What is your "night" Job?

[solarchat]

If anyone is interested, I am an air traffic controller in Atlanta, GA at the worlds busiest airport. I'm high in seniority so I can basically work 40 hours per week any way I want to so I choose Thur-Sun from 2-midnight so I can have maximum daylight hours free for the schools.

NATCA is also the single largest sponsor of my program. They buy all the glasses that I use each year because I have been a member and on the National IT committee for 24 years.

I LOVE my Union.


[video width=600 height=450 type=youtube]9isDpJi1f44[/video]

[solarray]

Wonderful video! I think i would like all those people........

Please tell them Thank You : : : : :

[Cschur]

Stephen, glad to see your company helps everything work out with the outreach. A rare job indeed.

At night I write articles for magazines and books on astro imaging. I have a huge article coming out in the April Astronomy Magazine on the new Orion solar system camera. (I didnt like it.) Pays for nearly all my astro equipment.

[solarchat]

Great Chris,

Actually my "company" is an unnamed federal agency which does everythng in their power to make it more difficult for me to be off during the daytime hours and makes outreach more difficult whenever they can. NATCA is my Labor Union that I pay to be a member of.

I cant wait to read your article on the camera. I have formed my own opinions on it as it pertains to solar work but I wont share them to increase the suspense!

My Sky and Telescope and Astronomy Now articles were really good for my motivation but I didn't accept the offered payment as luckily I dont have to make a living doing that. Plus Im such an amateur I felt like I should have been paying them to publish it...

Maybe since your stuffs paid for, instead of selling the DMK41 you could loan it to another person on the forum or in the club so that they can start their own outreach. I have 7 cameras 2 scopes and about 20,000 glasses out there somewhere doing outreach and let me tell ya' it comes back to ya' tenfold.

[Cschur]

Stephen, I have only one solar system camera now, the DMK3U for USB, and for several years it has been good. Id like to move up to either a DMK4 or 5 next. My poor laptop struggles to barely get 15fps with my DMK3, it actually runs slower with the settings for 30fps! So If I get a camera, I will also need a faster laptop too. Frys Electronics has quad 3 gig itaniums for $700. Oh I just need more money - dang...

[Derek Klepp]

I'll add to this one. I'm an Apiarist so basically depending on the time of year I have between 15 to 40 million unpaid workers. I provide housing and infrastructure as well as any pharmaceuticals needed. They do get sic. IN return they provide me with Honey and Wax which I on sell. If I'm lucky after bills etc I have some left over for my hobbies.
I must thank them they worked well last year hence the Lunt 100 purchase.
Now as a serious aside I often ponder if the bee decline is linked in some ways to Solar activity? If I could make this viable to the taxation department my hobby could be fully tax deductable.
Derek

[Montana]

That sounds a fascinating job Derek! Sadly here in the UK the bees are suffering a terrible decline. The last 3 summers have been so wet and cold, no flowers and the bees were wet. I have definitely noticed a difference in my garden. We have had a lot of very cold weather which was also unusual and everyone has been saying it was due to the solar minimum. Now the sun is more active we shall see if next summer is hotter / dryer, I hope so, we get sick of the rain here.

Regards
Alexandra

[vidman]

That is very interesting info. I am pondering this for the states. I must say there were less bees around the past couple of summers. Areas where I have always dealt with nests were not void of nests. Is it in any way solar coordinated? (Wish it affected the wood eating bees. They have not slowed down in attacking my fascia boards.)

[solarchat]

[swisswalter]

Hi Chuck

that's interesting. We do not see here bees eating up wood but we see that very often with the wasps.

We too have problems with declining populations of bees due to the varoa mites. The last two summers we have had some success with colloidal silver, helping the bees to survive the winters.

Sorry I know that we manufacture that stuff and sell it , but that is not the reason why I post it here. Once we have no bees no more on earth we will be having a huge serious problem

So let's take care to the bees

[vidman]

I think they are called boring bees (not sure of spelling but they bore into wood).

[Solar129]

There is some cool stuff on here. So my Job. Well thats a good question. If you ask Emma my future wife she would say not alot as im always around. But i own a Motorcycle training school. We teach people how to ride Motorcycles and test there skills on advanced training and renewal of CBT wich is a requirment by law in the UK. So with that the training school is under a goverment license and there alot of paperwork and rules as usual. Having alot of staff in means i have a lot of time for Astronomy. I earn money out of Astronomy aswell through servicing equipment and running courses on imaging. So my daytime job is Solar Astronomy and the night time job is Astronomy.

[Montana]

OK if we are all sharing our night/day job, I may as well say mine.

I grow human prostate cancer cells all day, care for them, nurture them then try ingenious ways to kill them!

I try my best to help you guys

Alexandra

[vidman]

Bless you Alexandra. I've been told that is one disease that all men get if they live long enough.

[solarchat]

Gary---cool job man. There is another Stephen Ramsden on Facebook (in the UK) that races motorcycles. Cool job..


Alexandra. This touches my heart as I had two very dear friends die in the past two years from prostrate cancer and pancreatitis. In fact, Jon Wood who was my mentor in astronomy and great friend of Theo Ramakers and I died last January and that was a big impetus for me to carry on his generous and caring spirit as best I could with astronomy outreach. The idea for the international club to share resources and equipment sprang out of something I have been doing for almost 2 years now since his death called the "Jon Wood Award".

