Astronomers

Bernard Miller

Phoenix, Arizona

My name is Bernard Miller. I am a retired electronic design engineer. I live in Phoenix, Arizona with my wife Janine. We have two grown children, Matt and Ben, who live in the Phoenix area.

I became interested in astronomy in 2006 when I helped my son Ben with a school astronomy project. He had to check out a telescope and locate and view several deep sky objects. That experience lead me to purchase a Celestron CPC-1100 that I used to do visual observing with my son Ben. Someone showed me how to put a DSLR camera on my CPC-1100 and my obsession with astrophotography was born. I got tired of driving outside town to image with a mobile setup and acquired a permanent observatory in New Mexico away from the city lights. My initial setup was a TEC-140 APO on an Astro-Physics AP900 GTO mount with an SBIG ST8300 camera. In 2017, I upgraded to my current setup which is a Planewave CDK-17 on a Paramount ME mount, with an FLI PL16803 camera. Over the years I have gained better data acquisition and processing knowledge and many of my images have been published in Astronomy Magazine, Sky and Telescope Website, and the NASA APOD website.

Gregg Ruppel

Tucson, Arizona

My name is Gregg Ruppel. I lived in St. Louis for most of my life, but I retired in 2013 and relocated to Tucson in 2017. I am married and have a son and two daughters. I am a graduate of St. Louis University (biology), University of Chicago (respiratory therapy) and Washington University (education). I worked as the Director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory at St. Louis University Hospital for 34 years and retired in 2013. I serve in several professional organizations dealing with respiratory care and lung function testing. I am an adjunct professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at St. Louis University School of Medicine.

I have been interested in astronomy since the early sixties. I use several telescopes, including an AstroSystem Austria N10 astrograph, a Celestron C11 and a Takahashi FSQ 106N. In 2016 I moved my imaging system to a robotic observatory located at Dark Sky New Mexico near Animas, NM. I also do some lunar/planetary imaging from my backyard in Tucson. I’m a member of the Eureka Observers Club, the St. Louis Astronomical Society, Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri (ASEM), and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA), where I serve as coordinator of the astroimaging special interest group.

Brian Paczkowski

Inspired by NASA’s Gemini and Apollo missions, I developed a fascination with the planets and the universe at an early age. That passion led me to Villanova University, where I earned a B.S. degree in Astronomy and gained hands-on experience operating telescopes for stellar photometry and modeling. I later continued my graduate studies at The Ohio State University.

I began my career at Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an Imaging Photoscientist on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter. Over the course of a 43-year career at JPL, I’ve had the privilege of contributing to multiple outer planet missions exploring Saturn, Jupiter, and Europa. Today, I serve as the Science Manager for the Europa Clipper mission, currently on its journey to Jupiter and its icy moon Europa.

Beyond my professional work, I’m an active member of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and an avid astrophotographer. In the past, much of my imaging has been done from our Bortle 3–4 dark-sky site in Frazier Park, California. In 2020, I transitioned my equipment to a permanent remote observatory at Dark Sky New Mexico — a truly exceptional dark-sky location for deep-sky astrophotography.

Geoff

An image toward the NASA Artemis-Orion spacecraft when it was 85% of the way to the Moon. The arrow points to the spacecraft. Four humans are in that dot. Specs: DeltaRho500, no filter, 8 sec, 15′ x 20’. Credit: Space Laser Awareness

Tinchi Lee

I’ve been interested in amateur astronomy since I was in elementary school. Having lived only in big cities, however, severely curtailed my astronomy ventures to the occasional stargazing trips to barely dark sites (Bortle 5-6). Recent advances in sensors, fast optics, and narrowband filters had allowed me to attempt imaging in my Bortle 9 backyard in New York City. The results were encouraging, but I could only image for several hours every month between the constraints of time, work commitment, weather, and moon phases. Setup and tear-down of the imaging equipment took as much time as I could gather photons during every session.

DSNM not only provides access to the darkest skies but also the convenience of a permanent setup, ready to go on moment’s notice. Imaging sessions can be planned remotely during the bus commute (through my smartphone!), and I enjoyed more imaging time the first month there than in my previous year at home. My equipment gets used every clear, moonless night as opposed to spending most of its time in the house. I’m still very much a novice in image processing but DSNM makes data collection fun and easy.

Dan Crowson

Dan Crowson is the head of IT for a national telecommunications equipment reseller headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri. Dan’s interest in astronomy started with a Tasco that he can’t ever remember seeing anything through. After a long hiatus, he took a couple of college classes on astronomy and purchased a telescope in 2011. After not being able to see much because of light pollution, he started taking images. Dan currently heads up the Imaging SIG for the Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri and has over 160 images published. “Dark Sky New Mexico is the premier astronomy site for astronomers with or without a budget. You can’t beat the value or the skies,” he says.

Rex Groves

Rex Groves is a scientific consultant for private industry and the Federal Government. Rex’s interest in astronomy started very young with a 60mm refractor where he spent many nights chasing Messier objects. After acquiring physics degrees and working at General Electric for some time, he moved to consulting and bought a Meade 12” Schmitt Cassegrain and then acquired a 6” Takahashi refractor. He then discovered a love of imaging and built his first CCD camera. He now shares a 20” Planewave iDK with fellow DSNM member Al Acker and enjoys the dark skies of Animas, NM. He mentions, “You can’t place a value on these dark, dry skies,”.

Mark Theisen and Joe Ziha

Amateur Astronomers with a telescope at Dark Sky, New Mexico. This is an image of the bright cloud LBN531 and the reflection nebula VdB152, known as the “Wolf’s Cave Nebula”. It was the cover picture on the Sep. 2025 issue of the Reflector Magazine. Copyright Mark Theissen and Joe Ziha.

Robert Nelson

I got obsessed with Astronomy after accidentally finding Saturn thru an old ETX-125 in 1998, but due to life circumstances, was not able to get seriously involved in Astronomy (and Astrophotography in particular) until 2020. The first target I searched for was Saturn, and there it was, like it was an old friend who had been patiently waiting for me to reconnect. Since then I’ve gone thru a bunch of scopes/mounts/cameras, and gone thru even more money!!!

I made the move to DSNM in May 2026 because my previous remote location did not have the great weather and skies that DSNM provides. My wife and I drove my equipment 611 miles to Animas and immediately felt comfortable with Michael and Diana, and all the other astro fanatics at the supper table that night.

When I’m not photographing the heavens, I spend my time in my music studio, taking care of the Zoo that is our home (LOTS of pets), long range shooting, and trying to stay in the good graces of my wonderful wife.

Richard Whitehead

Vermont

Richard Whitehead had always been fascinated about astronomy since childhood, but it wasn’t until the pandemic and the fact that he purchased a simple sky tracker and looking for a socially distanced hobby that he setup a tripod and photographed the Orion Nebula. That first blurry image was the start of a journey that led, five years later, to many awards and published work.

Living in Vermont where the skies are often cloudy meant a remote observatory was a natural choice.
Richard’s background encompasses radiology, the pharmaceutical industry, and he currently is CEO of a specialist software company. His interests include travel, motorcycling and like many astrophotographers is also a musician. He is usually on site a couple of times a year for maintenance
projects and also to enjoy the peace and beauty of the New Mexico desert and to see the wonderful skies firsthand.

Richard has two telescopes as DSNM and concentrates mainly on deep sky objects but also has published work on galaxies and comets.
The astrograph shown here was a recent NASA APOD (Astronomy Picture of the day) winner.