What's your name? Introduce yourself to IFAS!

Yo!

I've been interested in astronomy since I was knee high! I remember sneaking outside on clear nights just to gaze up at the stars, until my parents caught me and I was just given a heavier coat and 'Ten more minutes'

I'm 35 1/4 years old now and married to Carol for 7 years. I'm based in Raheny, Dublin and work as an 'Information Security Analyist' for CIE.

My main astronomical interests surround astrophotography and in many ways the equipment surrounding the hobby. I love nothing better than cracking open cameras and other astro electronics to make them do things they weren't originally designed to do! I still get a great kick out of a dark clear sky and big dob!

I have just finished building a 'roll off roof' backyard observatory which house a Celestron C9.25" SCT. I also have long term loans of a 16" and 21" dobs.

Like Seanie, I seem to like the sound of my own voice (somebodys gotta) as I have given many talks on the hobby over the years. What I love about this hobby is that you never stop learning and interacting with other amateurs on this board is such a great way to do just that.

I am a member of both the South Dublin AS and Astronomy Ireland.

As well as astronomy and science in general, my other main hobbies are electronics, flight simulation and almost up there with astronomy is my beloved Arsenal FC.

Well,
I remember been walked home as a very young kid by my uncle one summer evening (~1979) when I looked up and saw these bright lights in the sky, he told me they were stars, and I was hooked. Looking back I think they were the summer triangle, blue and brilliant.
I've been interested in astronomy since then and remember voyager passing Saturn back in early 80s, my first scope was a 30x30 "chemist" telescope back then, if you managed to see the street light through it you were doing well. :lol:

Then in the mid/late 80s I got a tasco 60mm scope for christmass, a grand nice little scope. I then joined SAC (then LAC) where I got a loan of the a 13" Dob and ended up having it for nearly 5 years!, it was just amazing to use what was then a massive scope, not so big these days.

During the mid 90s, astronomy took a back seat for a few years but I got back into it in 1997. In mid 2000, I got a 12" Lx200 which I still have to this day, its my main observatory scope. I built the observatory between 2002-2005 in the back garden, many say it was an unusual decision given the light pollution, it really came down to either sell the scope or build an observatory for it, as it was just too much effort to set up every night from scratch and it had nearly go to the point where it was never used.
Some of my neighbours just "love" the captured UFO. :lol:

As for myself, I live in Limerick city between Thomand Park and the Gaelic Grounds. I work in I.T. and have some electronics knowledge, this has been very usefull when fixing scope problems and making little trinkets for the hobby.

I'm in this hobby for the enjoyment factor, its great for unwinding after a long day, I dabble in some astrophotography but have found that it can be very time absorbing and that you need to keep looking at the sky aswell, or else your knowledge of it will dim.

Hi,
I've been interested in the night sky since I was little. But it's only been in the last 2 years that I've been obsessed with this hobby.
I started off using the kids 60mm refractor and upgraded to a 10" dob last year.
While it isn't the ideal scope for Astrophotography, that is what I enjoy doing most. I use an elderly Panasonic Digital Video camera afocally and have captured some not too bad pics of Jupiter.
I look forward to learning more about your Northern skies.

Jeanette

Hi,

I'm new to these boards so I thought I'd say a few words here.

My name is Carl O'Beirnes. I live in balgriggan co.dublin. I've been interested in astronomy since i was a kid (and i'm still a big kid at heart).

Currently my main scope is a Celesctron CGE 14" SCT. I also use a piggybacked Celestron ED80. I've been doing planetary imaging for a while and looking forward to getting into deep sky stuff soon.

I've just finished building my roll off backyard observatory here (after helping Dave Grennan build his).

I'm looking forward to learning loads from you guys and hopefully sharing some of my experiences too.

Since I started this thread I gues I should post something!

Like many others I got interested in Astronomy as a child. I've many memories of my Dad taking me out into the garden to look at things in binoculars, including Comet Halley in 1986.

Another memory that sticks with me was my first view of Saturn in a telescope. The scope was a 3" reflector that had a flimsy stand, which I'd balanced on a garden table. It was a borrowed scope and whoever had had it beforehand had tried to wash the mirrors clean! But still, I somehow managed to get to see the rings drift by through the field of view. Fantastic.

I only got a telescope a few years back, a 10" schmidt newtonian reflector. Its great for wide field deep sky work, but works well on all objects. I've tried my hand at astrophotography with various levels of success. Now I've a coronado PST to play with also.

My main interest in astronomy lie with the physics. So I'm currently working on a masters in astronomy. This suits our cold and cloudy climate quite well!

I'm a member of several astronomy clubs though I'm mainly active in the South Dublin AS. I'm also a former member of Astronomy Ireland.

I live in South Dublin, work for Sun Microsystems, and a supporter and member of Shamrock Rovers F.C.

Cheers,
~Albert

www.flickr.com/photos/albertw/

As seems to be the trend, I got interested in astronomy as a child. I can still remember my Dad pointing out the Milky Way one evening, and telling me that the reason why it looked the way it did, and the reason why it encircled the sky, was because it was the galaxy we were in! I guess it instilled in me a deep sense of place in the universe.

I can also remember, at age 10 or so, reading that there would be a total solar eclipse on 11 Aug 1999 that would pass not too far from home. I figured that I would be 30 years old on the day, and so I made a promise to myself to make every effort see that eclipse.

So in 1998, I met Brian Seales, who was organising the AI trip to see the eclipse, and I've been eclipse-chasing ever since ( www.ecliptomaniacs.com ). Eclipse-chasing is my major contact with astronomy at the moment.

By day, I'm a computer programmer for a company that does big gaming machines. By night, unfortunately, being in the city centre, with just about no view of the sky, and no car (ATM), I can only satisfy my astronomical leanings by writing software about it! On ecliptomaniacs.com, you will find an on-line javascript eclipse calculator, as well as one for your mobile phone, that I wrote. I'm currently modifying the javascript one for publication on the NASA eclipse web pages. I have some other projects on the go - like a portable (I hope) weather satellite image receiver.

Finally, I was a student at UCG trying to get a PhD for a few years. During that time, I had the fantastic experience of using what was at the time the world's fifth largest telescope (the WHT on La Palma), and I was also the co-discoverer of the first optical counterpart of an extragalactic pulsar (whatever that means! )

Oh, and like othere here, I'm single .

Chris.