Meet Our Astronomy Experts
Zane Landers
Major Contributor: Expertise in telescopes and telescope making
Zane Landers is an amateur astronomer and home telescope maker from Connecticut.
Zane has been featured in publications such as Time, National Geographic, The Guardian, etc. The most upvoted post, with 215K votes, in the Space subreddit is about Zane, who built his own 14.7″ dobsonian at his home. He has authored many review pieces for sites like CloudyNights. Over the years, Zane has owned over 180 different telescopes from nearly every manufacturer and model, and his telescope recommendations have been read by millions and is now an inspiration to many.
Gregoria Brannon
Contributor: Expertise in telescopes
Gregoria Brannon is an amateur astronomer and observatory host in North Carolina.
She started observing at 16 with a hand-me-down Bushnell Voyager 4.5×100 reflector. At 17, she joined the GTCC Stellar Society as vice president and began volunteering at GTCC’s Cline Observatory. In 2017, she took an observational astronomy class to formally learn amateur astronomy and to become certified to operate the 24” CDK, becoming an assistant host. She volunteers every clear Friday night that the Observatory is open and usually shows guests the wonders of the night sky using 8” dobsonian telescopes.
Ed Anderson
Contributor: Expertise in telescopes
Ed Anderson is a board member of the Astronomical Society of Long Island, ASLI. He is also a member of the Custer Institute and Observatory and offers talks regularly at the Custer Observatory targeted at those who are interested in getting involved in astronomy, often including families with young children.
He has had frequent engagement with children in a variety of family settings, theater, school sports, and exploratory settings. He has also been featured on Sky And Telescope and NewsDay. At Custer, he operates a 14” Meade telescope for his own observing and for Custer’s public programs.
Richard J. Bartlett
Contributor: Expertise in astronomy
Born in Luton, England, and now living in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Richard J. Bartlett has had a passion for the stars since he was six years old. For the past twenty years, he’s been involved in the active promotion of astronomy through various media.
Since 2015, he’s written numerous astronomical books (available through Amazon) and has contributed to the Daily Beast. One of his books, Easy Things to See With a Small Telescope, was licensed for distribution with Orion Telescopes, and, following the success of that project, Orion then commissioned him to write a children’s book.
Logan Nicholson
Contributor: Expertise in telescopes and telescope making
Logan Nicholson is an amateur astronomer, telescope maker, and astrophotographer from Melbourne, Australia. He regularly attends astronomy meetings at his local clubs and dark sites in rural Australia, observing with his homemade telescopes.
Logan is well known amongst communities online such as cloudynights.com, iceinspace.com and offline for regularly pushing the envelope of telescope mirror making with fast f/ratio mirrors, including 6 and 10 inch f/3 mirrors, which only tens of people worldwide have made, mostly professionals. He also has a 10-inch f/5 Dobsonian and a 16-inch thin meniscus mirror in progress, something few have dared to try due to the difficulty of the task.