I was botn in 1963, and I have been enjoying the hobby of amateur astronomy since age 6.

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Professionally, I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Education, majoring in math and physical sciences, and I have taught high school sciences and computer science, including astronomy prior to transitioning to my present career in Information Technology. I loved teaching astronomy and still do.

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I started out doing visual astronomy as a youth, spending nights out under the stars learning the constellations., moon and planets.  I did lots of visual astronomy first with the naked eye, then later with binoculars and toy telescopes, but soon my love for astrophotography began. In the summer of 1977 at the age of 14 I received my first real telescope, a home made 6 inch f/8 Newtonian. Later that summer, I got my first 35 mm film camera, and from then on, astrophotography was what I enjoyed the most in astronomy.

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I learned black and white darkroom techniques in middle school, as well as color film techniques like C41 and E6 later on when I worked in a professional photo lab. I got to enjoy astrophotography in the classical sense with film, picking up tips and tricks from Sky and Telescope magazine, as well as my astrophotography friend, John Leader. I was super active in the hobby in 1985 and 1986 with Halley's comet, and I think that is when I really cemented my involvement in this hobby,

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I have been involved with a few astronomy clubs over the years, and even started one, but my home club and the one I am most involved with, even today, is the Medicine Hat Astronomy Club, where I first joined in 1985.

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Today I enjoy astro imaging using my Skywatcher EQ6 Pro mount and a Celestron Ultima 8 with a Hyperstar Conversion kit and using a Hyperstar 8 V4, as well as an Explore Scientific ED80 APO refractor. I do my imaging with a ZWO ASI533MC Pro, although I also own planetary cameras and Canon DSLR's to go along with it all. I have collected a bit of equipment over the years. I added the ASI533MC Pro and the ASIAir Pro back in 2021, and the two together are a revolution in my abilities to gather starlight. I am taking images today that far exceed even the best from those early days in 1977. I recently purchased a Seestar S50 as well to work on a project to catalog the Messier list and other deep sky wonders. I also added an AM3 mount as a spare.

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The purpose of this website is to provide a place for me to share my love for the hobby that I can grow with, as well as help provide some guidance and information for people practicing the hobby through the blog articles that I write, and even share some of my "controversial" ideas on science. I welcome your feedback and ideas as well.

 

Please feel free to interact with me anytime via the contact form on the home page, and also please watch on my home page for updated gallery images. This is all a work in progress. I have a long list of things to do ahead of me and we are just getting started.

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Clear skies to you all. 

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James