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A-C	D-G	H-L	M-O	P-S	T-Z
Alfonso, John	Delaney, Mike	Harris, Jimbo	Marcus, Matthew	Parkhurst, Bill	Turley, James
Alsing, Paul	Davis, Doug	Highe, Albert	McCauliff, Sean	Patel, Chris/Chandresh	Van Nuland, Jim
Aziz, Karen	Dillon, Jamie	Huey, Alvin	Molenberg, Paul	Riise, Iver	Vavra, Maureen
Barber, Michael	Drelling, Bill/Gator Chaser	Hurtado, Tony	Moshen	Santangeli, Peter	Waldee, Stephen
de Barros, Jose Acacio	Edmondson, Leonard	Jardine, Bob	Muller, Randy	Scholz, Carter	Wagner Mark/Lumpy Darkness
Bartolini, Jim	Enns, Rob	Jones, Sarah E.	Norvelle, Rudy	Shelton, Robert	Welsh, John/Astroguy
Bowen, John	Feiereisen, Bill	Kanerva, Pentti	Olson, Chuck	Smith, Jane
Bean, Streamer/Eileen	Fragola, Joe	Kelly, Christopher	Ozer, Richard	Staples, Dave
Bracewell, Mark	French, Robert	LaFlamme, Greg		Ster, Jim
Cash, Ray	Gortatowsky, Jeff	Lee, Darrell		Sterngold, Paul
Czerwinski, Bob	Gottlieb, Steve	Lefebvre, Denis		Stone, Michelle
Cone, William/Bill		Linnolt, Mike
Crisp, Richard
Critchfield, Jay

John Alfonso

(August 2006)

OK, I'm a little late at this being on the digest but I suppose it's time to testify. I'm John Alfonso. I live in the Richmond hillside area of the East Bay which is, without a doubt, the most light polluted area in the inner solar system (I tried checking out Chi Cygni the other night and needed binoculars!). We have a very nice view from our deck encompassing the Iron Triangle and the Chevron refinery. We call it the Petroview.

At any rate, Astronomy has been part of my life since my early teens. I'm giving away my age here but I will tell you that I wrote and illustrated a high school paper describing the seasonal changes on Mars. The changes, of course, were due to Martian vegetation. I got an 'A'.

Girls, jazz and motorcycles then took precedent (and usually still do) until I met up with Doug Berger at Sather Gate on the Cal campus on the very first Astronomy Day back in the 70's. Through Doug I found the Chabot Telescope Makers workshop and with the guidance of Paul Zurakowski and Bob Schalk, et al, I ground and polished my first 6" f8 mirror just in time for Comet Kouhotek.

Eventually I built a 12 1/2" f/6 open-tube Dob with a Coulter mirror which I still use, albeit rarely. I also have an Intes-Micro 5.5 Mak-Newt which I need to find a decent mount for one of these days, instead of that POS old Meade Starfinder.

In terms of Astronomical highlight's I'd have to say the Shoemaker-Levy impact was the event of a lifetime. Also, seeing Comet Hayukataki while kayaking in Baja was unforgettable - it arced across the entire sky! But my personal favorite was showing Halley's comet to the late Dr. Benjamin Spock who was the guest of a neighbor at the time. He told me that his mother had taken him up on hillside to show him the comet when he was a child. When I asked him his impression of Halley as an adult he said "I'm equally as unimpressed"!

At any rate, TAC is a good thing thing. It keeps me in touch and motivates me. Richard Crisp and Joe Bob, I've never met either of you but I enjoy the images that you post and always look forward to that gratuitous Joe Bob fu.

Appreciate what you have people. This ain't friggin' Albania.

Best to all,

John

Paul Alsing

(August 2006)

I'm Paul Alsing, just barely 60 now, and I live in Poway, CA, which a San Diego suburb. I came here from Oakland in 1964 to go to college and never saw a good reason to return to the Bay area. I received my B.A. in Astronomy from San Diego State University in 1970.

I've had lots of telescopes, starting in 1956 with a 3-section cardboard-tube affair from Montgomery Wards that was about 12 ft long, 4" in diameter, and was pretty useless, but it did show the rings of Saturn and moons of Jupiter, complete with lots of kewl purple side-effects. I currently have a 25" Obsession with lots of bells and whistles. I am strictly a visual observer but enjoy DSO images, too.

I rarely observe from the city anymore, having been Royally spoiled by the views from our local SD desert month-in and month-out on new moon weekends, and I travel regularly to various star parties all over the West, having attended both Shingletown and CalStar for the last several years, along with, now and then, OSP, TSP, Enchanted Skies, and others. I have a very good knowledge of the sky and the things found there, I've been seriously observing since about 1966, when I was first able to use the University's telescopes on Mt. Laguna. It was supposed to be for a project but I got, shall we say, sidetracked by lots of other goodies in the sky that may as well have been mythological Greek Sirens...

I originally joined TAC because I wanted to read the observing reports of the experienced observers who post here, to help in my never-ending quest to add new and different objects to my ever-expanding and much-loved library (if you have ever seen it, it takes 2 men and a small boy to move around), but I have learned that the non-observation to observation ratio is quite large; no worries, though, I have a quick delete-button finger and mostly enjoy even the battery and laptop posts, and I've learned quite a bit about things that I previously knew nothing about, and besides, the archives have lots of good observational info tucked safely away for my leisurely perusal. I like to read OR's and create library items because I have never logged a thing in my life; I like to call it my Alt-azheimer's Method of Observing; no logs, so I get new friends every night ;>)

All is great on TAC, from my perspective, and remember, perspective is worth 50 points of I.Q. It is always wise to evaluate things from the other guys' point of view, right?

