The Story of the Master Observers
By John Sparks
I first got into astronomy in 1976 and had my first telescope in 1977, for my 14th birthday. I viewed the moon and the planets and found Uranus in 1981. I didn't have any star charts and most of the charts you see today weren't available to the public in the 70's. By the time I graduated from high school, I was at a dead end with astronomy and remained so until after I got out of the Navy. In 1993, I started getting interested in astronomy again and discovered the hobby had changed dramatically. The "California Mount" became known as the Dobsonian and it revolutionized the hobby for those of us with little money. I went from a 3" Alt-Azimuth to a 13.1" Coulter Dobsonian, found good star charts and joined a club affiliated with the Astronomical League in 1993. This is where the story of the Master Observers really begins.
I started inquiring more about the Astronomical League Observing clubs. At the time, the AL had about five observing clubs and we had members in my club that earned some of them. I hungered for the sky and bought more equipment to observe with and I looked up to the club members that saw so much of the sky and had certificates to prove it. So I started on the Messier and Binocular Messier at the same time and was awarded both in 1995. I wanted to earn all the AL certificates. More certificates were earned but the Astronomical League was creating observing clubs faster than I could earn them. By 1998, I had earned seven certificates and started to question why I should work on any more observing certificates. I had more certificates than anyone in my state and needed a goal to keep me going with it. I started talking to John Wagoner via email and he linked me up with Doug Kniffen in Missouri as Doug had 9 observing certificates. I emailed both John Wagoner and Doug with an
idea:
What if there were an "Elite Observers" certificate and the only way one could earn it is by earning ten observing certificates? Doug reasoned that some certificates like the Herschel 400 should be mandatory so no one could be an "Elite Observer" by earning the easy certificates only. Such a person should have experience in various types of observing. Somewhere around this time, John Wagoner changed the name to "Master Observers" and it sounded good to me. What was more important was that now I had a new goal to reach, to be the first Master Observer in Tennessee. I helped out by putting the Herschel 400 club award list onto a database and mailing it back to John. John Wagoner stepped down from the observing awards and was replaced by a friend of mine named Mike Benson. He also passed down the concept of the Master Observers and to make a long story short, the Master Observers club came to be and an article about it was put in the Reflector (Although it took a few years for my own work on the Master Observers to be realized and never mentioned in the Reflector).
I have now completed my 10th certificate and reached my own goal of being a Master Observer. However, 40 astronomers across the nation beat me at my own game and some of them hold even more certificates. So, why should I stop at ten certificates? Today, I am also working on my Planet Observers and Herschel II certificates. The only Master Observer in SERAL who holds both Herschel certificates is Bill Warren and there are only 15 such people in the USA. 10 of those people, including Bill Warren also have the ARP… sound like a challenge? THAT is why I started up the Master Observer club, as a REAL club! I hope for the Master Observers to become a Network linked via the Astronomical League across America. It is a place where less experienced observers can go for advice and where Master Observers can find a challenge to keep observing. I will be presenting this idea to the Astronomical League Council meeting at the 2006 ALCON in Dallas, Texas.
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