Contents

About my hobby
introduction
equipment
astronomical targets
how to...
timelines
meteorite craters down-under
solar eclipses dates
moon phase
south pacific star party directions
astrophotography
buying a telescope

Virual Star Hopping
virtual star hopping
introduction
to the maps...

Introduction

I am not a "serious" amateur astronomer, but would I like, once in a while to look at the stars, to wonder about the great distances that light needs to travel in order to reach our eye, to wonder if there is anybody out there doing the same thing like me... I am maybe more a philosopher astronomer or a poet astronomer than a real amateur astronomer.

Why astronomy? By looking at the stars you look at their past: thousands, millions or billions of years ago. In the same time, by understanding their past we will see our future. In other words astronomy is a window to the past and one to the future. Can you see something better to do with your time?

Looking to discover the laws that governs the universe is just half of the puzzle. The other half is WHY. Why we evolved to ask the question(s)? Yes, I know is difficult, but our past achievements were also difficult. I don't see why we will stop searching for the ultimate answer?

As you probably have already discovered, by looking at my web site, I also have an interest in photography. I have taken a few pictures using the telescope, for terrestrial and astronomical objects. In both cases I was very pleased with the results, but always there is room for improvement.

My greatest achievement in astrophotography are the pictures I have taken, in Romania at the last total solar eclipse of Second Millennium. One picture was even published in the Australian Sky & Space Magazine, in the December 1999 - January 2000 issue.(volume 12, number 6, issue 57).

All my astronomical pictures are very bright subjects like the Moon and the Sun. For all the other celestial subjects I need a system to be able to track stars or the planets in order to avoid the star trails produced by the sky "movement".