I belong to the Lowbrow Astronomers, an active amateur astronomy club affiliated with the University of Michigan (I'm a graduate of Michigan Tech myself). They're a great bunch if you can put up with Alberio constantly being referred to as "the maize and blue star" :-) We do public open houses twice a month, as well as other outreach activites. These are a LOT of fun.
I also belong to Amateur Astronomers of Jackson - I just joined, and they seem VERY active, and seem to have something going on almost every weekend. Also I'm a member of the Astronomical League through this club.
According to my mom, I've always been interested in astronomy, although apparently it lapsed for quite a while, since I don't remember it being a big interest for 10 or 15 years (I guess maybe other...interests...intervened). I have been more seriously into amateur astronomy since about 1995; I got the bug just before the SL9 - Jupiter train wreck. We were camping with a group of friends, and one of them got out his 4.25" Edmund Astroscan and showed me Jupiter's moons. I was hooked then and there. My first scope was one of the original white tube Orion 8" f/6 dobs; a scope with a very nice mirror (possibly as good as 1/20 wave) but really pretty lousy mechanics. I should point out here that Orion's current "XT" line is excellent in all regards. Anyway, I sold it and all my accessories in the spring of 1998, having had a bunch of bad weather combined with either laziness, busy schedule, or illness which had kept me from observing for about 6 months.
I lasted about 3 months before I succumbed again and realized it was in the blood, so I might as well go with it. I picked up a Celestron 8" SCT. In the fall of 2000 I went to Astrofest near Chicago, and there saw a 15" f/4.5 scope in the Obsession tent. I decided to build one, and it was finally finished about 9 months later. I sold the 8" a bit later; I had thought that the 8" would make a nice "casual" scope and the 15" a good "serious" scope, but I found I was using the 15" all the time, so I sold the 8" and the eyepieces that were really only suitable for it, and picked up some different stuff.
I also picked up an Edmund Astroscan (coming full circle); at $210 with eyepieces, they're hard to beat. I haven't used it much, but it's intended for times when we're travelling and I don't want to haul the 15". I may even get to take it to Florida and get a chance to check out some southern constellations.
Online, you can find me hanging around several Yahoo email groups,
particularly Michigan Astronomy.
My email address is
Here's my current equipment.