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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.
We've each written a little bit
about ourselves so that when we meet on the field you will know
us.
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Rod
Sutter
President
Library Manager |
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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.
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Terri Finch
Vice President
Events Coordinator |
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I put together our Star Parties, schedule our Guest Speakers, track
events at schools, organize anything & everything as far as
volunteers and events. Then I provide that info to PAS and the public
through the calendar on our webpage, and the Upcoming Events column of our club Newsletter. 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 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, and recently we have been enjoying the Wii.
PAS Digest Blog
http://pasaz-digest.blogspot.com/ |
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Mike Marron
Treasurer |
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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. |
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Don
Boyd
Editor |
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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. |
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Chris Johnson
Webmaster |
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Chris is an avid astrophotographer. He owns his own observatory up in Mayer, AZ and hosts the Dark Site Star Parties at his location. He attends many outreach programs with the group. He is also the webmaster for Starizona, Hyperstarimaging, and David Levy's Let's Talk Stars. His current project is to enable remote imaging from his observatory for club members. His day job is a Systems Administrator for eBay. |
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Barbara Hartman
Dark Sky Advocate |
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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. |
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John Pulis
PAS Host |
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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. |
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Jerry Belcher
Rocketry
Liaison |
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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. |
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Matt Kohl
Member |
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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. |
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Chet
Schuler
Member |
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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. |
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James DeSantis
Member |
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Sam Insana
Member |
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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.
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Sonny Schug
Member |
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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. |
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