with your significant other

How many out there observe with their spouse or whatever? My wife and I observe together and without each other, just seeing how common or uncommon this is.

My wife will very seldom go. But i have an 8 and 10 year old that go with me.

My wife will participate in some astronomy ... I bought her the CD to learn the constellations with. She likes the occasional look through her binoculars. Lunar eclipses and meteor showers she likes too. She seems to have a difficult time seeing though the telescope, though, and very rarely takes a peek.

She does like "road trips" like the one we took to see the Transit of Venus last year. She's been to three star parties.

Two years ago at Cherry Springs, S&T editor Joshua Roth gave her a "Universe Sampler" through the StarBlast! he brought with him (sure, she'll look through *his* scope -- :S )

I observe with my wife. Here we are this last weekend as we setup the Starmaster.

Attached Image:

My wife will come out for a look now and then but is not a dedicated observer.

She does like to accompany me when I go to the mountains. One reason is that most of my favorite "secret spots" are within a few miles of the US-Mexico border in a region with a great deal of smuggling of various types. But mostly she just likes to drive around and enjoys the mountains.

We have an older motor home that we take on most of these trips. Sometimes these trips are 60 mile jaunts into the mountains east of San Diego where I have a few "Secret SPots." Sometimes they are to Navajo Reservation in NE Arizona or the Colorado river...

I do the Astronomy thing while she stays inside where its cosy and warm and plays her Japanese bamboo flute (www.shakuhacki.org) We are both doing things we are passionate about and I have the added benefit of hearing her music as it gently contributes to the silence of the wilderness.

And of course there is nothing quite like having a warm bed ready and waiting when the wind and cold have finally beat me once again.

jon

My wife likes to come out and see what I am observing but once the glass of tea is gone she's had enough.

My 11 and 12 year old have started to spend more time with me but I must admit when I am planetary observing I hate giving up the eyepiece.

;0)

Dave

My wife will on rare occasion come outside to take a quick peek at whatever I'm looking at, or also when we're at her parents' cabin and I've got along my stubby little 6" mini-dob and everyone else in the family is looking too. But on a regular observing basis, 99.9% of the time she prefers sleeping.

Good one Dave.
My wife will go out with me about half the time.
But after about 90 minutes, maybe 2 hours she's had enough and announces "OK, I'm done. Let's go."
Then she'll sit in the car and listen to the radio. Or read a book with the red light on. Occasionally, she'll come back out, if my "oh my God, you HAVE to see this" sounds emphatic enough. But eventually, maybe 3 hours later, I'll concede that it's time to go. Maybe if I left when she was ready, she'd come more often. But then what fun would that be?
Linton

My wife finds the stars interesting but with all the great photos I show her that people post on here she gets her fix looking over my shoulder at the computer!

I enjoy finding the stuff with my own eyes, even if it doesn't look as godd as the pictures people post on here.

My wife made her "once a year" peak through my scope last Friday night. She bought my scope as a father's day gift last year, and this was her second look through it. Oh, well.

My daughters held a sleepover Friday night. My wife encouraged me to get the scope out so the ten !!girls could take a look. "You should see the moon!", I said. "Hey, I got it on Jupiter now!", I said. "Does anybody want to see Saturn?", I said. Nah! They were more interested in "The Return of the Jedi", and never did come out. >

I got a good long look at Jupiter!

Rick W