I have been awarding scopes and cameras to people I meet or hear about who have a flair for sharing the hobby with others. Many of you know my great friend Theo Ramakers. he won an award last year and received a DMK41 camera and a CaK PST. His famous images are shot through his Jon Wood award equipment. Every time I see his work on space weather or wherever else I get all warm and fuzzy knowing that I helped make it possible. He is a local friend and the 2nd hardest working solar outreach guy I know…:)

Here is a lin to the other recipients of the award and what they got…..

Jon Wood Award Winners


Now I have changed this over to the outreach club so that I can get more and more participation.




I guess this would be a good time to announce something really cool.

I just got a directed grant from an anonymous donor to purchase two Pre Meade Coronado 90mm scopes from a VERY reputable person (anonymous) who has been there from the start. These people are doing it for love of outreach and don't want to be mentioned.

I have acquired an original 90mm double stacked scope BF30 and an original 90mm CaK scope from Coronado to use in the outreach. I am about as excited as you can get that this will almost double my capacity for students at each event.

I am passing this on to you guys by distributing some of my stuff to club members. Club member David Stevens is now in possession of a DMK41 camera from the club to broadcast the Sun at his outreach events in Ohio and our favorite friendly newcomer to Solar Chuck Thornton will have a loaner Lunt LS35 Deluxe and PGR flea camera shipped out Monday to start his outreach right in Connecticut.
I am thrilled to loan out this stuff to these up and coming outreach types and want you all to know that I am serious about this stuff and want everyone to get out and get the immense satisfaction that comes from sharing the hobby. If you guys are waiting for some sort of catch or something, there isn't one. I believe in trust and the good in people. We'll see how this program goes and then try and expand it.

If you have a specific need for equipment or whatever and are a club member please post it here and let me see if I can get it or already have it. You would get the stuff to use as long as you are a member and when you upgrade or buy your own, you just return it and it will be redistributed to others in the club… Thats the idea...

[Wissixwe]

I'd like to make a long story short, but if I don't tell this, you might think the missing years were spent in prison or something like that. Got my degree at Drexel University, but only worked for about a year before I got married and had kids. Once my kids were in school, I worked in IT, but then my husband was severely disabled by MS. Had to choose my work or him, and I chose him. Since his death, I've been back to school, and am currently underemployed working in a doctor's office. Astronomy has been my joy, and even when things were really tough, I could still walk outside and see stars. I bet you guys can guess which star is my favorite.

[vidman]

I wish to thank Stephen for his generosity with this club. He claims the things he loans are club property but we are all aware they are owned by him. He is a trusting generous man with an extreme passion to share knowledge and a love of science.

Astronomy can be an expensive hobby. It also can be done without a major expense. We all want the best but have to temper that urge with the reality of a budget. I have found that MOST people in this hobby are very generous in their offers of help. Also, they are quick to let you see what they see thru what they have. I have never been turned away by an astronomer who was looking thru his/her telescope.

I totally understand Wissixwe's claim to finding solace and joy in astronomy. There were many nights I enjoyed the solace and quiet of imaging in the freezing cold while doing the "sissy" part of our hobby. (How I do enjoy that description.) However, when a neighbor views thru the scope or sees an image appear of a DSO on the computer it brings me back to the first time my wife showed me a close view of Saturn. (Robin, my wife, has been into Astronomy for more years then she would want me to say.)

I am sorry I digress. Stephen and Wissixwe touched a soft spot in my heart as I woke up this morning and this was the first forum I read.

[marktownley]

Interesting to read what everyone does...

I'm a secondary school teacher here in the UK - I teach various things at the moment; mainly Product Design (woodwork, metalwork etc), Astronomy, Citizenship and also some art and food lessons too. I'm hoping I can lose the citizenship and pick up some physics in the new academic year. I've also taught maths, ICT and geography at times too - I like having a wide ranging timetable...

[mtlott]

First of all, thanks for the great forum, Stephen!
My "night" job is doing mitochondrial DNA research. I've been curator of a mtDNA database called Mitomap for the past 25+ years. The research group with which I'm associated is now located at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia although it has travelled from the Emory University School of Medicine here in Atlanta, GA to the University of California Irvine before moving to Philly. Let's hear it for being able to work online, not having to schlep around the country every time the boss moves!

[Pedro]

I am a Marine Biologist and a Professor at the University of Lisbon/Portugal (Faculty of Sciences) where I teach Marine Ecology and Biological Oceanography. I have a PhD in Animal Ecology (1984) and my current research interests deal mainly with the study of Plankton and Benthos Ecology. I am also the head of my departament (Animal Biology) which means lots of paper work.

I have been an amateur astronomer for more than 30 years, mainly interested in imaging the heavens (deep-sky but also the solar system). Over the years I have accumulated quite a few telescopes (more than 30). Some are housed in two different observatories (roll-off-roof and dome) located in central Portugal.

Solar astronomy has always been close to my heart. In 2011 I bought two LUNT telescopes: LS152 and LS60 and now I'm hooked for life.

Some of my astro images can be found at:
http://astrosurf.com/re
http://re.apaaweb.com

You can also check my biology webpages:
http://astrosurf.com/re/index_bio.html (Marine Biology)
http://pre.apaa.co.pt/index.html (underwater photography)

I recently became interested in the history of astrophotography and history of the telescope. You can find some articles (portuguese and english) at:

http://astrosurf.com/re/projects.html

best regards

[Derek Klepp]

Pedro that's very interesting I majored in Zooology at Uni of New South Wales. Areas of interest were Population and community Ecology. Ecological and comparitve Phsiology and Evolution. I find it interesting that many people who study the sciences whether they pursue it as a carrer or not often have an associated interest in Astronomy. Like you I am knew to Solar observing and hooked.
Regards Derek