Does it bug you ?

[DENMONKEY (Brett)]

Since I've only been at this a few months and have a rare few nights of viewing under my belt I got to wondering.

Does getting into astronomy simply result in more unanswered questions then it actually answers.

Now keep in mind I know next to nothing on the vast subject that is astronomy and all that it entails.
So as curiosity does, it led to me to the internet to find all I could on the subject.

There is loads of video content on-line which delves into the subject at various levels and work as excellent learning matter BUT I just hate it when they use all these animations intertwined with real life footage.

It's so good in fact that often I really don't know the difference.
I really would prefer on occasion to just see what stuff really looks like even if it's just a ****ty grainy still picture.
The artists visual impressions are great for what they are but I don't care for them.
Give me the real deal or nothing.

Something else I get from these documentaries and such, is just how little we know and how much of this hobby/subject is still very much unknown or pure speculation with few scientific facts to be 100% sure.

Me? being curious by nature, I hate not knowing stuff.
So when I'm presented with false images or 'possible' facts it nearly drives me crazy.

Then added to that, I now realize there is so much about this game that I will just NEVER know......put a bullet in me now

Still, all that said I do find peace just sitting under the stars looking up.

Even if I don't know their names, how far they are from me or what they look like up close

I guess this will have to do

Hahaha yes those spectualr artist impressions are somewhat .

This is what I love about Astronomy, that its a frontier in life that is so beyond any human imagination.

And the more scientiest and astronomers seek answers they will only receive more questions

[Robh (Rob)]

Brett,
Wow, this is getting into some deep, philosophical stuff!
I am reminded of a few sayings "Ignorance is bliss." and "The more you know, the more (you realise) you don't know."
There was a famous scientist who said something to the effect of "I stand before this vast sea of knowledge, knowing little of the depths of knowledge below". Maybe someone can remember the exact quote and who said it.
Anyway, here's my viewpoint. A hundred years ago we didn't know of the vast numbers of galaxies out there. Were we better off? I don't think so. This information for me gives me a better perspective of the Universe we live in and leaves me in total awe of our place in it. Each new fact we learn about our Universe raises more questions, but each time we fit more pieces of the "jigsaw" puzzle together. There is now an enormous body of established facts about the Universe- it's not just based on a whole lot of conjecture. Black Holes used to be just scientific conjecture but now the evidence pretty much establishes their existence.
Man is curious by nature. We will never know everything but it is the excitement and satisfaction of putting together the pieces that makes learning so worthwhile. We all do this in our own way and in our own time.
I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to with the pictures/animations.
But animations are done where we can't do the real live footage e.g. a simulation of the formation of a star. However, there is an enormous amount of real photography done by amateurs here on IIS and around the world. For example, real images of real galaxies.
I also "hate not knowing stuff" so you're not an odd one out. Just enjoy "the more you know ...".
Isn't it just peaceful under the stars. Now you know why we're all hooked on astronomy.
Regards, Rob.

[Jen]

Well if we knew everything there goes our amazing imaginations
And i love my imagination it takes me to some strange places sometimes

[Paddy (Patrick)]

To me, not knowing is wonder. The fantastic thing about science is that its discoveries give us more to wonder about. The only answers worth having open the wonderful doors of more questions. We have so many questions now that we didn't have before. We will never find an end - I love it!

[higginsdj]

I got into astronomy and started looking for the answers myself. I'm not trying to answer all the questions - just the bits that interest me and are within my limitations (Asteroids). Sitting back and contemplating your naval isn't going to provide you with any answers.

Cheers

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

When I first started in this hobby, 5 years ago, I felt that I'd wasted the first 30yrs of my life. Regretting all that I could have learned, all that I missed out on, in that time.
But I finally stopped beating myself over the head about it and now I just sit back and enjoy the ride. It's a facinating hobby that challenges your mind and tantilises the old optic nerve.

[toryglen-boy (Duncan)]

Originally Posted by Paddy

To me, not knowing is wonder. The fantastic thing about science is that its discoveries give us more to wonder about. The only answers worth having open the wonderful doors of more questions. We have so many questions now that we didn't have before. We will never find an end - I love it!

exactly



sometimes i dont understand, but i am fine with that, sometimes there is no need to understand, but always there is the timeless wonder that it just "is"

sorry if that sounds really contrived

[Robh (Rob)]

It's been bugging me for days. I finally remembered who made that memorable quote ...
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me".
O.K. I was only moderately close in the telling!
Apologies to Isaac Newton.

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Originally Posted by Robh

It's been bugging me for days. I finally remembered who made that memorable quote ...
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me".
O.K. I was only moderately close in the telling!
Apologies to Isaac Newton.

Lovely quote! And indeed undiscoverable perhaps. It seems to me that we can only ever have a model of the world, informed by our senses and contained in our mind. We only have a model even of ourselves - we cannot truly know our liver, lungs, how a thought becomes a movement or a photon becomes an experience. We cannot even truly know the mind and how it knows. But the search and refinement and elaboration of that model is fantastic.