Click on the small images below to view the full, high
resolution picture in a pop-up window! The better looking ops have provided us
with their pictures --- for the others (rigel), we just did our best with what
we had to work with......
Portia,
Susan Carroll of Fort Scott, KS, is the Channel Manager of #sciastro. She is
shown here with her 18" Starmaster. You can see her comet pictures and read
her astronomy articles on sciastro.net at http://sciastro.net/portia.
IrishM,
Chris Sheehan, is #sciastro's founder. He is shown here with one of his toys, a
Meade lx50 8 inch, half setup. The white dot at the top of the image is the moon
on Jan 21 1997 at 6 PM.
AstroCaddy,
Steve Carroll of Fort Scott, KS, with his 14.5" f/4.3 Starmaster. His wife,
Susan (Portia on IRC), sometimes lets him look through her 18" f/4.5
Starmaster. The nic AstroCaddy was given to Steve by Jim Marsh at the 1994 Great
Plains Star Party, referring to the fact that he spent most of his time
carrying/setting up/moving his wife's astronomy equipment. Check out his Star
Party Photo Album on sciastro.net at http://sciastro.net/carrolls.
Bob
Haler, CosmicOne on irc, is from the Kansas
City area. This thumbnail show the summertime Cos, while the pop-up photo shows
the wintertime Cos with his astro-stuff, including his 10" f/6 StarMaster
Dobsonian. Cos also runs his own astronomy store. Check out Lymax.com.
Mark
Abraham, EverStaR, has only been enjoying
astronomy for a short time. He and his wife Gina (antares)
run a small backyard observatory focused on minor planets follow-up and
reporting. Together they have discovered 6 asteroids--two recently numbered and
in the process of being named. In addition to CCD imaging, Mark enjoys visual
observation and tries to get out a few times a month to observe the traditional
way with his 24" dob shown in the pop-up picture. He is a total computer
enthusiast with too many computers on his home network. You can find out more
about him at http://www.everstar.com
FlashCA,
Bob Kuberek of Santa Clarita, CA, acquired an LX200 in 1997 and quickly an avid
CCD imager and fan of GOTO scopes. Bob sold his LX200 in 1999 and now images
with a 6" Astro-Physics refractor and ST7e CCD camera while doing visual
astronomy with a 14.5" Starmaster. You can see some of his latest images
at http://sciastro.net/flashca.
Pictured here on the slopes of Kitt Peak in Arizona, Bob's main imaging
interests are deep sky objects. A regular on #sciastro since early 1998,
Bob never tires of discussing CCD equipment and imaging techniques. His work has
been published in several places, including David Bishop's supernova page,
SBIG's image gallery and, recently, in Steve Coe's book, "The Astronomical
Tourist."
Jeff_AZ
is well known as Jeff Medkeff to those who follow the sci.astro.amateur
newsgroup. Jeff lives in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Rigel,
John Stamm in normal circles, is the channel's "cool cat" from New
Orleans and has avoided sending us a picture for 5 or 6 years.
Sealth,
Mark Buettemeier from Seattle, observes with an 18" StarMaster and an
8" Meade LX200 and is the channels resident expert on all things Microsoft.
TBare,
known as John Rostoni in other circles, observes from the North San Francisco
Bay Area. Although this photograph shows both his Meade 10" LX200 and Orion
80mm refractor in an astrophoto configuration, most of his negatives so far
appear to have been made with an old shoe box and a scrap of window glass.
"It must be my technique... I mean, there's nothing wrong with shooting
through the awning, right?" Check out TBare's home page on sciastro.net by
pointing your browser to http://tbare.sciastro.net
David
("TheFarce") is an ISP in real
life, and spends all the rest of his time on irc, fiddling with his 24"
Starmaster, 10" LX-200, playing with the cat, reading science fiction, or
daydreaming about new changes for his observatory. This leaves no time for
sleep, but then, all amateur astronomers know that sleep is optional. David's
wife Susan is more patient with him than he really deserves, especially after
she handled the telescope controls herself.
Todd_,
Todd Gross from Boston, is another #sciastro originator. A weatherman by day,
Todd's review of night time gadgets (eyepieces and other astronomical
accessories) have garnered Todd great respect among fellow amateur astronomers.
Check it all out on his Web
Site. Todd observes with a 10" Lx200 and a new 16" StarMaster
dobsonian.
Michael
E. Bakich (universe) has been fascinated by
the stars all his life. He is an astronomer, an internationally recognized
expert on planetariums, a consultant to the planetarium field, and one of only
eight people in the world to hold a degree in Planetarium Education. He is also
an entertaining lecturer on astronomical topics and the author of many original
planetarium programs which have been seen by hundreds of thousands of
enthusiastic visitors. His first book, "The Cambridge Guide to the
Constellations" published in 1996, by Cambridge University Press, has been
extremely well received. Michael's second book, entitled "The Cambridge
Planetary Handbook" was released in February, 2000. Due to the number of
advance orders, it was actually reprinted before it was released! Because of his
popular appeal and engaging style, Michael is also a much sought after guide to
astronomical events. He has led astro-archaeological trips to the Yucatan
Peninsula, eclipse tours to North, Central and South America, and an excursion,
in 1986, to see Halley's Comet in Tahiti. He remains an active observer,
carrying out a number of detailed personal observing projects. He is shown in
the larger photo in the center frame with his wife, Holley, who is quickly
becoming a knowledgeable observer.
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We'd really
like to hear from #sciastro users.