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The quest for understanding the basic nature of the Universe is at the heart of every astronomer's quest for knowlege.

For me it is more that just a hobby. I'll be walking in the graduation ceremonies this May, 1997, with my degree in my hand and the future wide open.

One of the neat things that I've picked up along the way was an interest in telescopes. My grandfather built his first one (including grinding the mirror himself) in Germany when my father was still a boy. As I grew up, I also was endowed with the curiosity of the stars. In turn, following in my G'dad's footsteps, have refurbished an abandoned Cave Optics 8 inch research quality telescope that I got from the daughter of a deceased enthusiast.

My telescoping curiosity also extends to the realm of CCD cameras. I am working my way through school by working at the CCD Lab of SDSU. I program "CCDTOOL" which is the software that runs the controllers of the CCD's which come out of the Lab. I've also updated a custom control for the 40" Mount Laguna telescope, where I'm doing my Senior Project.

Here is an example of what can be done with CCD's and the programs to reduce the raw data into usable form:

False color comet image
This is an image taken of comet Hyakutake on March 24, 1996 which shows the intensities of the comet in false color. Notice how the light drops off in the tail, and crunches together in the coma, or the "head". On the extreme right, you can see the next luminosity line drop off. However, we can't see the nucleus of the comet. We can't see it with our own eyes, but the CCD can pick it out quite easily. The next plot is the 3-D rendering of the light intensity vs. the position on the ccd. The higher the curve, the brighter the source. Notice the faint tail coming off the comet, and the star spikes, then if you look to the center of the comet bulge, you can quite clearly see the spike that is the nucleus, right where it is theorized to be.
Light Curve