Introduction to Stargazing

Posted on November 15, 2006 in Stargazing. - No comments

In 2001, having only just moved to Bristol and being newly married, my wife and I decided that we needed to find a shared interest and it had to be something new to both of us rather than adopting one of the other’s hobbies.

We had heard good things about Bristol University and so obtained a brochure. We thought we would do a history course but none of them seemed very inspiring so we looked through the rest of the brochure instead and came across the Astronomy section. One course in particular caught our interest, mainly because it didn’t require any prior knowledge what so ever, and that was the monthly sky guide. We signed up and started the 10-week course in January 2002.

Steve Parkinson, the lecturer, was incredibly enthusiastic and inspiring so by the end of the course we were hooked and couldn’t wait to put all our new-found knowledge into practice. We bought 12×50 binoculars and started looking. Our first night gazing netted a comet, the alignment of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and 3 shooting stars.

The following spring we did the second course, practical observing, also run by Steve Parkinson and by John Meacham. By the end of this two day course we had talked ourselves into buying our first telescope – a Meade ETX-90, and we’ve not looked back since.

Of course, what we’d not appreciated was the weather in Bristol, the light pollution or the fact that there would shortly be another member of the family!

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