Observational Astronomy

Software Engineer and Space Geek. Interests - Kendo, Reading, Juggling, Education, Computer Strategy Games, Writing

BS and MS in Information Systems. Currently Attending University of North Dakota MS in Space Studies - http://www.space.edu

SEEING THE MOON... in a whole new light!

Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and a learn-as-I go type of person.  Fascinated with human space flight, the shuttle and the universe in general.

I really am. What's the average age on this site? I'm 16. I first got into space when I heard about STS-125 in May, so it's been almost a year now! Almost. Anyhow, I discovered my love for space and it's awesome and EVERYTHING. Hi!

Identity

First Name: 

Allison

Education: 

Currently a sophomore in high schoool.

Occupation: 

I work at a chocolate store in my spare time...?

Member of SD Space and co-organizer of the SpaceUp unconference.

Identity

Last Name: 

O'Connor

First Name: 

Edward

Occupation: 

Software Engineer

Website: 

http://edward.oconnor.cx/

I am an amateur astronomer who has been looking at the night sky for the past decade.

Identity

Website: 

The Way I See It

In a nutshell I'm here because I'm a life long space enthusiast and hope to educate not only myself, but our kids as well (and hopefully other kids along the way!).  Social media is on the forefront of this education - I find it fascinating. 

Currently, I'm an at home mom to 2 great kids and a pilot husband.  We live in Maine.

Identity

Last Name: 

Julie

First Name: 

Sudderth

Education: 

Boston University BS Mass Comm

Just to let everyone know my guide to buying a telescope is online at:

http://spacetweepsociety.org/page/buying-right-telescope-rough-guide

It's a general overview of what is available, what to consider and what you can do. A lot of folks have asked me about this since I got my own telescope, and attended a talk on the topic by Sky at Night magazine's Reviews editor Paul Money.

This is a basic guide to help you chose the right telescope for you. This is not an exhaustive list, but a collection of things I've learned over time.

WHAT TYPE OF TELESCOPE:

This is a summary of the 4 main types of telescope and their + and - points. It's mostly practicality advice and I have tried to keep my opinion out of it.

Newtonian Reflector:

+ Large aperture (more light in) is relatively cheap

+ No lenses so no colour fringe issues

+ Large range of sizes

+ Very little dew build up as there's no lens in the front of the tube

--

- Large aperture scopes are long too and can be cumbersome

- Bigger scopes are quite heavy due to the large lower mirror

- Needs a decent mount as length needs balance

- Eyepiece on side can be awkward to get to as it's at the front.

- Can catch on tripod at near-vertical orientations due to length

- For optimal performance the mirrors need collimating (aligning). This is straightforward but isn't usually required on other scopes

Amateur Astronomer, Amateur Meteorologist, Scout Leader and chairman of Croydon Astronomical Society

Identity

Last Name: 

Harper

First Name: 

Paul

Website: 

Croydon Astronomical Society

i like engineering in general, and i am facinated by all things mechanical or basically anything that moves or has moving parts, including clouds which i hate because then i cant see the stars at night, been star gazing since i can remember which is partly where my love of space comes from.

Identity

First Name: 

Vanessa

Education: 

Ballymena Academy

Occupation: 

student

Amateur astronomer and space flight enthusiest. Volunteer for the NRAO Navigator program. Member of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers.

Identity

Last Name: 

Gibson

First Name: 

Mark

Occupation: 

President, Marlind Database Designs

Website: 

Business Productivity Logistics

On Saturday September 19th, a major event in the promotion for Free Software (Free as in "Free Speech" and not as in "Free Beer") took place in more than 500 cities around the World: the Software Freedom Day.

Free Software has become a very important tool for making and teaching Science. Client computer software such as Stellarium, Celestia, KStars and Xephem (for Sky simulators), VLC (for video broadcasting), QAstroCam, wxAstroCapture (for astrophotography) and Fldigi (for Amateur Radio Digital Signaling) are among the best in their own categories.

As an Amateur Astronomers Society that makes an extensive use of this kind of tools, ANASA  teamed up with Nicaraguan SFD's organizers and readied a workshop for Stellarium. Also we installed a promotional stand. People gathered around, showing real interest in Space and our activities. Several copies for Stellarium were uploaded to their memory sticks.

