Raffaello Lena was born on 2 September 1959. He has published lunar articles in Icarus, Planetary Space Science, LPSC conferences, JALPO, Selenology, JBAA other than in American and Italian magazines. Over the last decade the Geologic Lunar Research Group that he founded has produced dozens of published studies of lunar domes, faults and transient phenomena. He has been interested in the Moon since he was 10 years old and has progressed from a small Newtonian telescope to high quality scopes (6” Maksutov Cassegrain and a 5” refractor). His first interest in lunar studies is represented by the lunar domes analysis and their classification. He is the coauthor of the book Lunar domes properties and mode of formation published by Springer. He works also on interpretation of TLP and has developed procedures for interpretation of a lunar flash in order to identify if it is of real impact nature. He has been the first Italian to document a lunar impact because it was simultaneously recorded also in Switzerland from other two observing sites (independent and simultaneous observation with a distance of the observatories > 500 km). Whenever possible he listens to jazz and explores Italy’s volcanoes and mountainous geology. He has a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Rome and currently works on food safety.
Maria Teresa Chiocchetta She has published articles in the field of lunar studies and participates in the activity of the Geologic Lunar Research Group. She is the coauthor of the book Lunar domes properties and mode of formation published by Springer. She is interested in the Moon since she was 10 years old and has progressed from a 8” Schmidt Cassegrain to a 10” Maksutov Cassegrain. She lives in Sestri Levante Genova Italy and work in the field of construction engineering.
Michael Wirths My interest in Astronomy started in my early teens when I saved up enough money from mowing my Parents and neigbors lawns to buy a cheap $25 Tasco refractor. Subsequent ownership of other scopes such as driven C-8's and 6" Newts on heavy German equatorial mounts created a sense of frustration in me as I had nobody to guide me in my hobby, but that all changed when I joined the Ottawa Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Through that club and its activities I was able to realize that the relatively low tech driven dobsonian was the path for me. My later to be observing partner and friend Attilla Danko gave me my first ever view through a large dobsonian telescope and I was amazed how much detail and colour could be seen when the seeing allowed, even better than the F-12 superplanetary 5" Astrophysics refractor that I was fortunate to own for a year. Later my experience at the famed Texas Star Party led me to the goto driven Starmasters and the sublime efforts of the master optician Carl Zambuto, these scopes are what I currently observe and image with , specifically a 45 cm (18") Starmaster. Of course during all that time my Wife Pamela Weston and I had been running an equestrian centre for well over a decade but both of us were tiring of the harsh cold Ontario winters but a lucky series of small vacations in northern Baja California Mexico gave us the opportunity to purchase a 500 hectare (1200 acre) piece of land on the periphery of the Sierra San Pedro Martir national park. This area is highly desirable for astronomy due to its clear weather and above average seeing conditions. So it came to pass that we sold everything we had in Canada to start a new adventure with an astro B&B and we are going into our 6th year here in the high Sierra. The last 8 years of my life I have surprisingly been drawn to high resolution lunar/planetary imaging, even though I never had any desire to do so before since I was stricly a visual observer. My involvment with the GLR and LPOD was of course a natural progression since like minded individuals seem to find each other no matter what geographic distance seperates them! Together we are trying to push the boundaries of what is possible for amatuers to achieve, who knows where this path will take us!
Michael Wirths My interest in Astronomy started in my early teens when I saved up enough money from mowing my Parents and neigbors lawns to buy a cheap $25 Tasco refractor. Subsequent ownership of other scopes such as driven C-8's and 6" Newts on heavy German equatorial mounts created a sense of frustration in me as I had nobody to guide me in my hobby, but that all changed when I joined the Ottawa Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Through that club and its activities I was able to realize that the relatively low tech driven dobsonian was the path for me. My later to be observing partner and friend Attilla Danko gave me my first ever view through a large dobsonian telescope and I was amazed how much detail and colour could be seen when the seeing allowed, even better than the F-12 superplanetary 5" Astrophysics refractor that I was fortunate to own for a year. Later my experience at the famed Texas Star Party led me to the goto driven Starmasters and the sublime efforts of the master optician Carl Zambuto, these scopes are what I currently observe and image with , specifically a 45 cm (18") Starmaster. Of course during all that time my Wife Pamela Weston and I had been running an equestrian centre for well over a decade but both of us were tiring of the harsh cold Ontario winters but a lucky series of small vacations in northern Baja California Mexico gave us the opportunity to purchase a 500 hectare (1200 acre) piece of land on the periphery of the Sierra San Pedro Martir national park. This area is highly desirable for astronomy due to its clear weather and above average seeing conditions. So it came to pass that we sold everything we had in Canada to start a new adventure with an astro B&B and we are going into our 6th year here in the high Sierra. The last 8 years of my life I have surprisingly been drawn to high resolution lunar/planetary imaging, even though I never had any desire to do so before since I was stricly a visual observer. My involvment with the GLR and LPOD was of course a natural progression since like minded individuals seem to find each other no matter what geographic distance seperates them! Together we are trying to push the boundaries of what is possible for amatuers to achieve, who knows where this path will take us!
