Hello to you all

Hello,I am a new member here,I have always had a vague intrest in astronomy,which means I know absolutly nothing. I bought one of the Meade telescopes in Lidl before xmas,the LXD75,I have a 10 year old son and want to arouse his intrest as well as rekindle my own in the stars. I am a Psychologist by profession and am still studying, so my time is a little bit short (ish) but not for too much longer,although that could change,I am also just slightly the wrong side of fifty. I am looking forward to talking to you on line and meeting some along the way and also to learning a lot.

Welcome Plato155!

Your choice of ID indicates that you have a root in the Greek origins of knowledge - not a bad place to be (but we barbarians weren't so bad).

There is lots that you can share with your son. Look at the moon and convince both of yourselves that it is a spherical object. Look at it as it changes phases - it confirms that its a spherical object. Further it confirms that its orbiting the Earth (it moves) and sun-light illuminates both Earth and the orbiting Moon in a consistent and predictable fashion.

With the scope this is hopefully more obvious - shadows on craters and mountains etc changing over time.

There is also the relationship of when you see the moon, and its phases, with respect to the sun. You see the full moon only after sunset, for example (they are diametrically opposite) - but you can see a partial moon and the sun in the same sky.

Richard Feynman (a great pyhisicist and, possibly, a greater teacher) told a story which struck with me. And that was that his father used one of those little trolleys that children used to play with. He engaged his son and asked him why balls in the trolley continued to move forward when the trolley was intitially in motion but then stopped (he didn't know why but knew that it was important). This stuck with the young Feynman - and as I indicate - he became one of the greatest scientists of recent memory and attributes much of his success to his relationship with his father.

Engage, share, and reap the rewards...

And there is nothing wrong in being the wrong side of fifty - in a few short months I shall be there...

Mark

Who are these Barbarians you speak of?

In this context non-Greeks - essentially. In conflicting cultures the other guy is non-conformant / not civilised and is regarded as a "barbiarian". Current intellectualism tends to be founded in the history as written by the victor and inherited by subsequent cultures.

Can be summarised in one joke by Billy Connoly:
A native american indian is standing on the sea shore and asks
"Where are we? I wish someone would come and discover us and tell us where we are!"

I shouldn't have made the reference - it was rebellious.

Mark