Astronomy Stack Exchange 10-year anniversary!

Question

Astronomy Stack Exchange will turn ten years old on September 24th!

The first question asked on our site was: How do I calculate the inclination of an object with an amateur telescope?

Over eight years later, we finally graduated as a full site: Graduation of the Astronomy Stack Exchange

Like most of us, this site has both satisfied and piqued my curiosity about the universe around us (sometimes in the same question)!

To celebrate our tenth anniversary, the community managers and moderators of Astronomy Stack Exchange encourage you to share your favorite posts on the site. What's special about ASE to you? What prompted you to first ask a question or answer one? Do you have any funny or stories from your time on the site?

Feel free to reply with your best moments spent here with the community!

Thanks to all of you for making ASE so special. Congrats on our ten-year anniversary!

Answer 1

Personal thanks!

I was an Astronomy & Astrophysics undergraduate (a million years ago) but due to sudden large budget cuts near the end of my program (during a global economic malaise) the observatory was closed and most of the faculty dispersed (one to oil exploration via gravitational effects on satellites, another to work on national energy conservation; it was ugly).

Life is about choices - I moved to a different field for graduate studies and so ended my dream.

I am so happy this site exists - it allows me to rub elbows with actual astronomers and folks who may not be but know much more than I do. It keeps me thinking and reading and dreaming.

For the community

Astronomy SE continues to be a magnet for amateurs and young-at-heart folks who like to look up, as well as students who will actualize their plans to become astronomers.

It obviously also does the heavy lifting of providing answers for people doing astronomy but getting stuck at some point, be it software problems or some bit of astrophysical insight.

What a wonderful site - happy birthday!

Answer 2

Happy Birthday Astronomy!!!

Now, I am in fact no experienced user to this site, nor to StackExchange/StackOverflow, so most everyone will never have heard or seen me before, but I always kept Astronomy as a sort of side-hobby that I look up, research and enjoy Astronomy questions! I am very new to astronomy still but this site has helped a lot!

Special shout-out to @uhoh for consistently making well-written and well-received questions for the community! Not to mention all the bounties that @uhoh has made to encourage me to learn more!

As a tribute to Astronomy SE, I am dedicating (hopefully) more of my time to Astronomy. I can't wait to learn more! <3

Favourite Answer (still looking) - @uhoh - Why does the alignment evaluation image from JWST look like this

Answer 3

I was a high schooler when I first joined Astronomy Stack Exchange, just over nine years ago. The time has flown by almost uncomfortably quickly; I'm now less than two years away from finishing my PhD. Obviously, many different people, events and opportunities have helped me along, but this site has been a part of that journey, too. In the beginning, it stimulated my imagination; right now, it keeps me thinking about topics outside my narrow area of research, and it gives me a chance to teach others about some of the things I find most interesting about the universe.

So thank you to everyone who's been a part of this community along the way. You've helped me along the path I'm on today, and I'm sure there are plenty of others who can say the same.