About High Valley Observatory

I've been an avid astronomer for more than 35 years, first inspired by a 3" refractor that my father gave me when I was 14. I studied astronomy in college with the intent to pursue it as a profession, but eventually switched to computer science and mathematics after forays into paleontology and archeology. After college I worked for several years at a laser company, then made silicon wafers at National Semiconductor before eventually going to work at Borland on developer tools for software engineers (JBuilder).

High Valley Observatory was the name of my physical observatory located in Lake County, California. The observatory was located on 11 acres of land two hours north of the Napa Valley under very dark skies. The observatory itself consisted of 3-meter domed building with an attached computer control room. The primary instrument was a 12" Meade LX-200 on a concrete pier that was mechanically isolated from the observatory building. I was primarily interested in searching for minor bodies (asteroids) and orbital calculation, though I did some planetary photography as well.

Today HVO is no longer located in High Valley (though the observatory building is still there), and I now do astronomy from the very light polluted skies of Silicon Valley, which necessitated moving to narrow band photography. My current platform consists primarily of the following gear:

• Astro-Tech 8" f/8 AT8RCS Ritchey-Chrétien
• Williams Optics FlouroStar 120 APO
• Lunt LS60T Ha Double-Stacked, Pressure Tuned solar telescope (Dual Interference Etalon)
• Orion 10" Reflector
• ASI2600MM DUO
• ASI174MM Solar and Lunar Imaging Camera
• AM5N Harmonic Equatorial Mount
• Chroma 3nm H-Alpha, S-II, and O-III filters

In what spare time I have left I maintain a software library for variable precision orbital calculations, do fossil preparation, design LEGO DC themed modular buildings, light things on fire with ridiculously high powered lasers, cook food that my cardiologist assures me I should not eat, and read math and physics books.