I hope to see you all at CalStar, I'm pretty easy to find at these star parties, so come on over and I'll probably be able to show you something that you have never seen before, unless you are Steve G. or equivalent, and then the roles are reversed.

Clear skies to all of us,

Paul A. (Young at Heart. Slightly Older in Other Places.)

Karen Aziz

(May 2007)

I live in the Sunnyside area of San Francisco (it's near Glen Park), and needless to say the observing situation here is rather bad. I try to keep track of universe/solar system events as I am able to. I bought a pair of binoculars to look at the famous comet back a couple of years ago (can't remember the name) but I've lost them. So I do naked eye stuff and visit close by observatories whenever something is going on. I'm pretty good at spotting Orion, Cassiopeia, and the Pliades. I'm thinking about getting another pair of binoculars before I even think about purchasing a telescope. One thing that turns me off about observing is when people start talking about building your own telescope. I have a fear of building things (having tried to do this several times and meeting with frustratingly slow disasterous outcomes), and if I ever even attempted such a thing I would need someone to hold my hand the entire time. Since that seems a little needy, if and when I decide to get a telescope, I'll probably just buy one.

I have loved astronomy since I was a little kid and read as much as I could understand. I'm also into science fiction. I used to pray to God every night to be captured by a flying saucer. Alas, it never happened (but there's still time).

Am I the only one who thinks that when they finish that supercollider thingy in Europe and start supercolliding that the entire planet will be sucked into a time warp from which we will never emerge? Could be fun, but it might make me a little nauseous.

Michael Barber

(August 2006)

OK... My name is Michael Barber, 59 years young. Haven't posted in a couple of years but I try to keep up. I was born in San Francisco and grew up in the East Bay. When in the Bay Area I spend most of my time in and around San Francisco, Castro Valley, and Walnut Creek. I still enjoy observing visually from my brother's backyard near Mt. Diablo. My present home is in Santa Barbara although I am in Thailand as I write this. I've been interested in astronomy since I was about 5 or 6 years old. My grandfather brought over a friend who built his own open tube 8" Newtonian on a simple alt az rocker (this was before they were called dobs, I believe) and I still remember my first peek though it. I was hooked. As I grew up I used my father's binocs for astronomy from our front porch and he would take me to Morrison Planetarium from time to time (It was a real treat for me to later speak there at the invitation of the SFAA Club on a couple of occasions before it was re-built). In my teens I bought a slightly used 6" f/8 Criterion as my first "serious" telescope. For $100 it was quite good. Equatorial mount, AC motor, two KE eyepieces. Wow.

After college and law school I got my number two "dream scope" - an orange tube C8 with Byers RA gear (my number one dream scope was 4" Unitron - but that would have to wait). Later, when I bought a house in SB I built a backyard observatory around a permanently mounted C11 and joined up with Richard Schwartz and others to form the "Santa Barbara Astronomy Group." The purpose of the group was to try to pinpoint an optical counterpart to a GRB (Gamma Ray Burster). This was in the early 1980's when the nature of these events was still very mysterious. A number of visual reports of a "flasher" were reported and it was thought that these one or two second transient events might have been optical signatures of GRBs. Working in cooperation with Bradley Schaefer of the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and professionals at NASA we would monitor known error boxes where Gamma Ray Bursts had been previously recorded by satellites that were actually intended to monitor nuclear test ban treaty violations on earth. None of us had "GOTO" scopes. One of my jobs was to visit the UC Astronomy department's library archives and take Polaroid shots of Palomar Sky Survey Prints showing the area we were to observe for a given period. We used these as finder charts (If you ever get a chance to see one of these full size prints of the Sagittarius arm of our galaxy, take it. It is practically a religious experience).

We would observe in pairs, separated by 10 miles or so to rule out any "local" events. We would visually find the "error box" often devoid of visible stars, by comparing the surrounding stars with the finder charts and then let a photometer monitor the error box all night long for any sudden increase in brightening. An event was discounted if not simultaneously detected by both observers. As it turned out, there were optical counter parts to GRBs but they were too faint for us to have detected with the equipment we had at the time. So while we never found a GRB, we did detect transient events and eventually proved that the visual sightings of "flashers" that had been reported were actually momentary glints of sunlight off satellites. Our work was eventually published in the Astrophysical Journal (The Perseus Flasher and Satellite Glints, The Astrophysical Journal, 320:398-404, 1987 September 1).

One of the upshots of all of this: We all had day jobs and tried to observe all night as well. Our scopes were not particularly expensive or sophisticated and tracking an error box all night long with arc minute accuracy was not so easy. We had to periodically confirm the FOV visually and adjust the scope as the night went on. Along came Alan Holmes who suggested that a CCD might be used to make a tracking device. This was around 1986. A year or two was spent testing several such devices designed by him at my observatory. These were the ST-1, ST-2 and ST-3. By the time the ST-4 was built, it was good enough to track not only to arc minute accuracy, but to arc second accuracy, so we changed the name of our group to Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) and offered this tracker commercially. I've been mainly involved in imaging since then, but I still do love visual observing. There is no substitute for seeing the photons with one's own eye (albeit fewer of them <g>).

