I had a great time attending the 2011 Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) held in Suffern, New York, April 16–17. During the event, I wandered from booth to booth with a small video camera in hand asking astronomy vendors, astroimagers, and one very happy Astronomy contest winner one simple question: “How did you get interested in astronomy?” Check out the three videos below to see the answers of people like NEAF Solar Star Party’s Barlow Bob, Meteorite Men’s Geoff Notkin, Astronomy Contributing Editor Mike Reynolds, representatives from Software Bisque, Celestron, Explore Scientific, and DayStar Filters, and many more. Hopefully, their answers will encourage you to reflect on how you first got into this great hobby. Then share your stories in the comments section below.
PART ONE: Barlow Bob, NEAF Solar Star Party; Steve Bisque, Software Bisque; Fred Bruenjes, Moonglow Observatory; Tom Davis, astroimager; Neil Fleming, astroimager
PART TWO: Carroll Iorg, Astronomical League; Imelda Joson, Writer and astrophotographer, Kevin Kawai, Celestron; Ruben Kier, astroimager; Geoff Notkin, Meteorite Men; Benjamin Palmer, Astronomy Youth Essay Contest winner
PART THREE: Gary Palmer, astroimager; Greg Piepol, Solar imager; Mike Reynolds, Florida State College; Scott Roberts, Explore Scientific; Alan Traino, NEAF; Jen Winter, DayStar Filters