Tom Boles
| Originally from Glasgow
where he spent many happy years as a telescope designer and
maker for Charles Frank Ltd., Saltmarket, Glasgow, from whom
many amateurs in the UK, including himself, acquired their first
telescopes. He is a
past President and currently Vice President of The British
Astronomical Association, a Fellow of
The Royal Astronomical Society. He is also a member of
The Webb Society and The Astronomer.
He says, “my devouring passion is extra-galactic
supernovae: their physics, appearance, demographics and, of
course, their discovery. I patrol on every available clear night
and monitor some 12,000 galaxies for supernovae.” Tom has
discovered over 100 supernovae. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
John Dobson
| John
Dobson has been called the "Pied Piper of Astronomy,"
the "Star Monk," and the "MacGuyver of
Astronomy." He is arguably one the most influential
personalities in amateur astronomy in the last 50 years. He has
almost single-handedly revolutionized backyard astronomy by
bringing it out to the street, making it accessible for anyone
who has ever looked up in wonder, and asked "Why?"
With
no "profession" and an overwhelming desire to show the
night sky, John decided to dedicate the rest of his life to
public service astronomy and hitchhiked to San Francisco.
Thousands of people looked through the telescopes while John
talked to them in detail about what they were seeing. |
|
|
|
Phil Harrington
| A lifelong amateur
astronomer, Phil Harrington was bitten by the "astronomical
bug" when he was assigned to watch the total lunar eclipse
of April 1968 as a homework assignment.
Since then, Phil has spent countless hours touring the
universe through telescopes and binoculars.
He is a former staff member of New York City's Hayden
Planetarium and instructor at the Vanderbilt Planetarium in
Centerport, New York. Phil
is an adjunct professor at both
Dowling College, Oakdale, NY, and Suffolk County
Community College's Eastern Campus in Riverhead, New York, where
he teaches courses in stellar and planetary astronomy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Bob Lambourne
| Robert
Lambourne is a former Head of Physics and Astronomy at the Open
University, where he has worked for many years. His interests
cover a wide range and he has written or edited books on
subjects ranging from an Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology
to Wave Mechanics and the Science in Science Fiction. He has an
especially strong interest in engaging the public in science,
and has for many years directed the public programmes in
physical science offered by the Oxford University Department for
Continuing Education. |
|
|
|
|
|
Martin Ratcliffe
| Martin Ratcliffe, a
former president of the International Planetarium Society, began his
interest in astronomy as a young boy in northern England. A
former council member of
the British Astronomical Association and the Society for Popular
Astronomy. Following a degree in astronomy, his planetarium
career developed, first at Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland, and
then the Buhl Planetarium in Pittsburgh, and also the CyberDome
Theater in Wichita Kansas. He has written the monthly Sky
this Month column for Astronomy magazine since 1996, and is
author/editor of the annual State of the Universe series and the Night Sky Discovered. |
|
.jpg)
|
|
|
|
|
Nik Syzmanek
|
In
1990 he bought his first serious telescope, a Meade 10” LX3
SCT. Around this time came the introduction to the amateur
market of the first CCD cameras, which proved to be a real bonus
and he could at last do battle with the ever-present
light-pollution here in England. After a few years of learning
the procedures to produce good images he travelled to La Palma,
in the Canary Islands, with a portable set-up to acquire images
under the pristine conditions there. This proved to be a real
turning point and he still try’s to get over there at least
once a year.
Observing
trips abroad are still happening but recently he has become
heavily involved with an exciting new venture, the Faulkes
telescope Project. For this, he has been given unlimited
observing time on a 2m robotic telescope located at an altitude
of 10,000ft on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
In
July 2004 he received the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific’s Amateur Achievement Award and traveled to Berkeley,
California, to receive the award. |
|
|
|
Tonny Vanmunster
| His
first interest in astronomy started back in 1973 as a 12-year
old. He was fascinated (as were many youngsters of his age) by
the Apollo missions to the moon. 1973 was also the famous comet
Kohoutek year. He still remembers his desperate binocular sweeps
during twilight. In 2004, he joined the Transitsearch.org
network to participate in observing campaigns of exoplanets. On
Sep 1st, 2004, he was the first amateur to detect a transit of
exoplanet TrES-1. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Richard Crisp
| Renown
astro imager, Richard Crisp will be showing us how he creates
his masterpieces. For further details, please use the
following link to Richard's website: www.narrowbandimaging.com
|
|
|
|
|
Stephen J. O’Meara
| Due
to personal reasons and with much regret, Stephen is now unable
to participate on World AstroCast day
|
|
|
|
|
|