I also love visual observing with older scopes . I finally acquired my "first" dream scope - a Unitron 4" Photo equatorial with a beautiful weight driven brass mechanical clock drive from the early 50's: http://www.sbig.com/mb/unitron/2006-03-02/Unitron_Catalog0024.JPG

Also have a 75mm equatorial Unitron and some smaller ones, including a pre-Unitron "United Scientific" refractor. My latest addition a few years back is a wonderful little Goerz equatorial refractor made at the Goerz factory in Berlin by Zeiss-Ikon circa 1920's. http://www.sbig.com/mb/goerz/

The views through it are excellent. And as much as I enjoy looking through big scopes, too, some of my favorite views are still through binoculars... well... ok...through big binoculars.

OK that's my story. Thanks for the opportunity to tell it.

Michael Barber

Jose Acacio de Barros

(July 2007)

Hi,

I joined this mailing list at the beginning of the year, and I finally decided to introduce myself.

My interest in Astronomy started since I was a child growing up in Brazil. Then, a very bad telescope, a gift from my parents, discouraged me from observing the sky. Since then, I pretty much stayed away from Astronomy (except for my marginally related research on Quantum Cosmology or for GR classes at the National Observatory in Rio de Janeiro). This all changed when, at the beginning of this year, I bought a Meade ETX125 for $35 (yep, thirty five dollars; it was broken, btw) at the closing out sale of Stanford Shopping Center's Discovery shop. After fixing its azimuth drive, I started observing simple things from my porch-limited sky at Stanford West Apartments, and boy am I having fun. So, I am hooked on spending time at night observing the skies; really pretty stuff. My only constraint: my 18 month old son, who prevents me from going to MB and spend some quality time with the stars. But I am still hopeful to join people at MB in the near future.

Acacio de Barros

Jim Bartolini
(NightGems)

(August 2006)

NightGems chiming in:

I'm Jim Bartolini, aka Mr. Nightgems, Shadow, etc.

I am a 62-year-young Civil Service retiree living in the Monterey Bay area. I was a Computer Specialist for over 37 years, beginning in the U. S. Air Force where I received my primary training in Computer Science, then a couple of years in the private sector, and finally the last 32 years at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. I retired in January 2003.

By 1991 our two daughters had finally matured and had moved out of the house. Although my wife and I shared (and still share) a number of mutual interests, she often found herself occupied with her own activities. I therefore began looking for ways to occupy some of my newly-acquired free time. During the previous fifteen years I had done a fair amount of landscape photography (mostly b&w with some infrared), including developing my own film and creating my own prints. However, with the pending closure of Fort Ord and the resultant elimination of that installation’s photo lab, my interest in photography began to wane. Looking around for some other avocation, I decided that I would get back into amateur astronomy, recalling that I had first developed an interest as a teenager but had not gotten very far into it before “life happened”.

Having done a fair amount of research into the nature and variety of astronomical instruments currently available, I decided to start with a 10” Coulter Odyssey. I drove down to the Coulter facility in Idylwild to inspect the telescopes first-hand, liked what I saw, and gave them a deposit; when it was ready for delivery two months later I went down again and picked it up (for some reason I felt distrusting of commercial shippers when it involved optical glass components). Upon my return I checked a map of the Monterey Bay vicinity and decided that Fremont Peak might be a nice place to try some observing, not knowing at the time that this was one of the major viewing locations in this part of California. After having met and become acquainted with some of the regular observers there, I joined the San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) and soon after that -- when it was formed -- The Astronomy Connection (TAC). [Well, you don’t actually “join” TAC -- you merely show up at their star parties and social events and get involved with a fantastic group of people.]

Less than a year had passed before I decided that I needed more variety in my equipment, so I acquired an 80mm Celestron refractor in the spring of 1992. With these two telescopes at my disposal I quickly became comfortably acquainted with the night skies and, in due course, contracted an extremely nasty case of aperture fever which compelled me to spend over a year of design/re-design/re-re-design work and nearly two months of construction, resulting in early 1997 in a homemade 16” Dob. This being my first experience at building a truss-tube Dob, I ended up overbuilding it considerably; consequently I redesigned and rebuilt it two years later, resulting in a weight reduction of about 80 pounds. During this period I also rebuilt my 10” Coulter Odyssey a number of times, refining it with each modification. I soon came to realize that designing and building/modifying telescopes (as well as other peripheral equipment) afforded me as much satisfaction and enjoyment as using them.

With the purchase of an equatorial platform in the summer of 2002 (which I ultimately rebuilt to my finicky specifications in 2005 – it seems I can’t leave anything alone), I’m now able to track the heavens with either of my Dobsonians as easily as with my equatorial refractor.

My primary interests are deep-sky observing and Amateur Telescope Making (ATM). Utilizing MegaStar, The_Sky and Earth-Centered Universe (in conjunction with my own custom-written software application) on my laptop, I record all of my observations in the field as they occur. Besides deep-sky observing and ATM, I frequently attend SJAA’s public star parties at Houge Park in San Jose; I also participate in a number of school star parties in the San Jose area and in the Monterey Bay area (mostly the latter, considering the price of gas these days).

In addition to my involvement in TAC and SJAA (where I have served as a Board Member), I’m heavily active in the MIRA Observers Group (MOG), involving myself in their public and school star parties (many of which I have organized and scheduled), periodic dark-sky observing sessions and an ATM workshop. I’m also a (paying) member of the International Dark-Sky Association and Lowell Observatory.

