Why Astronomy?

Maybe you are an experienced astronomer reading this out of curiosity, or perhaps you are a newcomer to the activity. If the latter, let me warn you about two aspects of imaging the sky at night. Firstly, you will need a strong constitution to overcome all the initial frustrations. A plethora of things will go wrong, and night after night you will wonder why you embarked, for pleasure, on such a tortuous path. Secondly, when you do eventually achieve an image of good quality from your own backyard and see that it bears a passing resemblance to something from Hubble, you will be gripped by a great excitement and a compulsion to get more pictures of better and better quality. This will have an effect on your social life and can cause you to arrange your calendar based on the lunar clock. You may find yourself at a dinner party sneaking glances at your watch in the hope that it will soon be over so you can get back to your beloved telescope for the first clear night in ages. It is an unwritten law that the only night of the week that is clear will be the one when you are booked to go out.