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      Contact information 
      e-mail 
      
      
      kenc@rdelsol.net 
      . 
      website 
      
      
      http://www.rdelsol.com 
      
      . 
      Locator 
      Map 
      
      http://www.frappr.com/apppublic 
      Level of accuracy: Rancho Del Sol Camino, 
      California 
       
      Biography 
      I 
      have been in the floor and window covering business in one way or another 
      since 1978.  I started right out of high school in Gary, Indiana and moved 
      to Placerville, California in July of 1978.  In 1985 I bought the floor 
      covering store I was working for and my wife and I built the business 
      together.  In 1996 we joined Carpet One (www.carpetone.com) 
      and have been blessed with the largest  Floor and 
      Window Covering store in our 
      county.  
      I have been interested in Astronomy since I was a kid and built a 6” 
      reflector in 8th grade.  Once I moved to our current location I 
      fell in love with the dark skies and was involved with visual Astronomy 
      until I bought an Apple II computer in 1982 and Astronomy took a big back 
      seat for several years.  In 2001 I bought a new Nexstar 11 and loved the 
      computer connection to the telescope and soon after bought an SBIG 237a 
      and sat out in the cold and took a 10 second image of the Ring Nebula. 
       From that moment on I was hooked which lead to my addiction to this 
      wonderful hobby.  One of the best benefits of this hobby are the wonderful 
      people who share the same passion of imaging and who freely share their 
      knowledge and support.  I am the luckiest guy in the world who not only 
      got to marry his high school sweet heart but also found a wife who is  
      very supportive of my endeavors in this hobby.  
      Serving as Treasurer on the board of the Advanced Imaging Conference 
      allowed me to meet many other imagers.   
      
       
      Astrophotography publications 
      
      Magazines 
      Astronomy 
      Sky and Telescope 
      . 
      Books 
      The Beautiful Universe 
      . 
      
      
      Internet 
      NASA's Astrophoto of the Day (APOD)
       
       
      Observing site 
      
      Rancho Del Sol Observatory (home) 
 roll-off roof observatory 
      Lat: 38 degrees, 42.8 minutes North 
      Long: 120 degrees, 40 minutes West 
      Elevation: 3000 feet 
      
       
      Astronomical Equipment 
      
      Telescope 
      20-inch 
      RCOS 
      
      .  
      Mount 
      
      Paramount ME 
      
      . 
      Camera/etc. 
      Yankee Robotics Trifid II 6303E  
      IFW filter wheel Astrodon LRGB Ha OIII SII filter set  
      guided by ST402 Astrodon Rogue off axis guider
 
       
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