As a kid born in the 1960s, perhaps it is no surprise that I was fascinated with space. While it was clear from a young age that my eyes were not good enough to be an astronaut, it did not hinder my sense of wonder and grandeur at the size and complexity of the universe.
My parents bought me an inexpensive refractor telescope which led to some early lessons in astronomy. I learned about light pollution, how our eyes adapt to darkness, how hard it is to finds things other than planets and the moon. I tried to combat the light pollution (coming from my annoying siblings in our house) by moving out on the dock and then learned that high magnification coupled with a dock is a bad idea. The dock moves in the water. I learned that the best time for astronomy is a quite inconvenient time and is oftentimes cold. The moon, the planets and some nebula and galaxies were tiny in the inexpensive telescope but I found them. I remained enthused.
In college, West Point required two semesters of physics which I enjoyed. I then took an elective in physics (and electrical engineering) to compliment my college education. Had I been a bit more mature, I would have pursued joining the astronomy club and taken advantage of the excellent telescopes mounted on the top of Bartlett Hall. Alas, I was distracted by girls, music and dancing.
When we returned to West Point in 1993, I bought a 10″ Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. This was before the era of computerized telescopes but it was a massive upgrade. Now, the moon and the planets were relatively large and I could clearly see the gaps in Saturn’s rings, the great red spot of Jupiter, and all the planets (except Pluto which it turns out is not a planet). I started working through the 110 Messier objects. I have found most of them.
Nowadays, you can buy a computerized telescope and have it automatically point at interesting points in the sky. I am intrigued and in retirement, might purchase a telescope for astrophotography. If I do, this page will be updated with those images in the future.