 

Crescent Moon as seen from Nicaragua

100 Hours of Astronomy, on April 2009, was the biggest star party ever held! Amateurs and Pros took the streets for 4 days and nights, delivering the wonders of the Universe to everyone!

Beauty Without Borders: An evening with Venus

Amateur Astronomers gathering around the World with one mission: show the beauty of the Crescent Venus next to the Crescent Moon!

The time is coming for addressing the public and invite them to participate with some citizen science practice!

The Great World Wide Star Count opens an opportunity to seek out for schools, the neighborhood and your family and take them outside their houses and teach them how to identify the Sky, Constellations and brightest stars, while helping to determine how much pollution is in the air!

Come on! Join Windows to the Universe and start counting stars!

Space, the final frontier. No matter how many times I gaze up toward the starry night, I always find it amazing, mesmerizing, fantastic!

The wonders of Space and the secrets it keeps have haunted me since I was a 5 years old kid. Living in a Nation in a period of time where science and public information was restricted, I've desperately looked for information where possible: newspapers, TV news, Sci-Fi movies, magazines, whatever mean possible. My Dad helped me, sending me articles from foreign newspapers, while he traveled to Panama and Colombia. 

I remember one time when, after gaining access to a private store in Managua (the only one allowed to sell  products in US Dollars, open only for Diplomatics), I found a 2 inches refractor telescope, awaiting in one corner. My eyes grew wide at the view and rapidly requested my Dad to buy it for me. He looked at me and, with the seriousness that characterized him, he denied me my request. No matter how many times I pleaded that day, that telescope remained in the store and I left the building with a sad feeling.

An educational and entertainment astronomy resource of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, in the North-East of England, UK.

Facility is run with the assistance of the Cleveland & Darlington Astronomical Society and the Durham Astronomical Society.

We provide star shows, observing events and craft based astronomy activities for all ages of educational establichment from pre-school to University level.  As well as regular shows, events and activities for the general public.

Identity

Last Name: 

Restall

First Name: 

Ed

Education: 

Physics PhD, Physics & Computer Science Honours Degree

Occupation: 

Planetarium & Observatory Director

Website: 

Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory

Hi!

My name is Julio Vannini and I'm an Amateur Astronomer. I work for the "Carl Sagan" Nicaraguan Amateur Astronomers Society (ANASA "Carl Sagan" in Spanish), and I love everything related to teaching about Space. I do also work with the SEDA/LIADA and with Astronomers Without Borders Group.

As a Computer Systems Engineer, I work with Linux and using open sourcer astronomy software for teaching to the Public. Open source software is great tool for teaching and to provide tools for education and science development. As you may probably have guessed, living in Nicaragua is not an easy task when you try to obtain resources and information. Generally everything related to Science and Space is in a foreign Language, meaning some sort of educational barrier for those assisting to Public Schools.

Identity

Last Name: 

Vannini

First Name: 

Julio

Education: 

Computer Systems Engineer

Occupation: 

IT Manager

Website: 

El Blog Libre de UngaMan

I have lived almost 30 years in Japan. I am a newscaster for NHK (public radio), doing interviews and reading various programs. I am also an entrepreneur working as adviser for an airline company (buying big jets) in Africa.

I have been active in sailing, yacht racing and educational and safety activities, mountaineering and trekking, graduating to sleeping in a hammock (stealth camping). I was also a volunteer first responder for the red cross in France and sometimes wish I had become a M.D.

I am a skeptic and very much pro-science, pro reason, pro-education while being a big dreamer for anything having to do with space and sea exploration. I feel close to Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov and other "serious dreamers", humanists and enlightenment philosophers, rejoicing in the knowledge that France and the United States at their beginning shared many, like Voltaire and Franklin, themselves lovers of science and reason. 

I also happen to be a freemason like quite a few astronauts who have experienced looking at hearth from a distance, wondering why we should fight instead of working together towards common goals, being on the same planet as we are.

Identity

Last Name: 

Valdois

First Name: 

Philippe

Occupation: 

Newscaster, entrepreneur (civil aeronautics)

Working as IT Architect by day, father and husband in the evening, and totally geeking out by night!

