My name is Dave Trapani and I have been an enthusiast in Backyard Amateur 
Astronomy since 1977.  I 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.  

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  is 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 back in 2002 with the building of my very own roll off roof observatory right in my very own back yard.  Currently the SkyRunner Observatory houses a 11 inch Rowe-Ackerman Astrograph, with the latest in CCD imaging and tracking equipment. Several cameras are employed here.  See "INSIDE SKYRUNNER" for a detailed look at the equipment.

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