About Me

5 Comments

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As far back as I can remember I was drawn to the sky. The first thing I did when I went outside was to look up, it didn’t matter if it was day or night. My parents noticed this and set me up with binoculars and a small Velbon tripod. I started sketching images of the moon, constellations, Jupiter, etc. I saved my snow shoveling money and at age 12 purchased a small newtonian on an equatorial mount. Those were the days, 1975 or thereabout so no Go To, GPS, or any of the nicities we have today. I learned a lot about the sky at a young age but I ran in to a few problems, our family moved to California and shortly after I discovered girls, the beach, and snow skiing. Next was college, marriage, kids, start and run a business, and all of the other day to day stuff we face as young adults. The old telescope was broken by one of the kids (I still don’t know who) so I  was out of the hobby during this time. About 35 short years after the first scope I picked up a new telescope and started back in the hobby. Little did I know that the Meade ETX-125 would lead to what I am doing now. See my equipment list page, I am told by those in the know that this list will continue to grow!

AP is not my only interest, I recently did a body off restoration of a 1967 VW Beetle. I did the entire restoration except for the transaxle (have you seen what’s inside that case, Yikes!) and pressing the ball joints. The body work and paint was by far the most difficult as painting is a skill that has to be repeated often to maintain that “touch”. It came out great and it is on the road even though I have some minor items to adjust/repair.

I hope you enjoy the site and I will be updating the pages as new images roll in.

5 thoughts on “ : About Me”
  • Chuck says:

    Very impressive Elephant Trunk, John, and interesting, well-written and well-designed website. Nice job! Weather cooperating, I’ll probably see you next weekend.

  • Doug Acrea says:

    Hi John, you have a very interesting and extremely well done pictures on this site. Excellent job. BTW, have not seen you at Anza site for a long time. Miss conversing with you. Hope to see you soon.

    • JB says:

      Hello Doug, it has been a long time! I hope you are doing well. The weather was awful this late winter and early spring and then my wife had some health issues for the last 4 months but I think she is on the road to getting better. All of this has kept me away but I plan on getting out later this month.

      See you soon,

      John

  • Peter Molnar says:

    Dear John,

    unfortunately I haven’t found any email-link, so I try to ask my question here.
    I just found this image: http://jbnightsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/M50-PI-P-1-Web.jpg

    The monthly magazine “Meteor” (published by the Hungarian Astronomical Association” will turn to 50 yrs old in January, and we’d like to use this image of yours (Messier 50) on the cover page.

    Could you please give permission for this?

    thanks in advance,
    best regards
    Peter Molnar
    Secretary, HAA

  • Please give us your valuable comment

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.