I was going through some old boxes and came across some keepsakes from my youth. Yes that was some time ago and I was thinking how things have changed since then.

These books were influential on my love of astronomy especially the first addition of the Messier album which I acquired in a decade where disco was king ( not for me) and flared jeans were everywhere.

If you ever get a chance to read them make sure you do.

Back in those days film was king, Ektachrome 400 was the film to use and they used to treat it in gas to make the film more sensitive.

These posters hung on my wall and I gazed at them wondering if I'd ever get to take similar images. They were stunning to me then and still are. Taken with some of the largest telescope on earth at the time how could they ever get better and how would I ever get this chance.

In such a short time look how far we have come. Now I'm taking images from a small robotic telescope controlling it with my phone. Developing and editing these images without film, gas and developing fluid and getting results equally as good and sometimes better than those images. I guess my dream has come true. I'm also seeing friends producing amazing images (just look at the latest Orion images from @Maic and @HAL-9000 .

No matter how good you are just think about what you are achieving at the moment, what will it be like in 10 or 20 years.

I also thought I'd share where I currently get my outlook on life.

😂🤣

Feeling nostalgic - digging up the past