Clear skies!

John Bowen

(May 2007)

Hi,

I'm new to the list and thought I should introduce myself.

I've been lurking for some time and when the topic of Canon IS binoculars came up thought I'd contribute. That's when I found out I needed to be authorized for the list server, not just a TAC member, to post. Well, now that I'm authorized the Canon conversation is almost over and my two cents about my 10x30s and 15x50 has mostly been said by you all.

So, what is left is to let you know who I am...

I'm in San Jose, have been for 25 years. I've always been an unaided visual observer but work, other hobbies and mostly family got in the way of doing more. My wife pushed me a bit with the gift of a ST 90 on my 50th.That eventually led to a NexStar11 and now an Obsession 18, and a SV90T.

I've been monitoring TAC, lurking, for a long time, probably found it on the web years ago. I'd say, I probably read the mailing list almost every day, and now I will be reminded almost every hour, or more...

My observing is in the yard, or mostly at Coe and San Antonio. I like San Antonio for the dark skies, quiet, and relatively simple, if a bit longer drive. I've also been to Fremont Peak many times. I've been to SSP the last few years, now am signed up for Lassen, have been up to OSP several times and CalStar the last 4 years.

I like dark skies, mostly focus on DSOs but of course enjoy all theobjects....

John

Streamer Bean
(Eileen)

(August 2006)

Hi All -

Good time for re-introductions and introductions (hmmm...maybe that was a little oxymoronic).

Ummm...can't go around asking a lady what her age is unless you're ready for weird look :-) . I ain't 40 yet ... there I said it.

Anyways...I have been interested in Astronomy since a fellow co-worker brought back a C-8 from Simi Valley where he was visiting family in 1996. Started with a little Meade ETX, then decided to go crazy over the next few years, and tried refractors, schmidt-cassegrains, and now have settled down with my Starmaster 12.5" (I have had mounts galore over the years).

I live in San Francisco, and do much of my observing in the light polluted city. I plan my vacation time around the two big star parties of year (at least for me) Shingletown Star Party and CalStar. I am more of a casual visual observer and really like the company of my fellow TACos whilst I observe.

Eileen

Mark Bracewell

(August 2006)

Hi, I'm Mark Bracewell, and I'm an Airy disc-o-holic. I used to be a fairly regular noisemaker on this list, but since my company went bang-whimper I seem to have _less_ time than before (insert poignant violin here). What's up with that? Probably my fault for spending time on the list instead of working anyhow. :) Work for me for the last 12 years has been internet software in various shapes and sizes. I do asp.net _and_ ruby on rails. Imagine that. Hire me :)

I got interested in astronomy (about 3 years ago) while reading a bunch of historical novels about the early 19th century British Navy (Patrick O'Brien) in which the hero, a ship's captain, spent some of his time ashore polishing mirrors and writing papers for the Royal Society on nutation. About this time, my father offered to let me act as custodian for a ca. 1930 4" f/15 brass astronomical refractor (my dad is a radio astronomer, so of course I a) had no interest in it and b) had never *seen* anything besides print-outs of solar radiation etc.).

The old scope got me going, and turned out to be a worthy, venerable instrument - http://wgg.com/scope/bruno.html

Then luck brought me to TAC, TAC introduced me to some of the finest people I have met (and some of the craziest - a plus). A TACo sold me a sweet little Nighthawk scope which I love. I met some of the best ATM's around and that inspired me to build a scope as well which won a prize in a contest (virtually all credit goes to those who came before me, Albert, George, others numerous) - http://wgg.com/scope/dipper.html

I'm a fan of our 2 larger gas planets and double stars, but I'll look at anything. I'm _not_ the guy at SSP 2005 who shouted "put out that stinking cigar!" from the top of his ladder, but there _is_ a connection. I apologize in advance. I do _try_ to behave. I'll be at calstar this year (yay) with my 13 year old son (who is interested, much to the delight of his grandfather and father).

Cheers,

Mark

Ray Cash

(August 2006)

Fifty-four now; grew up, like many of you, during the ICBM race (marketed in this country as the "space race"). In Junior High, I remember waiting anxiously every month for the latest Sky and Telescope to hit the library. I had a small 3" reflector at the time, and belonged to the astronomy club at school. The first real telescope I gazed through was the school's 7" Questar: Saturn's rings were edge-on; her cloud bands were exquisite! I remember seeing comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965 while I delivered newspapers in the early morning. This was in San Diego, where I grew up. A year later--also while delivering newspapers--I was lucky to witness the 1966 Leonid meteor storm around 5AM to dawn. To say that was spectacular would be an understatement!

I took a couple of astronomy classes in college, but my primary education is in the humanities.

Jump to 1987, after the whole comet Halley frenzy. . . Bought my first scope: a Meade 2045 (4" SCT). Aperture fever soon struck: bought Jim Shields first scope, a Meade DS-10 (10" GEM), and soon found Dobson, who guided me through a 10" f/8.3 Dobsonian, and a 6" solar scope. I learned to star-hop on the streets of San Francisco, and at public star parties on Mt. Tamalpais, often sharing my newbie excitement with the public. I observed the Messiers and most of the bright NGC's (Burnham's being my guide) from Mt. Tam. By 1989 I bought a 17.5 Coulter from an SFAA member and re-made it into a knock-down-able truss. I still use this scope as my main light-bucket, but it has been through several remodels. Somewhere around this time I made--and still use--an equatorial platform. . . For the next eight years my primary haunt was Mt. Tamalpais, just 45 minutes away, and so much darker than the city. The state authorities became increasingly less friendly, so I began migrating to other sites: mainly Fremont Peak and Fiddletown.

