Astro-imaging by Paul Di Bono

Welcome to my personal website. My interest in developing this website is to share my enthusiasm for the night sky and its endless wonders. I hope you find something of interest here, and that it will further your pursuit of astronomy as a hobby or pique your interest in the physical origin and makeup of the universe. Paul "If astronomy is the oldest of the sciences, surely amateur astronomy may rightfully be the oldest of the scientific hobbies. No one can date that remote epoch when astronomy "began"- we can say only that the fascination with the heavens is as old as man’s ability to think; as ancient as his capacity to wonder and to dream. And in any company with most of the special enchantments of human life, the unique appeal of astronomy is incommunicable, easily understood through direct experience, but not to be precisely defined or explained. The appeal of astronomy is both intellectual and aesthetic; it combines the thrill of exploration and discovery, the fun of sight-seeing, and the sheer pleasure with firsthand acquaintance with incredibly wonderful and beautiful things. But it also offers the privilege, not to be taken lightly, of adding something to the knowledge and understanding of man. There is one other factor which I think deserves comment. An amateur, in the true meaning of the word, is one who pursues a study or interest for sheer love of the subject; and in this respect the division between professionals and amateurs is indeed indefinite. We are all impelled by the same wonder and curiosity, we are all exploring the same universe, and we all have the enviable opportunity of contributing something to the store of human knowledge."  ...Excerpted from the Introduction to Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Robert Burnham, Jr., Dover Publications, Revised 1978.   Visitors to my web page since 2/07/2003: