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.
His first website, StarLore, was featured in the February 2001 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine. This led to a monthly column with Astronomy magazine, The Webweaver Picks, reviewing astronomical software and websites.
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.
He’s also moderated on Fraser Cain’s Universe Today forum and is an active participant in the Telescope Addicts, UK Astronomy, and Cloud Magnets astronomical groups on Facebook. Most recently, he’s been interviewed on the TGP Nominal and Circularity podcasts.
Over the years, he’s owned a number of small telescopes, with his very first being a small, two-inch department store refractor. He currently owns three small telescopes and four pairs of binoculars, of varying sizes. He considers his Celestron NexStar 130SLT to be his primary scope of choice.
Despite the light pollution in his current home, there isn’t any place Richard would rather be than staring at the stars. He believes the night sky holds a special fascination for hundreds of millions across the world and that the desire to learn more about the universe crosses all geographical and theological borders.