Brian Lula (High Performance CCD Imaging and The Life of Brian) is the President of Polytec PI Inc, the world leader in PZT based nanopositioning systems for aerospace, semiconductor, astronomy (secondary positioners and high speed tip tilt positioners for adaptive optic systems) and data storage test applications. To an ATM, it's like working in a candy store! Brian has been involved in amateur telescope making for over 35 years starting as a kid with a simple two lens Galilean design with optics scrounged from a garbage can, and then working his way up to a 20" computer controlled f/4 Newtonian astrograph optimized for wide field (24 x 36 arc minute), high resolution ( 0.75 arc sec/pixel) deep sky CCD imaging.

Brian is an expert astro-imager whose images have been featured in Sky and Telescope, Astronomy and numbers of international astronomy and technical magazines. His deep sky images have been used twice as NASA's Astrophoto of the Day.

High Performance CCD Imaging On Friday Brian will present an in-depth technical discussion on high performance CCD imaging, what equipment is required, image capture and processing techniques, etc.

The Life Of Brian On Saturday, in a more light hearted presentation Brian will describe the journey that lead from his "dumpster diving" childhood in Pickering to his state of the art observatory near Boston. This adventure includes fabricating optics, building mirror grinding machines, designing and building mounts, building a CCD camera (the amazing Cookbook!) and a number of observatories including his present 12' diameter Palomar-style dome built to withstand New England's toughest winters.

Visit Brian's website.