Last winter I showed off the SCORE setup at the monthly meeting of my astronomy club. Bob Naeye, Editor in Chief of Sky and Telescope, was at the meeting and took special interest in the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston’s cooperative participation with the MIT Planetary Astronomy Lab’s research on Kuiper Belt Objects. Bob later contacted me to ask more about the equipment that I put together for asteroid occultation timing, so I pointed him to my article on SCORE and sent him a photograph. Yesterday I received an advance copy of July’s Sky & Telescope, which features a prominent mention of the MIT/ ATMoB connection and a photograph of me with SCORE as I prepared for the 20000 Varuna occultation event in Brazil.

From Bob Naeye’s July Sky & Telescope Spectrum column,

“… during the November 2009 meeting of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, MIT astronomer Michael Person and several club members described their travels to Mexico, Australia, and Nebraska to observe an asteroid occultation of a star in order to pin down the asteroid’s size and shape. I was fascinated by the scientific objectives and the travel adventures. After the talks, club member Bruce Berger showed me his electronics for an upcoming occultation expedition to Brazil. I was amazed that he could cram so much gear into such a small carrying case. I almost felt like I was talking to James Bond!”

I’ve been called many things before, but never have I been compared to James Bond. Thanks Bob, and thanks Sky & Telescope!