About the Author

I have been writing books since 1992. See my bibliography for a list of books I have written since then.

I got my start in astronomy back in college, when I just happened to need a few "easy" credits and wound up taking an astronomy course. After my first glance through a telescope (the school's Questar 7), I was seriously hooked. Instead of a final paper, I took photos of the sun, moon, and planets through my trusty Minolta SRT-101 at prime focus, and presented a talk to the class with supporting slides.

I dreamed of owning fancy equipment like the Questar, but didn't purchase a large scope until many years later, a 10" Dob. Unfortunately, I lived on the lee side of the Olympic mountain range in Washington, and turbulence and light pollution limited my viewing. When we finally moved to darker skies, I basically went nuts and have been buying and trying a wide variety of telescopes and CCD cameras. I enjoy CCD imaging more than anything else I've ever tried.

I work for Anacortes Telescope, where I answer questions and help with just about everything that needs doing. Please visit , which I built in my former incarnation as a computer consultant.

I decided to write The New Astronomy because there wasn't a book that met the needs of beginners to the hobby. I hope that readers will find the same joy and exhilaration in CCD imaging that I do. The wonders of galaxies and nebulae, planets, sun, and moon -- it's all right there for the CCD imager.

- Ron Wodaski