My interest in astronomy started when I was a teenager and continued until college. Years later, I got back into astronomy and started up with a 11” Celestron Nexstar which was used for both visual and some imaging. Since then, I have used numerous telescopte and camera equipment to gain more experience in planetary and deep space imaging (DSO).
The observatory at the NJ shore is a Skyshed Pod which sits on my backyard deck located near the NJ Boardwalk. The telescope inside is mounted on a steel pier that sits on a concrete block to ensure excllent isolation from vibrations. Unfortunatley, my location has typical urban light pollution and trees that limit my useful horizons to above 35 degrees. However, on clear evenings, I can often successfully capture some DSO’s using my telecope/imaging setup (narrow-band filters are good at reducing light pollution effects. This site will primarily be used for planetary and solar imaging. I have recently in late spring of 2019 added a solar telescope for imaging the sun. This site is dedicated to my wife Debra, my daughters Kimberly and Emily, and my son David.
I recently added a second observatory site in Northern VA in January 2016. The observatory was purchased from Exploradome and has a 8’ dome sitting on a 10’ round aluminum and steel structure. This second site has clear horizon’s down to 10 degrees and has no light pollution challenges. It will house my 12” AstroTech RC mounted on Paramount ME mount. Recently in the end of 2019, added n 8” RASA F2 imaging telescope from Celstron. This site is primarily for DSO imaging. This second site would not have been possible without the help of my brother Jason and his wife April (for allowing us to construct a second observatory).