I have never studied astronomy, but I have always enjoyed watching the stars. When I was a kid at summer camp, they had an astronomy class, and we all sat outside at nite while the instructor pointed out some of the main stars for us, and taught us a little about the constellations. Around the same age, I remember spending one long evening watching what must have been a meteorite shower, but in those times, they just said "come see the shooting stars".
My mother would often wake me up in the wee hours, to come outside and see the Northern Lights, and in our peaceful little North Idaho town, we had some spectacular showings of all the red and yellow and greens that the aurora borealis can produce. The air was clean and clear, and the stars at nite were beautiful.
I always looked for a flying saucer, but so far, no big spaceships up there in the sky. However, one nite, there were about 6 planes that came across the sky, and then made an abrupt 90 degree turn, and then just disappeared. They were going faster than any airplane that I have ever seen, so I have no idea what they were. Could have been special planes that our government has, or could have been a group of spaceships, but whatever, they were going somewhere in a huge hurry !
I would love to have a telescope and look at the stars, but I would probably have a crook in my neck if I tried that nowadays.