I ordered a 13" mirror from Coulter in 1988, planning to make an airline-transportable scope out of it. I wanted to take it to dark Hawaiian skies and "The Big One"--the total eclipse of 1991. Made the scope, but waited 33 months for the mirror--not in time for the eclipse! Oh well: the universe (specifically southern hemisphere skies) waited for me. I have since taken this scope to Hawaii twice, and just last year to Chile, truly a high-water mark for observing! Steve Gottlieb has borrowed this scope for a couple of his excursions to Costa Rica.

For a few years, I dabbled in astro-photography, both film and CCD. I had a great time! But, alas, I concluded I have neither the income nor the time to pursue this to the degree I would like. (I actually knew this going in--thought I would do this for a couple of years--and then return to observing. No regrets.)

I have a bunch of astronomy related websites:

My deep-sky page: http://members.aol.com/anonglxy/deepsky.htm

My astro-photo page: http://pages.sbcglobal.net/raycash/astroimgs.htm

How to build a Dob page: http://members.aol.com/sfsidewalk/cdobplans.htm (A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a Popular Mechanics writer that used these plans, and wrote an upcoming article for her 'zine. . .)

My Vanity Page: http://members.aol.com/raycash/index.htm is my personal introductory page, but it is a bit dated (I no longer skydive, for example).

I am a somewhat 'conflicted' amateur: Though I love astronomy, and love to share my knowledge of it, as well as related pursuits like telescope making, there is much about this hobby that disturbs me: I am an astro-grouch! From about '94 to '97, for example, I hid under the screen name "AnonGlxy" on AOL's astronomy forum, berating folks for their materialism, consumerism, their silly arguments about "refractor vs. reflector," and their general lack of knowledge about astronomy, but expertise in astro-consumer goods. . . I tried to be a gadfly; maybe I was (and am) just an ass.

Nor do I like astro-clubs. I did enough volunteer duty with SFAA (VP, board member) to be 'clubbed' to death with the politics associated with the lonely power-trippers that clubs seem to attract.

Yes, call me anti-social; as I do not really enjoy large gatherings of (fellow) astro-geeks, either. I always seem to set-up around some loud, obnoxious, social misfit better suited for a dive bar, in my opinion: The solitude--and grounding--I seek under a canopy of quiet stars is ruined!

Ray Cash

San Francisco

Bob Czerwinski

(September 2006)

Hi, Everybody!

I hope you'll pardon the late introduction, as well as the length of this posting. (Yes, I'm waaaaay behind in my TAC reading!)

My name is Bob Czerwinski, I'm 53-years-young, and currently reside in the small town of Kenilworth, England, in the West Midlands. Yep, a bonafide Bay Area-TACo who just happens to be sitting 5,000-miles east of the Bay Area right now: N 52d 20m 24s, W 1d 34m 32s, give or take a few feet. I'm a Systems Engineer with a Silicon Valley-headquartered wireless communication company. Business has me traveling most of the time; right now I'm in Moscow, Russia, and I'll head to Vladivostok tomorrow. (The posting of this note will have to wait until I'm back in the UK.)

I grew up in Pacifica. Until making this recent move to the UK, I'd been living in the South Bay for over two decades.

Like many others of my generation, I was fascinated and captivated by the Space Race of the early 60's, and quickly found myself caught up in the excitement of space exploration. I vividly recall those early Ranger images of the surface of the Moon, along with those captured during the Mariner flyby's of Venus and Mars. But it was a 1961 summertime view through a telescope owned by a Linda Mar (Pacifica) neighbor that really grabbed my attention. That very kind gent had invited my parents over for a look-see, and Yours Truly just happened to tag along. Okay, okay -- I *begged* to go! As the song goes, "Just one look ..." and I was hooked on observational astronomy, receiving my first telescope, the ubiquitous Tasco 60mm refractor, as a 1961 Christmas present.

I'm strictly into observational astronomy. For the past 45-years I've either had a telescope with me or have had relatively easy access to one. I'm a simple science generalist, a bit of an info-junkie and a certified astro-junkie.

I really learned to observe at Fremont Peak. My first astro-trip to the fabled location was in 1978, and most of the time I observed alone. (Silly me!) Over the years the experienced Deep-Sky observers who frequented the place taught me the visual tricks-of-the-trade, such as how to protect/use my night vision, when/how to use averted vision, when/how to let photons "build up" an image on the retina of a non-moving eye, when/how to use high-powered eyepieces, etc. The list goes on and on. When not at the Peak, most of my weeknight observing was done at the end of a dead-end dirt road in the Santa Cruz mountains near Mt. Loma Prieta, while many weekends would find me at Henry Coe or Grant Ranch.

I didn't learn about TAC until late 1998 when a flyer at Orion in Cupertino caught my eye. Up until then, I'd just call the SJAA's "calendar hotline" for info on weekend star-parties. I had no idea that amateurs were getting together on the fly to observe the nighttime skies; TAC really changed my observing life. My first TAC outing was a night up at Montebello when I ran into Mark Wagner. Prior to that venture, the last time I'd seen Mark was probably sometime back in the 80's at Fremont Peak.

