PEOPLE OF P.A.S.:

These are the people that make P.A.S. go and the ones you are most likely to meet at our events.  We are a fun and interesting bunch of people all interested in science and the cosmos.  You won't see all of us at any single one, but you will see most of us at all.  We are very active in public outreach as we feel it is our duty to share the beauty of the night sky with as many people as we can.  We do this for two reasons, to foster interest in science and space exploration and to educate people about light pollution and how important it is to utilize good lighting in order to preserve the scenic beauty that is the night sky.  We are happy to help you with your scope or show you a splashy nebula or cluster.  We have a great time at all our meetings and star parties. Some of us are working on our observing awards, others do astrophotography and some just like to look.  You never have to feel intimidated with us as we all know what it is like to just start out as an amateur astronomer.  We've been there - done that and we'd like to help you.

		Rod Sutter President Library Manager		Rod is very active in our club and as Library Manager he houses the PAS library so he is the man to contact for borrowing anything from the library. He has an 8" Orion EQ scope and a 16" truss tube Dobsonian seen at most dark sky star parties.  He is often accompanied by his wife Sue, who you will see relaying messages to the telescope team at star parties or helping Terri with hand-outs and prizes.  Sue is a big help with all things club related and a pleasure to be around. Their personal web site is at www.geocities.com/rod_sutter.
		Terri Finch Vice President Events Coordinator		I put together our Star Parties, track events at schools, organize anything & everything as far as volunteers and events. Then I provide that info to PAS and the public through Barbara, our Webmaster, and Don, our Editor. PAS is one of my favorite projects & I hope to help make it a fun, interesting, & rewarding club for everyone to belong to while I am in office. If you have an event you wish to have PAS participate in, email me the details. Remember our motto: Bring a Friend! My favorite part of PAS is meeting new people, & listening to them “oooo” and “ahhhh” when they see something in my telescope they had never seen before. I strive to give them the best view of the night sky, as is possible. I also love to go with My Telescope Team to paid star parties. My husband & I are owners of an Internet based business, Ascent Business Group, Int'l. We also have a Vending Machine Business where we place & service bulk vending machines. William has a full time job. And I teach private music lessons on a variety of musical instruments. I have many hobbies including astronomy, photography, art rubber stamp greeting cards, and more. I love to watch movies & be with my friends. PAS Digest Blog http://pasaz-digest.blogspot.com/
		Mike Marron Treasurer		Mike has spent 45 years as an amateur astronomer in the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association and other clubs. As a youth he helped build the James C. Veen Observatory. Mike has wide ranging interests and can be heard talking about his theoretical contributions to impact planetary geophysics, stellar mechanics, galactic evolution, reading stellar and galactic jets, cosmology, quantum physics, and prime numbers. Mike is rebuilding a century old ranch house in Carefree and has a 6" Celestron.
		Don Boyd Editor		I have been interested in astronomy for about 20 years, and 5 years ago I bought a small 4.5 inch goto scope. Shortly after this a friend told me about the Phoenix Astronomical Society and I went to a meeting. I have made many friends there and know that you will as well. In my job as Editor I am responsible for producing and distributing PAStimes, our club newsletter. I also take the minutes at our meetings and photos of our speakers.
		Chris Johnson Webmaster		Bio coming soon
		Matt Kohl Web Editor		As Web Editor, Matt's duties include keeping the PAS web site up-to-date. Matt was placed on Earth quite a while ago. As an amateur astronomer he scours the night sky hoping to find where he belongs in the universe.
		John Pulis PAS Host		As PAS Host, John's duties are the same as for the position of Hostess, but John does it with a manly flair. He is responsible for greeting members at the meetings, getting them to sign in and up for email updates and the eNewsletter if they are new. He is friendly and personable making everyone feel at home.
		Jerry Belcher Rocketry Liaison		I've been with PAS since the early days at Phoenix College and was privileged to know our founder, Amos Hoff. I've served as President and Vice President for several years, and am currently the Rocketry Liaison. Yes, I am a rocket scientist. My current favorite scope (one of many) is an open truss Dobsonian so large I'm afraid to tell you its diameter. Come to one of our Star Parties and maybe I'll let you look through it.
		Barbara Hartman Dark Sky Advocate		I have a 10" Orion Atlas EQ with clock drives and a trusty “go anywhere” pair of 30x80 binoculars. I hunt for the faint fuzzies, comets, colorful double stars, and also study the planets and Moon. I am usually the last Astronomer standing when we go to really dark skies as I tend to view from dusk to dawn.  I love to share the night sky and work to help save it from the scourge of light pollution.  I am currently working on my Caldwell and Double Star certificates from the Astronomical League. My personal web site is at www.geocities.com/AlyaSerpens.
		Chet Schuler Member		Chet is the former proprietor and founder of Schuler ASTRO-IMAGING, where he designed, manufactured, and marketed glass composite BVRI, RGB filter sets and narrow band interference filters to astronomers. While President of Powercube Corporation he authored the key patents on Powercube’s ultra miniature power conversion technology utilized on such projects as the first color video camera in space used in the Apollo lunar missions, the first teleprinter in space (Skylab), and the Viking (Mars Lander) seis-mometer. Chet also takes great pleasure in sharing his love for astronomy at our star parties for the Phoenix WOW program, for public viewing at Heritage Square, as well.as for the schools and other organizations. He usually brings either his Celestron 9.25” SCT or his 120 mm Orion F/8.3 refracter mounted on a Sphinx equatorial platform. When he has the opportunity he acquires astro images of the sun, the moon the planets, nebula, stellar clusters and galaxies with his SBIG 10XME or his ATIK and Celestron CCD cameras.
		James DeSantis Member
		Sam Insana Member		Sam has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and worked with NASA’s planetary quarantine unit in the late 1960’s.  He has been a member of the Arizona Science Center since its inception in 1984.  Sam has been a member of PAS since 1986.  He has an 8 inch Newtonian reflector telescope with a German equatorial drive.  He enjoys the public star parties, monthly meetings with guest scientific speakers, and the annual holiday social.  Although he loves stargazing, he also enjoys music, golf, skiing, and has been practicing law for 30 years.
		Sonny Schug Member		I've been an amateur astronomer and telescope maker since I was about 10.  I'm originally from Ohio where I had my own permanent observatory and 12.5"  Newtonian scope where I did a lot of deep-sky film photography. I was also  president of our local astronomy group and designed our 25" Cassegrain telescope and observatory.  Since coming to Arizona, deep-sky and planetary CCD imaging after years of film astrophotography is what I enjoy the most. I'm self employed as a commercial illustrator and graphic designer in Scottsdale, currently specializing in aviation art for advertising.