About SSON
The Sierra Stars Observatory Network (SSON) is a partnership comprised of an integrated network of professional observatories.
Our plan is to offer an array of observatories in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
providing our customers with all sky coverage all the time.
Since the spring of 2007
the first SSON telescope, the original Sierra Stars Observatory in California, has been operating and supplying data for customers worldwide. Starting
in November 2008 the Rigel Telescope at the Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona came on line as the second telescope in the Sierra Stars Observatory Network.
In June 2010 our first Southern Hemisphere partner, Grove Creek Observatory (GCO), joined SSON. GCO is located in a very remote site in New South Wales, Australia
Read more about
the Sierra Stars Observatory.
Read more about the Rigel Telescope.
Read more about the Grove Creek Observatory.
People at SSON
Rich Williams
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Rich has a lifelong passion for doing astronomy. In 1996 he worked
with the people at Torus Precision Optics to develop an automated/robotic telescope
system while working for Microsoft. His telescope and the Torus Observatory became
the prototype for the company's advanced
telescope technology.
In 1997 Rich
left Microsoft to form Torus Technologies with James and Tony Mulherin from Torus
Precision Optics. As the Vice President of Marketing and Product Development Rich
worked with astronomers around the
world on various projects and contributed photometry
and astrometry data when needed from his observatory in Buckley, WA.
He has presented papers on telescope technology at professional astronomy conferences
and meetings around the world.
In 2002 Torus Technologies was restructured to Optical Mechanics,
Inc. Rich is a partner in OMI but no longer works in the day to day operation of
the company. He moved to Markleeville, CA in
2001 and built the Sierra Stars Observatory.
Rich is an avid trout fisherman seeking out the best trophy trout
streams and rivers on the east side of the Sierras every chance he gets. The Sierra
Stars Observatory is located on the West Fork of the Carson River so he doesn't have to go far to
fish.
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Steve Ohmert
Steve Ohmert has enjoyed a long and eclectic career in software development, including working with R
ich Williams and others at Torus Technologies/OMI to extend and improve the Talon software
used by the telescopes of the SSON. When Steve is not working to revolutionize the future of
television (www.gridnetworks.com), he is very happy to work with the SSON to help develop
the future of astronomical research telescope networks.
Kathy Fox Williams
Kathy is a professional web developer and programmer with experience in ASP.NET, Cold Fusion, Visual Basic, SQL Server, and more.
She does all the enterprise web and database development for SSON.
Contact Information
Email:
Rich Williams: richw@sierrastars.com
Customer Service: ContactUs@sierrastars.com
SSO Grant Program: ssogrant@sierrastars.com
Phone:
775-781-5700
Address:
115 Chambers Lane
Markleeville, CA 96120
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