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Unfortunately Cosmos has not made it to Blu-Ray. It is still available on DVD from many varied sources. Amazon is one.

http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan/dp/B000055ZOB/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316128803&sr=8-3

Yes Carl was one exceptional collection of star stuff. Such a great mind brought down by the unthinking viral world.

What a fun thread!

Like many others, I was always peripherally interested and with the last few shuttle missions it really rekindled my interest and love for space and everything to do with it.

I have been just manually using a telescope to look around when I saw a beautiful pattern in the stars, I was amazed by how gorgeous and bright they were so I had to draw it. I grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil and copied what I saw through the telescope.

Flash forward awhile and I read in a magazine that the Pleiades were a nice thing for amateurs to look for.

Guess what I had drawn without even knowing it?! *blush*

It's these mini "personal" discoveries that keep feeding my interest to know more and more (there isn't ever enough time to read all the things you want to *looksatgrowingstackofbooksandmagazines*).

Hi Vortex, and welcome to the forum!  I enjoyed reading your post.  There are many other threads just as fun; I hope you browse around and add to the other ones as well.  It's great to have you here!

I have to admire anyone who draws the objects they see....I was amazed to find I could spot the Pleiades with my naked eye this year!  I only bought my telescope last January, and M42 (Orion) was the first nebula I saw.  It's been my favorite ever since.  I hope to image it in the next few months.  I will also attempt drawings of my targeted objects, but my art skills are horrid, and patience even worse.  I think the more I practice, the better I'll be, so I'm challenging myself. 

I hope to see you around more often!  

Donna

Well, I was at the grocery store with my mom one day. As I was helping her load all of the groceries we had bought into the car, I saw a book about stargazing. I picked it up and plopped down in the passenger seat and flipped through it. I read that book the whole ride home and my mom let me keep it. Later that day I was talking to my dad about the book and he gave me several others that he had stashed away. Ever since then, I have been flipping through every astronomy-type book that I can get my hands on. It has been about a year or two already and I still love astronomy as much as I did then.

That's a great story,  new guy/gal!  (I"m too lazy to type your entire username...lol)....anyway, welcome to the forum!  I enjoyed reading your post!

Donna

I'm amazed by how many people have been involved since their childhood.

I always loved the stars and space, but it always took a backseat to "real life" and never fully developed into a hobby. I am full of regret for not exploring this subject more. This subject is "real life" and way more interesting than some of the things going on in the world.

My father loved science and built a sextant for me when I was quite young.  He had been in the Signal Corp, and we had a shortwave receiver I often listened to.  When Sputnik went up, my parents would take me outside to look for it.  We watched every space launch on TV, and when I was older and employed, I'd take a TV to work with me so I (and most of my coworkers!) could watch.

My parents always let me choose where to spend my birthday.  The Museum of Science and Industry was usually my choice, but sometimes the Field Museum or Adler Planetarium.  As a senior in high school I worked on my local bookmobile.  When I left to go to college, they gave me a book on astronomy.  My parents gave me a 60-mm telescope for my high school graduation present.  The neighborhood kids and I spent countless hours that summer observing through it.

Unfortunately the rest of the world wasn't as open-minded as home had been, and, as a girl, I was dissuaded from trying to become an astronaut.  I went so far as almost joining the Air Force to become a pilot like the 60's-era male astronauts.  But the Air Force informed me I could choose only to be an office worker.  No thanks.

I went on to get degrees in math and English, but my dream of being an astronaut were stalled.  Of course, the whole space program is now stalled, and by the time it's revived some day, I'll be too old to go.   Funny,  in childhood I really believed, in my lifetime, society would have plenty of time to evolve, like in 2001:  A Space Odyssey.  Well, what can we do but continue to inch closer to our dreams.  At least now I have a larger telescope, and I write plays (produced) and stories about space travel, hoping to nudge society a little closer to the day when we set out to explore the universe in earnest.

Hi Winter!

First off, WELCOME to the forum!  It's great to have more of us gals in here! 

I have to say that after reading your post, I got really PO'd!!!!!   Only because I, like you, were not supported by my parents to do anything I was interested in (astronomy, fixing cars), because I was "Only a girl".  I really think that's when I became the rebel I am today.  I couldn't believe that I was doing things that I loved, or trying to, but only to be put down by a truly sexist father. 

Oh well, I'm making up for that now...LOL!   Anyhoo,  I hope to get to know you better.  I won't say "us girls need to stick together".  Oh no.....I'd just like to say, that the members of this forum are really good people, and I have learned quite a bit here. 

Nice to meet you!

Donna

Hello Donna,

It's nice to hear from you too!  But please note, my parents did support my choices--it's just that the rest of society didn't.  I don't know if much has changed for girls growing up today, but I certainly hope it has.  I have to accept that I didn't pursue the Space Shuttle astronaut corp after they started accepting college graduates instead of only male military pilots.  Still, I haven't done too badly, and it sounds like your rebel spirit (good on ya!) is spurring you on to better things.  Remember Galaxy Quest:  "Never give up, never surrender!"

Astronomy's forum members are among the most helpful, caring people I've encountered.  A huge Thank You to all of you!

Hi Winter,

I'm very glad to hear your parents supported you!  That is excellent!  However, I am also aware of society being supportive, and the effects that has on us.  That can be as bad, if not worse, than our own parents doing the deed. 

LOL.....I LOVE that movie!  That is truly a good catch phrase to live by. 

You are so right...our fellow members here are the BEST, and that coming from a rebel, means a lot!  You couldn't  meet more supportive people.  I hope you sign up for the Halloween Star Party!   Have you seen the thread?  I'll try to get a link for you...

Donna

 Let's see, I was 13 and in 8th grade. I had gotten a hold of my favorite band's (Incubus) 2nd full album, S.C.I.E.N.C.E., and the whole album was riddled with outer space references. I remember wondering to myself what a nebula (It's was such a pretty word, isn't it?) was so I did my research and I was hooked! I'm so happy that my favorite band introduced me to something I couldn't get enough of! I'd often couple the music with my research as a a sort of soundtrack and till this day I think of everything I saw and read whenever I listen to it. c:

Oddly enough, Bjork came out with an AMAZING album, Biophilia, last year and it's just....I can't even explain it. She takes nature, cosmology and science and just turns it into such an aching beauty. And that's also the reason I became involved in Astronomy for a second time! Haha, what can I say? My music woke up something inside me. c;

I've always have been interested in astronomy. My dad is into it as well, I think that is why I have a passion for astronomy.  3 or 4 years ago I guess, my dad and I went to a astronomy program which was great. That even made me more interested in astronomy. I have always looked up in the night sky and wondered how did we get here? what if there was nothing, not even space. What will there be? I ask those questions to myself. That is another thing why I'm interested in astronomy. I want to discover something new, like a new star, planet, or even a new Galaxy that is in the universe of course and maybe that night will come.  

I also posted a similar thread and got good responses some time back but with the never ending stream of new members, its good to see it revived.

When I was 10, and the US was in the midst of the "cold war" with Russia in 1957, I got to see the first satellite man sent into space (Sputnick) and as I watched it pass across the otherwise stationary night sky, I was hooked on star gazing and have never stopped looking up to enjoy the night sky, even at age 64

I got interseted back in 1963 with my first scope made by the Gilbert co.  Living around the Philly area light was a major setback for viewing far away objects.  But I got the bug again when my wife bough a Meade terrastar 60.  Last night I was able to view Jupiter and three of her moons.  What a rush that was but with the moon being so bright trying to view the Orion Nebula was a little disappointing.  Overall I'm glad to be back into something thats been a passion put on hold for a long time.