People often ask me how I got interested in astronomy. I really can’t recall a single event; seems I’ve always been interested in the sky. But I do credit the Corpus Christi Astronomical Society with nurturing and enhancing that interest. I have many fond memories of my membership, too many to detail here. If memory serves, I joined the club sometime in 1966. The first club observing session I attended was held somewhere on a dark country road west of Corpus Christi. I remember how knocked out I was that someone owned a 10-inch reflector! Over the years I wrote a number of articles and stories (not too good) for the Skylight, which was folded into a club magazine called Star To Star. I expect that’s long gone, now, though I still have a few copies. Since we convened in the King High Planetarium, and since I went to high school at King, I got to know CCAS members Lad Donnan (planetarium director) and Clyde Bone (who taught astronomy at King) pretty well. Lad encouraged Virgil Rudd (another member and observing companion) and I to work in the planetarium giving little shows, like the venerable, “Christmas Star.” In January 1974, Virgil and I wrote and produced a planetarium show to promote how fantastic Comet Kohoutek was going to be. (We even got our picture in the paper!) Of course, Comet Kohoutek turned out to be one of the biggest celestsial busts of the century. Fortunately, I left town about that time to return to college.

     Public moonwatches at Parkdale Plaza (a more happening place in those days), observing from the roof of an abandoned radar tower jutting a hundred feet out of the cornfields of West Corpus Christi, and many nights and wee hours spent earning my Messier Certificate (#55), which I finally received in October 1969—these are just a few of the warm and fuzzy memories I recall from my time with the CCAS. One person I remember most fondly is Gordon McLerran, who was a very big influence on me. He also told some remarkably funny jokes!

     I must have gotten more than I bargained for at the CCAS because I went on to work as an editor at both Astronomy and StarDate magazines, and to write articles for Sky &Telescope, New Scientist, and Nature magazines, as well as new stories and a daily sky watch column for Space.com. I am also the author of several astronomy books (which people actually buy!). Two of my most recent are Chasing Hubble’s Shadows: The Search for Galaxies at the Edge of Time (Hill and Wang, 2006) and, with Dennis Webb, The Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies: A Chronicle and Observer’s Guide (Willmann-Bell, Inc., 2006). My next book, coming out this fall, is called The Cosmic Connection: How Astronomical Events Impact Life on Earth (Prometheus Books).

     Today I live with my wife Alexandra Witze (herself a science writer and editor) near Gaithersburg, Maryland, just outside the D.C. beltway. I observe with a 4-inch refractor and a 15-inch Obsession, but I must admit that the skies from my backyard are not the best for deep-sky work. I can, however, highly recommend certain locales in West Virginia, Spruce Knob being the best.

     I consider it an honor to be an alumnus of the Corpus Christi Astronomical Society. I was very fortunate to have received encouragement and support from its membership so many years ago. From what I can gather by reading through the club’s web pages, it sounds like it’s still a terrific astronomy club. Keep it up!