Alan DyerBlogger for "What's Up? Astronomy," Astrophotographer, Writer
Alan Dyer Me, just moments after seeing a total eclipse of the Sun from the desert sands of Libya.
If you want to know who I am, you really need to know only one thing -- I love the sky. I find it endlessly fascinating. I've been exploring "what's up" all my life and have never exhausted all the sky can show. It always presents new and amazing sights that evoke a "wow!" You can't be a cynic if you're a lover of the sky. The sky governs where I live -- my home is far from city lights, out on the Alberta prairie where I can see the horizon to watch things rising and setting, and see the Milky Way, northern lights, and other subtleties of the night washed out by urban waste lighting. The sky governs where I go on vacation -- often to even darker-sky locations in places like Australia where I see a whole new sky. I love chasing eclipses, of the solar kind, to watch the Sun go dark at midday. Chasing the moon's shadow has taken me to six continents, including Antarctica, to witness total eclipses from the ground, from the air, and from ships at sea. The sky governs where I work -- for much of my career I've been employed at planetariums, writing and producing shows about the sky, and presenting talks, courses and telescope sessions to encourage others to look up. But I also write for the likes of Sky and Telescope and SkyNews magazines, and I've also co-authored books (e.g. the new edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide). I even have an asteroid (#78434) that's named for me. Pretty neat that there's a chunk of rock orbiting the Sun named Dyer -- but don't worry, it will never hit Earth! Read Alan's "What's Up?" astronomy blog to find out where to aim your peepers when the sun goes down. |
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