About Us

My name is Dave Trapani and I have been an enthusiast in Backyard Amateur
Astronomy since 1977. I only recently started CCD imaging the night sky in 2003 from
my roll off roof observatory in Northern, NJ and in 2007 an additional Dark Sky
observatory in Central New York State. Some of my interests include planetary imaging
as well as deep sky imaging. I also image the Sun in H-a wavelength with a Coronado
Maxscope 40 mm. Each night spent imaging under the starry night is a journey, a quest
of sorts for the perfect image. I know it exists out there somewhere. I will let you know
when I find it.

Metropolitanskies.com and Adirondackskies.com are dedicated to the Hobby of
Backyard Astronomy and Astro-photography. Backyard Astronomy is a hobby that
evolved for me into a passion that seems to have no end. There are countless targets
that need to be looked at, identified and photographed. This hobby culminated a few
years ago with the building of my very own roll off roof observatory right in my very
own back yard. Currently the SkyRunner Observatory houses a 14 inch GPS guided
Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope, with the latest in CCD imaging and tracking equipment.
Several cameras are employed here; The two main deep sky camera’s are the Starlight
Express H9C, and MX7C along with a Modified Canon Digital Rebel 350XT. I use the
Lumenera Infinity 2-1, Meade LPI(Lunar Planetary Imager) for Planetary and Lunar
work, and the Meade DSI(Deep Space Imager) for auto-guiding the telescopes.

My adventures in astronomy started years ago, probably back in the 1970 timeframe,
when my Dad began telling me stories of how he would be able to navigate a B-17
bomber in World War Two by using the stars to plot his aircraft's course. Those special
stories will stay with me forever as they peaked my interest in the night sky. So
interested I became as a 9 year old that I saved two weeks of lawn mowing money and
purchased my second telescope in the Spring of 1974. This is when I first glanced at an
un-identified star. Un-identified not because it was uncharted, but because I was
clueless. I was nine years old and I had that star so far out of focus that I thought the
blurry sphere was a planet. This passtime blossomed into a passion when I saw the
moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn through my third telescope in 1978. I knew I
was hooked when my friends tried to spirit me away to a dance one summer teenage
night, and I told them they had to wait for me to check out Venus before it set on the
western horizon. You can imagine the jeers that I took that summer.

I am very proud to have this opportunity to share some of my astronomical imaging
endeavors with you all, my friends and family via this website. Here in the pages that
follow, I have posted some of the more refined fruits of my "addiction". Enjoy and stop
back often to see updates and new images and mostly, to smell some roses.

Sincerely,

Dave Trapani