Annual Meeting

In 2015 I traveled to Italy to visit the birthplace of Galileo in Pisa and then to Florence to visit his residence there, as well as the modern day museum dedicated to him. Also I will give a short tour of the Vatican Observatory in Rome.

I have been interested in astronomy since I was 8 years old. It started with a Sunday night TV series in 1959, "The Wide World of Disney". They broadcast a program, "Life on Other Planets" which I was enthralled with. In 1961 my mother took me to the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and this was the real start of my passionate interest. During this visit she purchased a copy for me of "Astronomy for Everyone" by Simon Newcomb as well as a copy of the periodical "The Review of Popular Astronomy" (Sep-/Oct. 1961, and a subscription for $3.00 annually). This proved to be the very real start of my hobby.

Through my early teenage years I had a variety of very small poor telescopes of which I could see little but the moon and a few planets. My first "research" grade telescope was 3" Gilbert reflector which served me well for a few years. In 1968 I discovered Skyscrapers Inc. and became a junior member the following year. Other young members from this period were; Dave Dixon, Bill Gucfa, Ed Turco, Dave Armitage, Neil Paulhus, Alan Hall. We all shared a passion for astronomy and the likes of senior members Dora and Harvey Harkins, Bill Penhallow, Mary Gildea, and many other members encouraged our enthusiasm. It was customary back then for our parents to drop us off at the observatory on a Friday evening and return to get us on Sunday mornings. We had been given permission to use the meeting hall and we camped out here on most clear weekends. During this time a new organization was started, the Rhode Island Meteor Research Organization (RIMRO) organized by Ed Turco and others. We all became members and very active observers, and wonderful times were had observing behind the observatory in the old "observing coffins" described in the Skyscrapers 75th anniversary book. Eventually RIMRO became a new organization called the Meteor Data Processing Center in conjunction with several members from the Greater New Bedford Astronomical Society. Dave Armitage was now the driving force and all our observations were now key-punched on cards and entered on to the new IBM 360-90 computer at Rhode Island College where Dave was an administrator.

Meteor observing gave way to more telescopic work and I had many different telescopes over the years, 12.5" f/5 Turco reflector, 8" Cave Cassegrain, 6" & 8" Newtonians and a host of different size small refractors. As I got older and soon got married I was now employed and was able to afford attending many amateur astronomical conventions throughout the country with some of the newer members of Skyscrapers, such as Steve Hubbard, Dan Lorraine, Steve and Kathy Siok, Dave Huestis and others. We made many contacts with other amateurs and professionals as well as many of the staff of Sky and Telescope. This proved to be a great help in securing many well know astronomers over the years for Skyscraper meetings and continues to this day with the efforts of Steve Hubbard and others.

During my travels a noteable visit took place while on my way to Kitt Peak National Observatory for a visit. I stopped at the ancient Indian ruins of Casa Grande and took the tour. This ancient structure built by the prehistoric Hohokom Indians and I found was astronomically aligned on many levels for the measurement of time, planting, and harvesting. This exposed me to the new field of archeoastronomy. I was now hooked on astronomy and archaeology. From the early 1980s through to the present time I visited hundreds of sites thought out the country and Canada and worked as a volunteer archaeologist at many digs. In recent years I have pursued this interest in far off lands like; Malta, Isreal, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Ireland, and England. I have organized astronomy/archaeology expeditions with the help of other Skyscraper members to the American Southwest. During this time I also purchased land in New Mexico and had a townhouse in Alburquerque which served as a base of operations for some of these trips. A couple of notable events was observing the Leonids meteor shower from the VLA with many Skyscraper members in 1998 and then the following year having many Skyscrapers and members of the Brown University Physics department in 1999 observe from my camp at 6000' in the high desert where we were rewarded with a spectacular show that peaked at over 1000 meteor per hour.

Since retirement I now observe virtually every clear evening. At my home I have two observatories, (see picture) a NexDome housing my 11" Celestron and my Homedome which houses a 5" Celestron and 5" F/5 refractor. I do very little astronomical imaging, as the time spent gaining nice images similar to what everyone has imaged does not appeal to me. Instead I use my time on a variety of personal observing programs I have developed. I observe and measure double stars by the hundreds, have a program of observing and documenting star clusters, less well know from catalogues such as; Basel, Ruprecht, Roslund, Collinder, Stock, Czernic, Berkley, and of course NGC. Comets and meteors also continue as a focus of my observing.

I once read that an observation made but not recorded is of little value. I am proud to say that I record everything I observe and have all my notes back to 1968. I continue to add to them. Skyscrapers Inc. has been instrumental in forwarding my passion for astronomy. I encourage all members to take advantage of the resources and wisdom Skyscrapers can offer.