize an inevitable but ultimately uninteresting ad which has nothing to do with their true interests.
Internet-wise also means, they now know that clicking is possibly dangerous.

Whereas older boys click the ad now because their brains have caught up with the female attention to detail and they now go "Oh, an ad in my news feed!!!"

And of course, they're more technically inclined and hence click because the ad is interesting to them.

ergo: no decreasing interest in girls. hence: not a bigger chance to pair up with a juvenile in the realm of astronomy.

opens up an area for research:
how can advertising be made successful on FB when targeting young male brains?
Blinking ads, exploding ads, noisy ads - that's what you could look into to promote your business

[Wavytone]

Hmmm... quite early I discovered girls have other ideas when outside on a nice night in the dark... they get all cosy and cuddly - forget about the telescopes

If I'm going observing last thing I want is the g/f (or wife) along too.

[SimmoW (SIMON)]

My new partner makes me hot coffees or soups when coming with me in the field. Helps me set up, then lets me snuggle into her and warms me up when i return very late to bed!
She loves seeing me process the imagesand even helps a bit with versions/opinions. But shes not that fussed with the single subs during the night. Yep, she's a keeper..

[batema (Mark)]

Upon receiving my Celestron C8 in 1999 I woke up at 3am and looked at Saturn. I was so excited I woke my wife up and she came and looked at it. The next night I set it up again and the seeing was amazing so I woke my wife up and told her that Saturn was even more impressive and she should hop up and have another look. She replied by saying why do I need to get up to see Saturn when I can roll over anytime and see Uranus.

Romance.........?

[StuTodd]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Hmmm... quite early I discovered girls have other ideas when outside on a nice night in the dark... they get all cosy and cuddly - forget about the telescopes

If I'm going observing last thing I want is the g/f (or wife) along too.

Just make sure both are never there at the same time..

[blink138 (Pat)]

Originally Posted by el_draco

Don't tell my better half, cos it wasn't her in this instance

I went to what was then a rural college in the 1980's and there was a hill behind the campus, covered in trees, with a fire tower on the top. Oddly enough, it was called "one tree hill", (which I guess will pin point it exactly for some of you). I used to walk the dirt road to the top on a regular basis and often had female company cos I was seen as a "non mauler".

One evening in mid Autumn, I went up with the daughter of a diplomat who was studying on campus. We climbed that tower and squeezed under a security gate so that we could get to a higher level. We sat down and just started talking about "stuff" and after a couple of hours of that, I glanced at the night sky. She asked me what was worth looking at, more than her, (Definitely a legitimate question!!). When I explained, she got curious and we ended up lying on that platform all night exploring the night sky. Didn' lay a finger on her but it was incredibly romantic.

We walked back down at dawn and every eyebrow in the common kitchen shot up when I opened the door, somewhat dishevelled. We both must have picked it up because she suddenly threw her arms around me and gave me a kiss that would make a lady of the night blush. When she let go, she said in a husky voice, "Please, can we do that again ALL NIGHT tonight as well!" before wiggling off suggestively.

We did, half a dozen nights in a row, and I was a legend, for a while...

oh rom that is a ripper!!
pat

[goober (Doug)]

Golly, I thought my secret crush on Carolyn Porco had got out there. Relieved ...