Our Members

I have always had an interest in astronomy and, while in junior high school, fabricated a variety of telescopes from old eyeglass lenses or any other optics I could get my hands on. My first real astronomical telescope was one I built using a 6-inch f/8 mirror that was given [Read More…]

My telescope was given to me as a Christmas present by my husband. The telescope was the “treasure” of a Treasure Hunt I was sent on, picking up parts and pieces of the telescope along the way (the motor drive was found in the clothes dryer). I had never owned [Read More…]

In 1980 I decided to do something that was very unusual for me at the time.read a book! The book I chose to read was “Cosmos” by Carl Sagan. I know most of you reading this now have read Cosmos at some point in your life and therefor understand the [Read More…]

Although I am still fairly new to the club I have been interested in astronomy for many years. Born in 1958 I grew up alongside the space program. In the early 1960’s I lived in El Paso,Tx where my mom worked at White Sands Missile Range-apparently on classified projects as [Read More…]

When I was 12 years old I had my first view of the sun with my homebuilt 8″ Newtonian. Ever since that day I have been hooked on solar astronomy. My first solar filter incorporated a Hershel wedge design. This system used a non-aluminized diagonal which was inserted into the [Read More…]

by Dr. Ray Weymann I have done both theoretical and observational research and there have been some awkward moments in both. Early in my career I was a coauthor on a paper which involved computing the interior structure of the sun throughout its life. Standard practice in scientific research publications [Read More…]

As many astronomers can tell you, holding star parties and heading into unknown territory to perform your stargazing can sometimes throw you a curve ball and present rather interesting and challenging situations. Aurora asked that I relate any events that might make for interesting reading for CCAS readers, so here [Read More…]

Please notice the quotation marks around the title, because none of the telescopes that have been a part of my life have been “mine”–I have never owned one! Lets begin in 1946, when I was a 6th grader in Miss Weber’s class. She was an enthusiast about science teaching, especially [Read More…]