For the past 30 years...

I've had a fascination with the Night Sky. It began in a very odd sort of way exploring the claims that the earth was young. I had been taught to believe it was less than 50,000 years old.  It only took a week of reading both earth and astronomy science to discard that idea.

But then I realized, 'Hey, I could be seeing these things up in the sky!' 

Soon after I bought a pretty lousy 2 1/2" scope and pointed it at the Pleaides. I was astonished at seeing over 100 stars where my unaided eye only saw 7! 

After that, I started planning for the future by memorizing star charts. When I was ready, I purchased at 10" Schmidt Cassegrain. Although it had computerized GoTo capabilities, I was very glad to have taken 2 solid months to learn the wonderful night sky.

As my children were growing up, I took a break from the hobby. When they were both older, I took up the hobby again in 2018.

I didn't take long to get rehooked with a Trip to Sedona, Arizona where the skies are very dark!  With my wife Valaree's patience with this crazy hobby, even on trips, I started taking long exposures on tripods and soon bought a Star Tracker for my Canon 6D.

Today, I do most of my astrophotography from my backyard as well as the occasional trip with my fellow amateur astronomers from the Fox Valley Astronomical Society.

A Little More About Me

Being a Christian and and ancient universe believer puts me in the odd position of seeing the understandable tension between the religious community and the scientific community. I believe the damage inflicted by the religious community, particularly the Christian organized religion had much to answer for. I so many good friends who want nothing to do with Jesus because of those who claim to follow him but show by their 'fruitage' something completely different.

My hope is that by my actions and words, those who don't believe like I do can see who Jesus is supposed to be.

I am also a software developer by trade as well as volunteering dozens of hours per week serving in my church, including running all the tech and speaking 10-12 times per year in a non-paid, lay ministerial church.

A Note of Appreciation

I can't say thank you enough to some of my mentors and fellow sharers in the hobby today.

Without the influence of Herman Zwirn and Mark Christensen, I probably wouldn't have gotten into astrophotography.

Today's influencers, includes my newer friends from Michigan: Doug Bock, Awni Hafedh, Tony Licita, Stephen Brisbey. I share their work on Facebook for others to see.

I also appreciate my local influencers, Walter Torres and Greg Cisco.

Lastly, I can't say enough about my best friend and wife, Valaree. What a blessing it is to have someone you want to be with all the time share everything in life. Val has supported me through the crazy nights of sleeplessness, trips alone to MI and many nights away with FVAS for meetings and star parties.

- Andy Weeks aka, AstrophotoAndy