Paolo Lazzarotti I was born in 1973 in Massa, Tuscany, and I started my passion with Astronomy in 1995 when the beatiful Hale-Bopp comet appeared in the sky and caught my attention. Hence, I observed and imaged anything crossing the sky but the light pollution here narrowed my interest in the planetary field only. My interest with Planets and the Moon grown up quickly over years and now I even built by myself a dedicated instrument for the hires study of the Solar System, including the Moon. I'm contributor with GLR group since many years and co-author with lots of their lunar researches and lunar articles.
James Phillips has been interested in Astronomy for most of his life. He lives in South Carolina, USA. He was lucky enough to have a Mom who knew of his interest in astronomy and his desire to have his own telescope. That was enough for Jim. While wanting to observe as many things as possible with my telescopes, the Moon, planets and double stars became my primary objects of interest. His telescopes grew as did his interest in amateur astronomy. In next years he was able to buy an R.E. Brandt achromatic doublet which was made into a telescope using irrigation pipe by Tom Dobbins. He had read about Lunar Domes by Patrick Moore (of course). Jim tried to join the ALPO lunar Dome program but found it no longer existed. At the suggestion of John Westfall the head of ALPO at the time, he started the New Lunar Dome Survey of the ALPO. This lasted for several years ending up with a catalog of lunar domes. It was not a complete list nor nearly as accurate as he had hoped but it was a start. About this time Jim started corresponding with Raffaello Lena the founder of the GLR (Geologic Lunar Research group), which wanted to continue the work on Lunar Domes to complete an accurate catalog, establishing a lasting friendship. He is interested in the GLR because the observers are so friendly and there is real work going on that I can contribute to. He is the coauthor of the book Lunar domes properties and mode of formation published by Springer. Today He observe and image with an AP 10" F/14.6 Maksutov-Cassegrain and an APM/TMB 10" F/9 apochromatic refractor with LZOS triplet lens, and uses Skynyx cameras plus Registax and Photoshop for processing.
Stefan Buda I was born in 1958 in the Eastern Bloc and I had a fascination with technology from the earliest age. When Apollo 8 flew around the Moon I was captivated by the news on the radio and never stopped following space news ever since. In my early teens I found an old booklet, in a dusty attic, that started with a vivid description of Schiaparelli observing the planet Mars and discovering "canali", then the story moved on to Lowell and all the speculation about life on Mars. I was enthralled! It did not take long before I was able to see craters on the Moon with a telescope I made from an uncut ophthalmic lens, a cardboard tube and a small magnifier. After finishing my formal education in mechanical engineering and completing my compulsory military service, at the age of 23, I put my life on the line and escaped across the Iron Curtain to the West. A few months later I found freedom in Melbourne, Australia where I've been living since. I ground my first telescope mirror in 1985, in time to observe Halley's comet with it. That was followed by many other telescopes and astrographs of increasing complexity. In the late 1990s I started experimenting with electronic imaging of the planets, first with video and then with home made CCD cameras and finally moving onto webcams. My targets were mainly the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The Moon became interesting again for me more recently when I realized that the latest generation of frame stacking software can do an amazingly good job of unscrambling atmospheric distortions.
George Tarsoudis He was born on 7 November 1970 at the Basel (Switzerland). Since 1978 he lives in Alexandroupolis (Greece).
He started passion with Astronomy in 2004 and he was one of the founding members of the Thrace Amateur Astronomy Club (TAAC).
He is a Lunar and Planetary observer and now he has a Skywatcher Telescope BK DOB14" Collapsible 355mm @f/4.5. His recent images are at the link of his website:
http://www.lunar-captures.com//Skywatcher_14inch.html
He has 66 Lunar Photo of the day (LPOD) and some publications at Magazines & Books. Moreover some his images are included in "The Astronomy Photographer of the Year book" from the Royal Observatory Greenwich. He works for Selenology Today Journal of GLR group (as publisher and editor) and has done some lectures for dissemination of astronomy to the general public.
He started passion with Astronomy in 2004 and he was one of the founding members of the Thrace Amateur Astronomy Club (TAAC).
He is a Lunar and Planetary observer and now he has a Skywatcher Telescope BK DOB14" Collapsible 355mm @f/4.5. His recent images are at the link of his website:
http://www.lunar-captures.com//Skywatcher_14inch.html
He has 66 Lunar Photo of the day (LPOD) and some publications at Magazines & Books. Moreover some his images are included in "The Astronomy Photographer of the Year book" from the Royal Observatory Greenwich. He works for Selenology Today Journal of GLR group (as publisher and editor) and has done some lectures for dissemination of astronomy to the general public.
