Yesterday I wrote three reasons why astronomy is not a good hobby and why you should say no to astronomy. The three reasons for astronomy being not a good hobby were that you do not sleep at nights, you loose focus to your work and the equipment is expensive. Well, good reasons may be. Today I define three good reasons why astronomy IS a good hobby and why you should get interested in it.

I got interested in astronomy as a kid while watching northern lights and Big Dipper constellation in my hometown in Lapland. I used to wonder how big the universe might be and what the heck there are “behind” the stars. It was fascinating and I was curious. It was around 2000 when I rediscovered astronomy. I found an astronomy magazine in a library and immediately I got hooked on astronomy. I borrowed few books and magazines, I surfed in the net and I started watching the Moon and the planets with binoculars. It was really great. I found out many stunning things, such as the nebulae, the size of the universe, Hubble images, galaxies, groups of galaxies, etc. It felt good to understand many things about the universe and that same motivation is still the basis of my astronomy hobby.

Reason #1: Astronomy opens a door to a whole lot bigger world

As soon as you start reading astronomy books and magazines, you surf in the net or you watch videos and DVD’s on astronomy, you start figuring out how much interesting things there are outside of this planet. You realize that the information you are reading, hearing and watching opens you a door to a huge world of interesting things. When you step into that world, you start to realize many things such as how damn many stars and galaxies there are in the universe, how far the neighboring stars are, how old the universe is, how absolutely awesome are phenomena such as supernova explosion and the collapse of a star. What astronomy gives you is perspective. Astronomy gives you a scale which helps you to understand various phenomena and to understand your own position in this universe. It is a great asset in your life I would say.

Reason #2: Astronomy is a hobby you can share with your family

Are you busy with your job or are you an entrepreneur? Do you feel like you do not spend time enough with your family? Guess what, I belong to both of those categories and I definitely do not spend time enough with my family. Another thing that bothers me is that I do not have much time for my hobbies. Many times I would like to observe an object in the night sky, I am either too tired or I am working. What I have done is that I share my hobbies with my kids. We play music (one of my hobbies) together and we observe the stars together. I read kid’s astronomy books for them and I tell them about the Moon, stars, the Sun and many other interesting things up there. If my kids are not interested in nebulae, I change the topic to northern lights for example. The main point is that it must be interesting and fun for my kids. By having a common hobby we spend time together are we all find it interesting. Sometimes I prepare our “astronomy time” by printing few images at work and thinking what will I tell them. It must be informative and entertaining at the same time.

Reason #3: Astronomy gives you a good basis for discussions with people

I work as a project manager in a medium sized company. I am a software developer from my background and I lead software development and engineering projects. I work in an international company and I meet developers and clients from many different cultures. I have met hundreds of interesting people and I have had thousands of interesting discussion with those people. I enjoy very much meeting people from various cultures, such as North America, Eastern Europe, Japan, Russian and Middle-East. Many times we talk about software products, processes, business, co-operation, cultures, annoying bosses, etc. Sometimes we end up talking about astronomy. It is a topic that interests many people, despite of the cultural backgrounds. Astronomy is interesting for, I would say, most of the people. If you have nothing else to talk about, or if you would like to talk about something else than business with your client, change the topic to astronomy. Pick up a topic that is discussed world-wide, such as a comet. You can also pick up a generally interesting topic, such as galaxies or planets, and share your thoughts with your client. All in all, I have found out that being an amateur astronomer gives me a very good starting point for discussions with people. Astronomy as a hobby gives me a lot of valuable information for discussions. Another good topic to discuss is music, but when I start discussing about skiing or mountain biking, my audience is much smaller.

There are zillions of good reasons to start astronomy as a hobby. These three reasons are the ones I have found good. I enjoy astronomy as a hobby and I recommend it to everyone, despite of your age, race or any other backgrounds. Check out my articles for more and other blogs in my blogroll. Those could be your starting point to astronomy. After that I recommend you to read a couple of books and magazines, and then the best part which is observing the sky.