Bill the Sky Guy's Story
Bill the Sky Guy
Sharing my passion for science, astrophotography &
observing the heavens with new astronomers.
Scroll down for the main page…
Bill the Sky Guy's Story
Bill the Sky Guy
Sharing my passion for science, astrophotography &
observing the heavens with new astronomers.
Scroll down for the main page…
Welcome to Bill the Sky Guy!
I established this site to be a resource for young and beginning astronomers with tips, advice, techniques and information and also to provide a continuing point of contact with people who have been to one of my stargazes and would like to keep in touch. I also blog about and display my astrophotos here, some of which are available for sale!
I talk to roughly 150 people a week about space, the sky, astronomy and some of the really cool things going on "up there" through my public stargazes at the Marriott VacationClub properties here on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
I put this site together to provide a centralized resource for people getting started in amateur astronomy to hear about many different facets of this rewarding hobby, from the ‘nuts and bolts’ aspect of it regarding equipment selection to advice on what to look at and how to observe better and appreciate what you observe more.
What's On Here?
Frequently Asked Questions
My stargazes are informal events where we stand around and talk about things having to do with space, the sky etc. and often people will ask me questions about something they've heard in the news recently or some fact about the sky and constellations they'd like clarified which results in me hearing many of the same questions every week. I'm not really bothered by this because it gives me a sense of what kind of things people know and care about when you're just a "normal" person and not focused on this stuff the way I am. Many of these common questions are addressed in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) part of the site, hopefully in better clarity and detail than I can manage during a public stargaze.
My Scope
To get you familiar with what kind of equipment is out there and how to go about selecting what's right for you, I have written up a complete history of the thirty years I've had my scope and talk about what accessories I bought and why I bought them, what challenges were presented to me by my gear and what my solution ended up being to those problems.
What to Look At
One of the early hurdles I had to overcome was to pick things to look at that were both within the reach of my instrument but also were rewarding visually as well since I had to find them all manually ‘back in the day’ before computer controlled scopes were common. I have gone through and selected a few of the really choice ‘must see’ objects, provided finder charts and background information on the objects to get you started.
Astroblog
I keep a blog that I post to whenever something significant happens with either my astrophotos, my equipment setup, an event I'm involved in or some piece of news I want to comment on.
Photos
I'm going to feature a gallery of my ongoing (and recently renewed) fascination with Astrophotography, and would be happy to post any photos contributed by my visitors. I have joined the computer age and recently purchased a digital CCD camera and auto-guiding software so hopefully this new chapter in trying to photograph galaxies and nebulae will be the fruition of 30 years of off and on half successes and a few lucky accidents!
Other Resources
I also have a page full of links to various online resources for a variety of things ranging from educational, to equipment vendors to software publishers of space and science programs.
Search the Sky Guy Site
My ‘Space Music’ Playlist
This is my playlist of songs that have to do with the Moon, Sun, planets, space, time, astronomy, paticle physics (who writes music about particle physics???) or music that's just spacey!
I play this list at all my public stargazes and even absent the spacey organizational scheme, it's an eclectic batch of great music ranging from Sinatra to the Red Hot Chili Peppers!
Scroll and double click on a song to play…
You can visit the public playlist on Spotify itself on this link
SkyGuy News
Trip to Namibia, Africa was amazing, trip of a lifetime!
This was an amazing adventure in so many ways. While I was there I wrote many blog posts and made 30 videos, all posted int he blog section here, link is below.
Here’s the link to the blog section of this website: Africa Trip Blog
New Observatory: operational!
Huge News! The Observatory “went live” more or less in mid-November 2021 and has been turning out some good photos while I work on getting my methods and procedures together so i can use it effectively from home.
Two Astrophoto Blog Posts
I got two blog posts out recently, both about astrophotos. The most recent one is a very gratifying success with a photo of the Crab Nebula, a target that has vexed me for decades. Click here to see the post.
Ten days earlier I had the scope out thinking I’d shoot something but the Moon was so bright I couldn't see anything so I thought I’d shoot it as a “target of last resort”. Well the image came out great so I did a post with some closeups and even tracked down all the Apollo landing sites.
Click here to see the Moon post
Total Solar Eclipse 2017:
Monday, August 21st was the "Great American Eclipse" as they were calling it. I traveled to Columbia SC to be on the centerline and was blessed with perfect weather. I took over 4000 photos and wrote a blog post and put together a video.
I also added a number of eclipse photos to the astrophotography gallery along with some new deep-sky shots.
New TeleScope is a winner!
Obsession 18-inch with StellarCAT motor package
The new eighteen inch diameter ‘Obsession’ (very apt brand name) telescope has been in service for a couple of years now and I can say that it has exceeded my expectations in almost every way. We're seeing detail in galaxies that are 12 million light years away or more, globular clusters that are breathtakingly big and bright and dim nebulas are much more well defined.
I’m very grateful for the aftermarket GoTo/Tracking motor package called ‘StellarCAT’ by RX Designs–game changer for large Dobsonians
My Vision
My Vision
To provide a resource for people getting started in amateur astronomy and to increase science awareness and knowledge through astronomy, the most visual of all the sciences.
My Vision
My Vision
To provide a resource for people getting started in amateur astronomy and to increase science awareness and knowledge through astronomy, the most visual of all the sciences.
Science as a "candle in the dark"
I have always loved science and the logical approach of the scientific method which is designed to make sure that what we think is true is arrived at through a process of ideas and tests of those ideas in a provable, repeatable way giving predictable results that others can use to build on for the next level of understanding.
I was never a really good science student in school because so much of that is based around doing calculations which was never my strong suit. But I did love understanding all the big concepts understanding now that I'm very much a "gotta know how it works" kinda guy.
Although I'm short on formal scientific education I have read literally a thousand astronomy and science magazines in an effort to understand the big picture of the world and universe around us which makes me a pretty good science 'fan'. As such, I look around and survey a wide variety of science endeavors from all the nooks and crannies of the various areas of astronomy, to cosmology (the study of the history and future of the Universe) to the fascinating topics in theoretical physics and quantum mechanics and even a passing acquaintance with particle physics.
I am constantly amazed how initially, seemingly unrelated areas of science are actually not only related but totally integrated with each other. For instance, in an astronomical article you occasionally will read something like, “Because this star has a high concentration of oxygen… etc.” Ok, how do we know for sure that there is a lot of oxygen there? Can we go there and sample it? No, it's hundreds or thousands of light years away. All we can do is look at it.
Well you'd think that your answer to this question would lie in the realm of the “very big” since you're talking about massive objects at truly large distances. But Instead the answer lies with the very small and understanding a bit of how the world of the “very small” (quantum mechanics) behaves with respect to atoms and the arrangement of electrons within them.
It seems backwards to me that science education has gotten worse and less valued in schools, in an era where things are more technical than ever requiring more, not less science knowledge! The things we see in the sky are both astoundingly beautiful as well as demonstrators of scientific principles—I want this site to be both informative and inspirational!
So to quote Matt Damon's character Mark Watney in The Martian, “We're gonna have to science the hell out of this!”
Bill the Sky Guy's Intro Wrapup
Blast Off!
I would love to hear comments from people about this site and ways to make it more useful, see some of your photographs and hear some of your observing stories. There's a lot here; explore!
Bill the Sky Guy's Intro Wrapup
Blast Off!
I would love to hear comments from people about this site and ways to make it more useful, see some of your photographs and hear some of your observing stories. There's a lot here; explore!