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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 



World Map

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


Rich Photo

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.



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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