I have been an astrophotographer for over a quarter century. I started out with a local group in Wisconsin, and soon realized the need to move to darker skies. We moved our equipment a few times and ended up in Animas, NM, where we ran our equipment remotely for many years. Then in 2020 we moved our equipment to El Sauce, Chile in the southern hemisphere.
While I don't possess any formal astronomy degree, my photos have been seen in the Albuquerque Museum and Astronomy Magazine. I have also had photos on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) and in 2014 I was presented the first place award in the robotic telescope category through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year. I also work for PlaneWave Instruments setting up and performing ongoing maintenance on observatories and equipment of all sizes.
For the last few years I have been involved with a small team of amateur astronomers that search for minor galaxy merger remnants with an international team of astronomers and astrophysicists, led by Dr. David Martínez-Delgado of Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie. They take very deep images to reveal stellar tidal streams which are debris of smaller dwarf galaxies left during the process of being absorbed by larger galaxies.
I am also the owner of Algae Free, LLC, an aquarium products manufacturing company and Hanson Astrophotography. When I’m not working, imaging, or processing, I enjoy golfing.
Here is an article that’s in December 2018 Astronomy Magazine that tells a bit more about my journey into astrophotography.
