RiverStar

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RiverStar Observatory was born in the year 2020. The culmination of a lifelong journey.

A great Saturn and Jupiter conjunction happens every 20 years. And so it is with my life in Astronomy. 

The year 1980 - I found out there was an observatory in Lincoln, NE, and just three miles from my home! Nothing could keep me away from Hyde Observatory each weekend. Looking at the stars and gazing through the telescopes. The Prairie Astronomy Club was a great resource to a young 13 year old mind. A great Saturn and Jupiter conjunction that happened thrice! Because of retrograde motion we saw Jupiter and Saturn come together 3 times, and likened the event to something that might guide the wisemen in the right direction. Not really a Christmas star, but a Christmas "event" that would call wisemen forth to follow.  I attended the observatory every weekend and over time grew up the ranks of the astronomy club to become President. About 8 years later I was off on many other adventures.

The year 2000 - After a few years of little to no interest in Astronomy, suddenly something pulled me back into the fold. Next thing I know, a great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is happening again. I go to California to get a job with Meade Instruments and get involved in everything astronomy again. Completely submerging myself in the world of marketing telescopes and astronomical equipment. I became the product manager of the ETX line of telescopes as well as the LXD75 line and all small retail telescopes under $1,000. My product management duties also included all lines of binoculars and CCD cameras (Pictor, Lunar Planetary Imager, and Deep Sky Imager cameras). Quite a fun time to be living a dream surrounded by every size and shape of telescope one could imagine. I left Meade in 2008 to pursue new adventures in Marketing.

The year 2020 -  Something "clicked" inside me and it was time to purchase my "dream" telescope. On March 2, 2020 I purchased a 6" APO Refractor from Explore Scientific. Little did I know that at the end of this year would be the closest conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 800 years. This was the year of the pandemic and nowhere to go. It was time to look within, and realize that the backyard was a small paradise during lockdown. The bug caught me again, and I bought a telescope to go deep into visual observing. This was the year when we observed Jupiter and Saturn in the same eyepiece at 300 power!! They were so close, they looked like a single star to my aging eyes. 

The Year 2040 - The next Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. I'll predict that I will be there with scopes and cameras to record the event. I'll be 74 years old for this one, so still some time to go. I hope you'll be there with me.