My Profile/ Equipment

About Me

Retired 34 year veteran of the Buffalo NY Police Department where I spent the last 21 years of my career as a Detective in the Crime Scene Unit. I consider myself lucky that my job allowed me to learn photography on medium format film cameras and I was able to learn the skills of processing and developing photos in a darkroom. Although it was fun to learn that way I can't say I miss the days of taking a photo and keeping my fingers crossed. There is something to be said for instant feedback from your camera. I was also lucky to work with a very talented group of photographers who shared their skills and expertise with me. I fell in love with the night sky at a very young age and always owned at least one telescope growing up. As the digital age of astrophotography grew it was only natural for me to move from the eyepiece to the camera. I am still in the early learning curve of this very complicated aspect of amateur astronomy. My photos certainly dont have the wow factor of some you might see on the internet or in magazines but I continue to try to improve my craft. I hope you enjoy.

Celestron 8" Rowe Ackerman Astrograph/ Celestron CGX Mount

New purchase April of 2019. My main imaging rig. I really enjoyed my Edge HD w/ hyperstar but I figured for my main imaging scope I'd rather go with a more dedicated scope for fast focal ratio work. It has no eyepiece capabilities but I think I can do OK in that area with some of my other scopes.

Celestron C11

New purchase in April 2019. Since my RASA scope is a photography platform only I needed a decent scope for planets and eyepiece work. I figured I'd go big and take full advantage of the weight capacity of my CGX mount.

ORION ED80T Triplet Refractor/Celestron AVX Mount

A slightly more portable setup that travels with me to our regular summer vacation spot in Maine and our snowbird spot in California. Stashing an extra AVX tripod in the garage at our condo in California allows me to transport the mount head and cameras via a pelican case with the ED80 being compact enough to travel in my carry on giving me DSO imaging capabilities in darker sky locations than I have at home.

Solar Set UP

An Orion Short Tube 80 with either a Thousand Oaks white light filter or my Daystar Chromosphere Quark that allows me to do both standard and H-Alpha observing and imaging.

My Former Imaging Rig

Celestron 8" Edge HD forkmount w/ wedge. This was my original imaging setup with the Starizona hyperstar. Its the rig that got my feet wet and many of the photos on this site were taken with this Edge HD/Hyperstar combo. I eventually upgraded to the heavier and more tracking accurate CGX EQ mount and then finally to the RASA OTA.

Meade LXD 75 152mm refractor

Because.....who doesnt like a big ass refractor ? It doesnt get any use as an astrophotography setup but it sure wows at a star party

Meade LXD 75 Newtonian

One of my first telescopes I ever bought. The mount died long ago but the OTA still gives pretty good views for being about 20 years old......This baby doesn't owe me a dime.

Ioptron Sky Guider Pro

I was a big fan of the Ioptron Sky Tracker for wide field Milky Way shots so I recently upgraded to this model. A versatile set up and a great tool for folks looking to get into astrophotography without breaking the bank. With the included counter weight it has a payload of 11 lbs so it can handle heavier zoom lenses better than the skytracker and can also handle a small refractor. It has the integrated polar scope installed which makes polar alignment a breeze with the Ioptron smart phone app. I think this is a perfect setup for a new astrophotographer. You can use your DSLR if you have some big zoom lenses in the 300-400 range or if you want to couple it with a small 60/70 mm refractor like a Williams ZenithStar 61. The small size will be very forgiving on any tracking errors and the price point wont ruin your budget.

Nexstar 8SE Alt/Az mount

A nice little grab and go mount for the Orion ED80 or the Lunt 50 for those times when you want a quick set easy up for some visual astronomy or planetary/lunar imaging.

Deep Sky Imagers

ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro, Atik 314E and a Celestron Nightscape 8300. The ZWO and Celestron for nice wide field views and the Atik for tight views on smaller objects

Planetary/Lunar/Solar Imagers

Celestron Neximage 5, ZWO ASI224 for lunar and planetary and a Celestron Neximage Burst Mono for solar work.

Cameras

Nikon D600 Full frame DSLR, Nikon D90 DSLR and a lens for pretty much every job.......but one never has enough lenses lol

Go Pro Hero 4

A cool little camera thats great for videos and time lapses

Yuneec Breeze Drone

Purchased in the fall of 2018 I am hoping to get some good use out of this moving forward.......Once I figure out how to stop crashing all the time LOL

I am very proud to be a volunteer staff astronomer for the great folks at the Penn-Dixie Center.......One of the leading paleontological sites in the world and consistently ranked as the #1 fossil park in the US......right here in Western New York. We regularly hold astronomy nights at the center on weekends and its always a pleasure to help bring the wonders of astronomy to both young and old.

Buffalo Astronomical Association

I have been a member since 2016 and It is an honor to image and observe with such a great group of knowledgeable amateur astronomers. There are so many members with so many different specialties within the hobby and they are always willing to help you out and share their expertise with you to make your journey into the hobby that much more enjoyable. The clubs observatory is also located in one of the better dark sky sites in Western NY and regular monthly public star parties always draw a great crowd.

Astronomers Without Borders

I have been a member since 2015. A world wide network of both amateur and professional astronomers promoting the wonders of Astronomy to both young and old across the globe.