Growing up in Westport, Connecticut, I was interested in space-related subjects from an early age--science fiction, model rocketry, the press coverage of the Ranger/Gemini/Apollo/Mariner etc. missions. I got my first telescope in 1972. I was most interested in observing planets, comets, asteroids, though I love deep sky as well. In 1975-76 I helped found the Westport Astronomical Society; we converted a defunct Nike missile site into Rolnick Observatory.
In college, I took some astronomy classes, though I ended up majoring in creative writing/literature. I've spent my career in publishing, in production for Springer-Verlag from 1986-2003, and as an editor for PC Magazine (now PCMag.com) since 2004. Whenever I can, I wrote about space and astronomy topics for my company's blog, Gearlog. My "What's Up" column has appeared in Eyepiece, the monthly newsletter of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York, since the early 1990s. My astronomy writings have appeared in other publications, most notably an article titled The Booming Science of Sungrazing Comets, which I co-wrote with Brian G. Marsden, which appeared in the August 2005 Sky & Telescope.
Since graduating college in 1980 I have lived in New York City, so I've had to make the best of limited observing opportunities (especially since until 2006 I did not own a car). I belong to both the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York, for which I serve on the board of directors, and the Custer Institute in eastern Long Island. I observe with a Stellarvue SD102ED as well as various binoculars ranging form 35mm to 100mm. I'm an astrophotographer, generally using a Canon Rebel XTi. My favorite observing target is comets; I've seen about 35 of them, starting with Kohoutek in 1974. I've been active in online astronomy projects, including finding sungrazing comet fragments in images in SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and a near-Earth asteroid as a volunteer reviewer for the Spacewatch FMO Project.
Over the years I've observed numerous spacecraft flyovers (Skylab, MIR, ISS, Space Shuttle, and more), including several Shuttle launches from NYC when they fire them up the coast at night and we catch the last 2 minutes or so before MECO when the shuttle clears the horizon. I'm looking forward to my first up-close launch from the Kennedy Space Shuttle, of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) as a Twitter correspondent, and hope to catch the launch of the Shuttle (STS-130) when I'm there as well.
