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Asked by to Sarah on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Sarah Casewell answered on 13 Jun 2014:
A really long while! I grew up near Jodrell Bank near Manchester so I used to visit their science museum when I was younger. I also did work experience there when I was 15! I’ve stood in the dish!
I played with telescopes and binoculars a little when still at high school, but my first proper observing trip was in 2005 to use a 2m telescope in the canary islands, and I think that’s when I first properly fell in love with it. I’ve travelled all round the world since then using telescopes – some as large as 8m! But I still get excited about driving up to the summit to use the telescope each night.
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Comments
Nate commented on :
While I am technically an observer, I never really liked observing. Proper observing is hard, and one needs to be extremely careful. I much prefer when I get the reduced data (i.e. the data when all of the artefacts of the telescope and camera are removed) on my laptop, so I can start playing with them and seeing what the show.
In fact the first time I looked through a telescope was at the VLT in Chile, an 8m class telescope!
Sarah commented on :
It is hard work – and you are awake all night, watching the weather, in some really beautiful places. But everyone enjoys different things about their job. That’s the beauty of working as part of scientific teams, we are all good at and enjoy doing different things.