My Name is Daniel Kuznetsov, I was born and raised in San Francisco. Currently I am a sophomore in Physics interested in Nuclear and Quantum Mechanics. Science has been my obsession since I could consciously see, touch, hear and smell the world around me.
My first great experience in astronomy was in third grade, when my dad took me to a lecture by Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias about the Big Bang and the star viewing party afterwards. I remember climbing a ladder to get to the eyepiece of a huge Newtonian Telescope which must have been over ten feet high. Seeing Jupiter through that eyepiece was a great disappointment, I was expecting a big planet in vivid color like I saw in books, instead I saw a faintly striped un-colored dot.
After that I didn't go to star parties anymore. But I still spent countless hours watching astronomy shows on the Science Channel.
By high school I had a new astronomy project: I wanted to build a German-Equatorial Telescope mount in my garage. Unfortunately it never got past the first stages as I did not possess the skills of a master machinist necessary to construct such a sophisticated piece of machinery.
Astronomy 142 will be my third astronomy course in college. I hope to fill in any gaps in my knowledge and have fun doing it.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post. I felt the same about science when growing up! That's all that I did was science. I was quite the science nerd. I really like the idea that you wanted to build a German-Equatorial Telescope mount. I hope that you continue to try and build that, it would be a pretty awesome sight! Good luck with that and in your studies!!
Jasmine Smith
A German Equatorial is quite a beast - I had one as a 6th grader, and I ended up giving it back to the person that gave it to me, and making a Dobsonian (wood + pipe alt-az) mount instead. Not good for astrophotography, but I could set it up quickly and get using it without having to align it. I can relate about the passion for science - I used to have a 'star wars book of the Universe' when I was 4 that I can still remember (very fondly).
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