My 12.5" Starmaster is currently making its way across the Pond, with its big brother, an 18" Starmaster, safely tucked away in a San Jose storage facility. In the UK I've had the good fortune to be able to do a fair amount of backyard observing at the residences of observers living in and around Birmingham and Coventry, but just can't wait to have one of my own 'scopes with me again. Yes, most of my UK observing has been through sucker-holes, but ANY observing beats NO observing. Besides, if the Herschels could live with the English weather, then who am I to complain.

Speaking of the Herschels, along with a number of other TACos, I've successfully navigated through the Herschel 2500 list (yes, I know the actual tally is substantially less than 2500 objects, even if The List indicates something over 2500), simultaneously hunting for other objects - mostly galaxies - in their general vicinity, and had spent most of the past few years hunting down members of selected galaxy clusters. I've also got a thing for comets and asteroids. From the West Midlands I may be relegated to the backyard viewing of the sky's brighter objects - and may even join the ranks of you Lunatics - but I'll have to admit that I still get a thrill every time I look through an eyepiece ... or just glance up at a dark sky. Two of my most exciting astro-experiences were n*ked-eye ones: Comet Bennett in the spring of 1970, with Comet West making an equally lasting impression six-years later.

By the way, I really enjoy reading your Observing Reports, allowing me to observe the skies in vicarious fashion. I love it when a newbie describes his/her first view of a showcase item, or a veteran describes the effort he/she went through to track down an object at the edge of visual detection. ORs - and the Astro Animal's observing challenges - are a great motivator. Keep 'em coming!

Even if I'm 5,000-miles from the Bay Area for a bit, I'll be lurking on TAC.

See you all at the eyepiece!

...Bob...

William Cone
(Bill)

(August 2006)

I never did introduce myself late last year when I first started posting to this list. I just jumped in. How rude!

Hi, My name is Bill Cone, and I'll be 51 years old tomorrow. I live in Moraga, and have been observing from my backyard since last September. I've had periodic bouts with astronomy since I was in college in the mid 70's, and my dorm roommate built his own 6", f4, reflector. I was impressed and intrigued enough to take some astronomy courses, and look through the college scopes on a few occasions. In the mid-90's I picked up a 60mm refractor and started observing from my flat in the Haight Ashbury. Perhaps it was that old guy (Dobson himself) that stood on the corner of Haight and Waller with the orange sonotube reflector every month inviting folks to come "have a look at the moon.", that got me going. I gave the 60mm to my mother-in-law, and purchased a University Optics 80mm refractor "kit" just in time to see the scars of Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter. I still have that scope. A fellow at work learned of my interest and loaned me his 10" Coulter Odyssey that he wasn't using. I hauled that around for about a year or so. Made it up to Fremont Peak and Diablo a few times. Even went to RTMC around '95. When he moved to Nevada, the scope went with him, so I brought a Starsplitter compact 10" reflector that I had seen demo'ed at RTMC. That is the scope I'm using now. Observing tapered off around 1998 or so. My work was completely taking over my life at that point, and I gave up many personal activities around then.

I got back into it late last summer on a backpacking/painting trip with my 80mm. I started poking around online and this list showed up somewhere. I read it for awhile, then started posting OR's from my light polluted backyard. I was basically practicing.... how to read a chart better, how to communicate what it was I was looking at, etc. I found the people on this list to be very supportive and helpful, recommending other objects to look for. I started reading the archived OR's. Astro-Concentration was perhaps born out of this past season of cloudy nights and rainy days. I joined that list and played it every chance I could, and had a blast. The best morning work avoidance ever! I went to Shingletown for my first _really dark_ skies in years, finally meeting some of the folks I'd come to know online as well. I enjoyed the people and the observing. A whole new ballgame under those skies...

A few weeks ago, I attended the Astronomy class Ray Cash posted about that is held up by the Sierra Buttes. Among other things, I had the pleasure of meeting and observing with Steve Gottlieb.

As far as what I observe, I'm still finishing up my Messiers. There's still some stragglers in the late summer and fall skies to go. (not going to count 'em right now) Concurrently, I've been tracking down plenty of ngc objects this past year. No big project or plan yet...just learn the sky, try to find some new objects every time out, study more about what it is I'm looking at, share it with family and friends.

I've learned a lot about observing in the past year, some from my own efforts, and plenty from people on this list. I still have much, much more to learn. I think one of things that kept me from growing in this hobby earlier was the lack of a community. TAC has helped me a lot in that regard.

Salmon's going on the grill soon.

Full moon, glass of wine, etc...

Have a good evening folks!

-B.

Richard Crisp

(August 2006)

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/Crisp_Story.htm

I have had a mild interest in astronomy for as long as I can remember: I was starting school when project Mercury was going: remember getting up early in the morning to watch the launches on TV. I also remember watching Neil Armstrong make his historic first steps on the moon etc.

I never had a telescope until late November of 2000, when I decided I wanted to buy a telescope and went to Scope City and let Sam load me up with a 10" LX200 and a bunch of eyepieces and a T-Ring to mount my Pentax 35mm camera body.

I quickly discovered I couldn't see much from the backyard so tried the 35mm camera and had some limited success photographing the moon and the sun through a solar filter.

I got rid of the LX200 not long after: took it back to Scope City and exchanged it for a C14.