Astronomy is the real passion of my life behind of course my family.  Spend many days and hours at Kopernik Observatory working the public outreach efforts.  Interested in anything space oriented.

Identity

Last Name: 

M.

First Name: 

Patrick

Occupation: 

IT Architect for Lockheed Martin. Specializing in highly scalable, mission critical Product Data Management Systems. System, Infrastructure, Interface and Software realms of Architecture and Design.

Website: 

Kreegan's Astronomy Blog

I'd just like everyone to know that @NewburyAS is organizing a Meteorwatch event on Twitter for the peak of the Perseids meteor shower and everyone's invited!

We are using the hashtag #Meteorwatch to keep track of tweets, so tweet up and join in the fun! 

The event will run from 21:30 BST (UTC +1) on Tuesday August 11th 2009 through to hopefully the early hours (UK time) of Thursday August 13th. We would love to see tweets from people across the globe reporting their experiences of the meteor event. Any pictures, video or other media you can share is also most welcome!

For more information see: http://is.gd/25rSS

Hope to see your tweets up there!

Astronomer, amateur rocket scientist, Jodcast newsreader and general crazy person. I study galaxy collisions and stellar explosions using (mainly) radio telescopes.

I come from Kendal, near the English Lake District. I was born in 1981. I went to University College London from 1999-2003 to get my first degree and am back for a PhD.

I started Kendal Astronomical Society, known as the Eddington Astronomical Society after Arthur Eddington, who was born in the town, at the transit of Venus event in 2004, though later handed the reigns over to others to expand the society.

I now tweet and run a blog to distract me from writing up my thesis on Monte Carlo modelling of particle interactions in the upper atmosphere.

Identity

Last Name: 

Stobbart

First Name: 

Philip

Education: 

Astronomy MSci

Occupation: 

Astronophysics PhD

Website: 

Where the Sun hist the Sky

Hi, my name is Mark Benson, you can find me on Twitter as @MDBenson.

I have always been fascinated by space since being a young kid but only recently rekindled his passion for what lies beyond our Earth via the good folks on Twitter. I am currently providing web hosting for the Space Tweep Society website, as well as contributing articles to the Blog about how Twitter is helping fuel my renewed interest in space and astronomy.

Identity

Last Name: 

Benson

First Name: 

Mark

Education: 

BSc. Hons in Geology

Occupation: 

Webmaster/IT Hack

Website: 

A piece 'a Me

Educating the local community about astronomy and science.

Based in and around the county of Essex. We have our own observatory dark site, which is constantly being improved and upgraded, and hold public meetings once a month in Witham (with talks about a wide range of subjects)

James Moore has literally grown up with the space program. He has been interested in space since an early age, and was known to make more than one late night call to the astronomer at the local university. James grew up in Florence, Alabama which is just a short drive from Huntsville, Alabama -- the location of the Marshall Space Flight Center. James is a systems programmer by trade. He is an amateur astronomer, a member of several professional organizations and enjoys playing percussion in a local orchestra.

James is active in the Birmingham (Alabama) Astronomical Society and serves as the editor of their newsletter.(  www.bas-astro.com ). He is also a JPL/NASA Solar System Ambassador ( www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador ) which allows him the opportunity to give presentations on space exploration to a variety of groups and to work with local Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and YMCA programs.

Identity

Last Name: 

Moore

First Name: 

James

Occupation: 

Systems Programmer

Website: 

A Pirate Blog Spreading the Word of Astronomy

Im  an 18yr old student about to start Satellite tech and Planetary Exploration at Surrey Uni. I have been interested in Space for over ten years now ever since we were asked to do a presentation on a topic of our choosing, i chose Space at random and the rest is history. Despite a love of Space it has only been recently when i was awarded a small scholarship have i been able to afford to follow this into astronomy. I am now the proud ownder of a small 90mm refractor and am looking forward to a life filled with unlocking and observing the the secrets of the Universe, both ain my work and my home life.

Identity

Last Name: 

B

First Name: 

Tom

Education: 

11 GCSEs (10 A*/A) still waiting on A-levels

Occupation: 

Student