Rick Hull Astronomical Biography (update April 2020):
I have been an amateur astronomer for over 55 years, and an astrophotographer for over 40 years.
My grandfather provided my first telescopic view of Saturn at age 5 and encouraged my interest by giving me his copy of Sky & Telescope after he completed reading. I acquired my first telescope, the 1960s 60mm refractor at age 8 and proceeded to work the Messier Catalogue. Entering 7th grade with a good library, I read and then built my first ATM telescope: an 8 inch Newtonian on a pipe thread mount, having ground, polished, and figured the primary mirror. It would be the first of about a dozen parabolic mirrors I produced up to my 12 inch f/4 during college summer breaks.
Speaking of college, my passion had me dual majoring in physics and astronomy, but the job market in the mid 1970s led me to change and obtain my BS degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduation I moved to southern California from Pennsylvania because of the job opportunity I choose. My career was first in aerospace, guidance platforms, then in full custom integrated circuit VLSI design and management. Later, it was mass storage systems, then networked storage solutions. Of course my passion for astronomy did not wane, and within a year of relocating to southern Cal, I joined Orange County Astronomers. The following year I obtained an observing pad with permanent pier, and my interest in astrophotography took off.
This was the 1980s, and if you were not using B&W Tri-X or 103 films, then you were, as I, experimenting and trying to obtain the best images with hyper-sensitized Tri-pack color films. There was much collaboration amongst the pioneering amateurs of that time, especially those from OCA with those from the Ventura Astronomical Association. During the 1980s, I photographed with several different color films, both slide and negative, predominately with my 12 inch f/4 doing manual guiding for up to 90 min per frame. Of course when the ST-4 auto-guider came to market, I was one of the first in line.
With auto-guiding now available, I wanted to get back to my visual observing roots. So throughout the 1990s, I photographed with an Astro-physics 127mm f/8.5 Starfire, reduced down to f/6.4. My 12 inch became my visual instrument, while the auto-guided refractor would take images as long as 150 minutes. One of the things I did help pioneer, was the use of Light Pollution filters, in this case a Lumicon Deep Sky filter, to enable extended length of exposures without severe sky fogging of the film. Other techniques explored were developing slide film in C-41, enhancing contrast by copying on very fine grain copy films, and ultimately stacking noted copies. Of course, again these last were through collaboration with several of the well known astro-imaging pioneers.
A few years after the turn of the century, CCD astro cameras of a quality to challenge film were becoming a reality. At the same time, my son was entering his formative years, and his participation in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and athletics consumed the majority of my time. So I tabled my research into CCD cameras, and imaging in general, for 10 years to encourage and mentor his growth; my participation in astronomy became one of education: scouting activities and merit badges, as well as OCA public outreaches, with some occasional visual deep sky observing.
About 2012, I started experimenting and investigating digital astro-imaging. At first, just seeing what could be accomplished with stock DSLR camera and modest equipment, while researching my investment into more capable setups. What you currently see on this site, is the fruit of my use of small apo refractors, a full frame unmodified Canon DSLR, and my first 2 Astro cameras. The first is an SBIG 8300 and the second and most currently used QSI 6120. My pad and pier have been upgraded to a 10×10 roll-off roof at the OCA Anza site, dubbed Star Portal Observatory. I will soon be relocating to a 10ac homesite in southwest Idaho with Bortle 3 skies. Within the next year, I hope to establish Star Portal – North featuring a recently refurbished 12.5 inch f/3.8 Newtonian astrograph, and a 22 inch f/3.4 Dobsonian with servo motors for visual enjoyment.
Clear skies, Rick Hull