Because of my occasional e-mails and web pages on the topic, people often ask whether I've studied astronomy or how I got interested in astronomy.  In my article entitled Why Astronomy? I explain the reasons why I consider amateur astronomy to be a worthwhile pursuit for anyone, particularly those interested in the "larger" (spiritual / philosophical) questions of life.  In this article I discuss more personally the development of my own interest in astronomy.  And on Garrett's astronomy page I talk about our 3-year-old son's growing knowledge of the subject.

My earliest recollection of anything related to astronomy is that when I was a child my parents had two posters of the solar system that they put up on my wall.  One of the posters showed the orbits of the planets and their relative distances from the sun; the other showed the relative sizes of the planets.  (Similar diagrams can be found today on the Nine Planets web site.)  To illustrate the relative sizes and distances together would require a scale model at least several city blocks in size, because the planets are so small compared to the vast expanse of space between them.

I don't remember now how old I was at that time, but I think I had those posters both before and after we moved to Fresno, which was when I was nine years old.  In any case, I carefully studied the distances of each planet from the sun, how long it took light from the sun to reach each one, and the length of a day and a year on each planet (that is, the period of the planet's rotation about its axis and that of its orbital revolution around the sun).  I may have even memorized all those figures, though the only thing I can remember now is that Earth is 93 million miles from the sun and it takes light from the sun 8 minutes to reach us.  I also memorized the speed of light: 186,000 miles per second.

As a child I was also interested in the possibility of intelligent life on planets in other solar systems.  I learned that the closest star to our own sun is Alpha Centauri and that it takes light from that star four years to reach us (which means that even on the fastest space ship that could be built today, it would take lifetimes to get there).  This star is not visible from the northern hemisphere, but now that I live in Australia, I can see it every night (unless it's cloudy).  Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are the two "pointer stars" that are often used to find the constellation of the Southern Cross.

I remember going on several field trips to planetariums during primary and middle school, which I always found interesting.  One of these, I think, did have a scale model of the sizes and orbital distances of the inner planets of the solar system, with a note about how far away each of the outer planets would be.

I never had much of an interest at that time in the constellations, perhaps because of the pagan associations of the "zodiac" signs and people using horoscopes for fortune telling.  I may also have been a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of stars.  Although pertinent information about the nine planets could be mastered quite readily, it would be an impossible task to memorize the names of all the stars.  Where would one begin?

One of the things that I find curious now, as I reflect back on this childhood interest, is that it seemed to be mostly focused on "book learning."  We never did much observing of the sky, the phases of the moon, meteor showers or that sort of thing.  And I'm sure that I never knew until recently that you could actually see five of the planets at night (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.

After this initial burst of childhood learning, my interest in astronomy waned for many years, although I continued to enjoy reading occasional articles about discoveries related to the Big Bang or the age of the universe, and contemplating how these related to my Christian faith in God and his divine act of creation.

My interest in astronomy has been rekindled in the last couple of years, a development that can be traced to a specific radio broadcast.  In May 2002, one of the midwives that had delivered Garrett e-mailed Amy to tell her about a radio interview that was soon to be aired here in Sydney on the subject of homebirth.  We had already experienced our first homebirth and were enthusiastic supporters of the idea, so we got up early (4 am, as I recall) to listen to that radio program.  After the interview was over, the radio announcer said to stay tuned for the next program, which was about "the night sky."  That sounded interesting, so since we were already up, we decided to listen to that broadcast as well.

On the "night sky" program, the host said that during the next few weeks Venus and Jupiter would appear as two bright "stars" each evening after sunset, and that they would be moving closer and closer to each other on successive nights.  I was astounded to hear that Jupiter could be seen with the naked eye!  Before that I was aware that Venus could sometimes be seen as a bright "star," but I had assumed that the other planets could be seen only with a telescope.

Perhaps a few days or a week after that radio program, Amy & I and Garrett went to a New South Wales state park with our friends the Carles family, who are Garrett's godparents.  We walked on the wooded trails and enjoyed seeing Fitzroy Falls.  It was just starting to get dark when we decided to leave.  As we walked out of the park and back to the van, I looked up and there in front of me, just over the trees, were two unusually bright "stars" close together in the sky.  I remembered the radio show we had listened to and told our friends excitedly that I was sure those two "stars" were actually the planets Jupiter and Venus.  I had my camera with me, so I took a picture.

On another evening not long after that, Amy & I were walking in our neighborhood and noticed the two planets again.  I could see that their relative position (angle and distance from each other) had changed somewhat.  Soon we made a nightly ritual of going out on the balcony to look for them.

In July 2002, Saturn and Mercury could be seen with the naked eye in the morning before sunrise.  However, this did not arouse as much interest on my e-mail list, since people seemed less enthusiastic about having to get up early in the morning to watch.

The next big astronomy event was the total solar eclipse visible from Africa and Australia in December 2002.

The pictures of Venus and Jupiter that I posted on my web page were taken with my Sony FD73, a 640x480 (0.3 megapixel) digital camera with 10x optical zoom, which I had bought at the time I met Amy in 1999.  With pixel counts increasing and prices decreasing, I had already been thinking about getting a new digital camera.  The 2002 solar eclipse provided the impetus for me to do that.  For my birthday that year I got an Olympus C-730, a 3.2 megapixel camera, also with 10x optical zoom.

During the month prior to the eclipse, I traveled around Sydney scouting out potential viewing locations and taking hundreds of photos with my new camera.  Because my brother Varrin was also looking into getting a new digital camera at the same time, I created a web page of Olympus C-730 sample photos to showcase some of my best shots.

I ordered a solar filter for my camera and bought a supply of solar viewing glasses to sell to friends and coworkers interested in watching the eclipse.  I noted on my web page about the solar glasses that after the eclipse they could be kept and used for the 2004 Venus transit.

On the 27th of August, 2003, due to the elliptical shape of the planets' orbits and the period of time it takes them to go around the sun, Mars and Earth passed closer to each other than they had in 60,000 years, and closer than they will for another 284 years.  For a week before and after that date, the Sydney Observatory offered public telescope viewings and ran a Mars exhibit that proved to be quite popular.

On the 5th of May, 2004, we got up early to view a total lunar eclipse from our balcony window.  It started at 4:48 am and took about an hour for the Earth's shadow to cover the entire face of the full moon, at which time a slight reddish-orange color could be observed.  (See photo on Garrett's astronomy page.)

The next significant event we're anticipating is the transit of Venus across the face of the sun on the 8th of June.  More information about this rare spectacle can be found on my Venus transit web page.