But before I did that I bought an ST7E ccd camera and a filter wheel a bit later. That was in December of 2000.

I used the C14 on the CI700 mount for about two months and concluded I needed a better mount. So I put an ad on Astromart seeking an AP1200GTO mount. I didn't expect to find one but one did turn up within 24 hours and by 48 hours of posting I had it in my hands.

I fiddled around with the ST7E for the next year or so and shot a few very beginner-ish images. Here are some of those first ones:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m57_from_c14.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m16_from_c14.htm

and I tried my first emission line work that first year using Lumicon visual OIII, Hbeta and an "halpha" longpass (really designed for film)

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m16_c14_emission.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ic1795_from_FSQ_Emission.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ic1795_from_fsq.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m81_from_tv101.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m82_from_Cm1400.htm

all those images were taken my first year of owning a telescope.

I didn't do the visual thing very long but did do a fair amount of it the first year.

Being a tekkie type (electrical engineer with an IC design background) I tended to gravitate to the imaging side of the hobby and have been there ever since.

I got an AP155EDF later in 2001 and an FSQ106 too. But it was 2002 before I got my first serious camera, an FLI Dream Machine I bought from Benoit Schillings.

I had a lot of fun with that and actually took a decent image or two once in a while.

as I recall theses are the two first light images from it

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m81_fli_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/comet_page.htm

Then I got a larger filter wheel to accomodate the larger sensor and started shooting color again

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m82_FLI_spiral_galaxy_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m45_reflection_nebula_page.htm

and even bought a "real" Halpha filter and that was really exciting:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/M16_fli_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m8_lagoon_nebula_color_page.htm

I had my first image published that year:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ced214_emission_nebula_page.htm

I even continued to image using the ST7 for some reason and shot this

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m16_eagle_nebula_st7_ha_page.htm

Then I got an ST10XE camera and used it for the first time the day the Columbia went down in pieces. Phil Terzian, James Turley and Rob Griffin joined me that night at Fremont Peak and it was really cold. We had ice sheets on our tables by morning:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ST10XE_first_light_page.htm

I quickly tired of the low speed of the '10xe and sold it and got an ST10XME and saw a bit of speedup.

Later in the summer of 2003 I finally was able to use my then recently acquired {SII] and [OIII] filters and could finally attempt to image my original inspiration for the imaging side of the hobby:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m16_in_sulfur_ii_page.htm

Then I shot a few more images using that filter combo:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ngc6992_network_nebula_in_ha_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ngc6888_crescent_nebula_emission_line_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/pickering_page.htm

and even had my first image chosen for an APOD:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030908.html

Later in the year I began experimenting with wider fields of view

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ngc2244_rosette_cfht_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ngc7k_ic5070_ic5068_page.htm

and began experimenting with other filters such as [NII]

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/crab_spectrum_page.htm

I also experimented with some mosaics

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ic1396_s2hao3_st10_page.htm

which was selected as an APOD

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040805.html

A later shot of the same object was selected as the cover photo for a nice book on star formation"

http://space.mit.edu/home/nss/

I also wrote an article for S&T on the narrowband emission line tricolor method I had been developing (August 2005).

Being an engineer I also like to build things and have made a lot of things for my imaging:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/Projects_page.htm

and recently have been building telescopes which allowed me to take more images at closer view

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/m16_mk1sn2_cm10_geg_s2hao3_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/hh555_mk1sn2_cm10_geg_CSs2hao3_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/vdb142_mk1sn2_cm10_geg_cs_s2hao3_page.htm

But I also like widefield views which I do with medium format camera lenses

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ced214_ngc7822_cm10_150mm_s2hao3_page.htm

which resulted in another APOD

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ic1805_200mm_6303_s2hao3_page.htm

And now I am just happy shooting odd things here and there:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ngc2174_ap180_6303_ads2hao3_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ic443_ap180_6303_adha_page.htm

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/b33_ap180_6303_adha_page.htm

and put together a narrowband "survey"

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/Tricolor_page.htm

I turned 52 this year and work in the semiconductor biz, now for a packaging intellectual property company.

I have a lovely wife of 26 years that is very supportive of my indulgences.

We've had a few parties at our home and here are photos from the first one, which was a surprise party for my 50th birthday. Well I knew about the party but didn't know about all that was to occur there:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/tac_party_april2004.htm

that's about it I guess

rdc

Jay Critchfield

(August 2006)

I did this not too long ago but I need a break at work so here goes. My name is Jay Critchfield and I'm 42. I'm probably one of the few that hasn't had any interest in astronomy at all until this year. My father worked at Foothill College for over 40 years and I can remember as a kid being dragged up to the observatory to see lunar eclipses and shows at the planetarium. While I found it somewhat interesting it didn't grab me. My wife Jane was always interested in stargazing and some 11 or 12 years ago I bought her and Orion 114mm newt that came with an EQ2 mount. I found the views of Saturn, Jupiter and the moon to be great but the idea of standing out in the cold late at night looking at blurry objects because the scope shook so badly to be unappealing at best. I don't believe we ever properly polar aligned that scope adding to my frustration of keeping an object in the FOV.

