I started life at a very young age....spent 4 years in the Air Force....fixed guidance and control systems on air to air missiles. One tour in Viet Nam....DaNang, RVN.

Spent 11 years as an Auto Mechanic, and then 21 years working for Snap-on Tools selling and training on Automotive Test Equipment. Also, trying to teach know-it alls on how the cars work...(this is almost an impossible task now-adays----not on how the cars work, but getting the young guys to listen).

Hobbies include back-packing (until the back went bad), scuba diving, bicycling, fixing up old cars (it's a mechanic thing), Photography, Astrophotography, electronics, and in general making/fixin' things. I'm also a Christian and love talking about the things of God.

My newest love (about three years now) is the Astrophotography. I believe I am just starting to learn what it takes to make a nice image, and I love helping others to improve their images. I have a modest setup, compared to the big guys, but am pleased with what I am starting to acquire with it.

I retired three years ago....53 years old.....and am now really enjoying my last few years on earth.....however long those might be. We just built a new home in Oregon and I have a beautiful wife (35 years now) who shares my life with me.......( and she still likes me.....surprises me also).

Kristi strives to bring glory to God each day in Nashville, Tennessee where she is happily married to her husband Vincent, the owner and administrator of the Our Dark Skies Web Community, and is the proud mother of their son Timothy. She graduated from Georgian Court University and holds two baccalaureate degrees in Elementary Education and Mathematics. In addition to her contributions to “The Adventures of Robby the Astrodude”, she enjoys her sole prestigious occupation as Stay-At-Home Mother and being an active singer in the “Voices of Praise” choir at Two Rivers Baptist Church.

My Name is Kostian Iftica. I was born and lived the majority of my early years in Korce, Albania. The skies back in my homeland were extremely dark and light pollution wasn't a problem. My parents have told me that i used to climb out the window and sit outside on the lawn and stare at the moon. I moved to Boston, Massachusetts in the early spring of 2001. After using a computer for the first time I realized that i started spending countless hours in front of one. That was beneficial because when the Mars close approach in 2003 was announced on the news, my interest in astronomy got sparked again and i went on line and found a forum with very helpful members who helped me choose telescope that i have yet to regret buying. I currently own an 8" Hardin Dobsonian telescope. I have my own website where I post pictures that i take of the night sky through my telescope or just with a camera. Check it out at www.explorethecosmos.com

I’ve been seriously dedicated to astronomy and astrophotography since 2003 but my fascination with the night sky started at a very early age.

Currently I use a Meade LXD55, 5 inch Achro refractor and Meade 10” LX200 GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain. I enjoy prime focus photography with both scopes as well as piggyback imaging using a 100-400mm telephoto lens and the LX200.

Just over a year ago I founded my area’s first and only astronomy club and have made some great friends in the process. I help out with the design and graphics here at ODS when I’m not behind the camera, telescope or both. My background is in advertising design/illustration and art direction.

My other hobbies include wildlife photography, drawing, painting, running, fishing, and anything that involves nature and spending time outdoors.

My oldest memory related to astronomy is the Apollo 11 mission to land on the Moon when I was five years old. I was fascinated by this and the following lunar landings. A few books were given to me about Apollo then, and I still have one in my collection. Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and the early days of the Shuttle program kept me fixed to what NASA was doing, but I had a severe bias towards the hardware and not the science because I am also an aircraft enthusiast. The Viking Landers had shown me that there was more to manned spaceflight, but the Voyager missions caught my attention permanently in regards to robotic space exploration. I watched as many television programs as I could about space, and still do, with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos being the most memorable during my youth. Now, I subscribe to several space related magazines and belong to a few organizations that promote space exploration.

Also in the mid-1970s, I had my first look through a telescope. It was a friend’s large reflector, and he showed me Saturn. Wow! What a view! However, it wasn’t until 1990 that my wife bought a small refractor for me to use. I used it only occasionally because it had terrible chromatic aberration, but it showed me the Moon and the Great Comets of the late 1990s–but it was mostly used as a living room decoration. Then in 2001, I made the big jump to a large reflector of my own, a Meade 12.5" Starfinder Dobsonian. I figured this would be, like my small refractor, the only telescope I would own for the next ten years. So, in the past five years I have acquired Orion 30x80 binoculars, a Coronado PST, A Konusmotor 500 reflector, and a Meade ETX 90, and all the accessories that seem to collect around such instruments. With this telescope fleet, I am currently working on several of the observing lists offered by the Astronomical League.

My background also includes degrees in Geography and Anthropology. I was in the US Army from 1983 to 1991. My hobbies include astronomy, aviation, science fiction, history, and automotive repair. I am an adequate do-it-yourself ’er around the home and the world’s worst photographer. I currently live in Boulder City, Nevada, with my wife and three children who share with me some of the darkest skies in the USA.