Even in a bright sky location where I live, it's possible to do productive, professional research in astronomy. Although I rarely see 4th-magnitude stars by eye on the clearest, darkest nights, the modern tools and techniques of the trade enable me to capture images of objects 150,000x fainter - at 17th magnitude. Thus there are many interesting areas of investigation that are within reach of my telescope at BrightSkies. I've described a couple of research programs on a separate web page.

Astronomy has a rich history and background — going back at least six thousand years. While it's not necessary to know all this background in order to enjoy astronomy, it can sometimes enhance the experience if you know what's happened in the last century or so...

Some links to explore...

As a professional astronomer (Ph.D. from U.Va., 1970) at the University of Delaware, and then at the University of Rochester, I've spent many long, dark and sometimes cold nights on top of Kitt Peak, as well as Fan Mountain Observatory in Virginia, the Mt. Cuba Observatory in Delaware and the Mees Observatory in upstate New York.

Now..

Then..

After my retirement from that and several other careers, I now have a backyard observatory. I'm doing CCD photometry of interesting stellar objects, and taking pictures with a CCD camera and a webcam.