About 9 years ago I discovered people were building large aperture scopes called dobs. As someone else said "building things" defines me. Having a background from machining to home construction (the later being my bread and butter for the last 20 years) along with a garage full of tools I jumped at the idea of building a scope. Woodworking, machining and welding; what could be better! I've already posted the story about why it didn't get finished until a month ago so I'll not repeat it here. Having said that I'm currently building another scope for my new optics that will be lighter and better balanced. The first scope was built for a thicker mirror and I didn't take into consideration I would want to mount a 16oz. finder scope at the end of an f/6 scope. Opps. So if anyone is interested I will have a recently finished truss tube scope for a 12.5" mirror for sale soon. It would probably be perfect as an f/5.

Last December I decided to get my wife a C8-ASGT. Something larger on a goto mount that was still portable. I like gadgets so I figured at the very least it would motivate me to get out and do something that my wife enjoyed. Learning to use this scope and being able to actually find and see things has peaked my interest in learning the sky. Goto is great for being able to view a lot of objects in a short time but it doesn't help you learn the sky. That got me to finish the dob. Now I need to learn how to star hop.

We've been to 2 SJAA events but both were a bust due to weather. I think we're jinxed. I'm looking forward to getting out to some of the dark sites and meeting some of you when time permits.

Doug Davis

(August 2006)

Well, since so many people are posting intro's I might as well add mine.

My name is Doug Davis, I'm a 34 year old architect specializing in biotechnology / R&D facilities residing in Hercules, CA which is about 20 miles NE of San Francisco in the East Bay. Outside of astronomy I enjoy really anything related to the natural sciences as well as travel, weightlifting, home improvement, etc.

I first got into this hobby at the age of 6 when my grandfather gave me a vintage 60 mm Tasco refractor. At the time, I was reading about these folks called astronomers who pointed their telescopes at the stars, so late one evening I took my little Tasco and pointed it at a very bright star over the southern horizon. It happened to be the planet Jupiter, and the fact that a mere 6 year old could see a small disk and the Galilean satellites hooked me for life! Pleading with my parents got me a 4.25" Astroscan a couple years later, which I replaced in early college with a 10" Coulter Oddysey. After completely rebuilding and "de-coulterizing" that instrument with a reground mirror and a completely new optical train, I came across my current telescope, a 17.5" Discovery Truss Tube, at the 2001 RTMC (it was hauled up as that company's demonstrator) which has been my main telescope ever since.

I have a variety of interests and "special projects" which are all over themap, from tracking the faint outer satellites around Jupiter to chasing after PK planetaries. I really don't have a specific specialty or concentration. I'm pretty much a visual observer; I do occasionally log items (having kept detailed journals as a kid) but most of the time I'm simply a voyeur. I'm a big believer in star hopping, and although my copy of The Sky is fired up on my laptop when I go out, my telescope has yet to have any digital encoders or other drive mechanisms attached to it.

I first met Mark Wagner and the TAC crew when I moved to the Bay Area nearly a decade ago, and was quickly introduced to the organization as well as the Fremont Peak, Dinosaur Point and Henry Coe sites . I even got "suckered" in to teaching a few observing courses for the SJAA back in 2000. Alas, affordable housing (OK expensive housing but at least you have something to show for it) and some better career choices compelled me to move to the East Bay five years or so ago so I don't spend a lot of time at my old South Bay haunts any more. I now nearly exclusively observe out at the Lake Sonoma site (dark sky and relatively flat horizons), with an occasional jaunts every couple of years to Cal Star. In writing this I think it's about high time I re-expand my horizons so maybe this will change.

I don't subscribe to the TAC mailing list simply because of the shear volume of e-mail traffic but I do scan it a couple/three times a week and make the occasional post.

My original 60mm Tasco still stands by my bedroom window, and everyone once in a while, I'll take a peek at Jupiter through it.

Clear Skies.

Doug D.

Mike Delaney

(August 2006)

I guess I'll join in the fun and do my part to pull the median age down a bit...

My name's Mike Delaney, and I'm a 29 year old systems administator. I'm origionally from the St. Louis area, and currently live in Santa Clara. I've been interested in astronomy ever since I was a little kid, but until recently the only real observing I'd done was mooching views through my alma mater's 16" while my roomate was writing up his logs for his astronomy class. I wanted to take the class myself, but the school, in its infinite wisdom, had decided that astronomy couldn't be counted a science elective for us engineering majors.

Like Turley, I saw one of those ETX 90s in a Discovery Channel store last spring and decided I wanted one, but after a little bit of research I decided to trade the electronics for a little more apeture and bought an Orion 5" Mak-Cass instead. The first two objects I saw through it last April were M42 and Saturn, and I was hooked. Due to the trees and bright grounds lighting in my apartment complex, I rather quickly started searching on the web for info about local observing sites, which led me to TAC and the SJAA.

Despite having spent plenty of time camping and backpacking as a kid, on my first few outings to Coyote last year I was almost overwhelmed by how many more stars were visible compared to Santa Clara. Fortunately, George Feliz, Rich Neuschafer, and their friend Milt were kind enough to give me a few pointers.

Since I quickly found myself hooked on DSOs, over the winter I decided to move up in apeture and bought the XT10 which has become my main scope. Hopefully that'll keep the apeture fever at bay for awhile. (Y'all can stop sniggering any time now...)

I spent most of last year observing from Coyote, though this year I've started going up the hills to Coe and Montebello as well. I also get out to the public nights at Houge now and again. So far I've attended two multi-day star parties: last year's CalStar and this year's SSP, and I'm rubbing my hands with anticipation for CalStar '06 next month.