About

About Darker View

Documenting a life lived on the Big Island of Hawai’i. From the reefs fringing the island, to snow covered summits high above, photos and stories of my experiences. My life revolves around the nearly 14,000ft summit of the incomparable Mauna Kea. I both live and work on this mountain, a place of stunning beauty at the forefront of modern science.

The site is a mix of photography, astronomy & astrophotography, scuba diving, electronics and more. The occasional political commentary, a bit of ranting, local events, everything would expect to find in a personal blog.

Also on DV you will find alerts to the best of what can be seen in the skies over the Hawai’i… Eclipses, conjunctions, meteors showers and more. You will know when and how to look, with times and positions accurate for the islands. This makes DV a useful resource for sky watchers across the pacific region.

The Author

I am an electrical engineer, a photographer, an amateur astronomer, a telescope maker and more. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I have lived in Oregon, England, Arizona and now Hawaiʻi. Much family is also from the northwest, with ancestors buried in pioneer cemeteries, and relatives living from Portland to Bellingham. My heritage is similarly complex, a blend of German, Scottish, Native American, and who knows what else. I am also a member of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe.

For many years I have lived and worked at the W. M. Keck Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. Here can be found many adventures, beauty in nature and far more. On these pages, written in electrons and magnetic bits I attempt to share a little of my life and thoughts with the web community.

Catching up with me can be a challenge. Normally I can be found working atop the magnificent summit, sometimes migrating to the sea for underwater excursions or many points in between. On occasion I take a telescope out to enjoy a night under a dark sky.  Often sharing that experience with visitors or school children around the island.

To contact me just email…

Observing Table
The observing table during visual observing, all the necessities.

28 thoughts on “About”

  1. Your site very nice! There are many useful information hear and beautiful postcards and pictures.
    But I found it because have a big problem with CCD camera.
    Is it possible to contact you for some advises?
    Thank you in advance!

    Yaroslav Romanyuk from Ukraine

  2. Andrew thank you so much for such a special day – the transit of venus was spectacular. We ALL appreciate what you did to bring this magic to us. I can’t wait to see your photos – post them soon!!!!
    Giant space hugs from an appreciative nerd,
    Maeve

  3. Thank you so much for sharing the Transit of Venus will everyone last night. It truly was one of the most informative, educational and exciting nights of 2012. I followed along from beginning to end and didn’t want to log off, hoping for more. How many people want a purple telescope now? My only disappointment was when the “beep” was turned off. For a few hours we were all in the control room and that “beep” made the experience all the more real. Kudos to everyone at Keck!

  4. Great Videos! I´m here in La Palma, an astronomer working now more in tourism and special astronomy events. Next one will be in Sept. First Astromaster La Palma with Babak Tafreshi and Christoph Malin (TWAN)…in case you want to check it out: astromaster.astrolapalma.com

    Don´t know anyone here with a blog like yours. Exciting.

    cheers, Ana

  5. Hi Andrew, I have a nice photo of you and the Milky Way from the Oregon Star Party. How can I get it to you?

    Thanks again for being so generous with your time and sharing the stars with me and Shaina!

  6. Well, Andrew, this is what you wrote:

    “Not really a snorkeling site. Bring some lunch meat or steak scraps from last night’s dinner and drop inside the water gate. You will soon be treated to a view of a dozen or more moray eels competing for your offering.”

    So I was wondering if you done this snorkeling or just watching from the shore.

    1. The TMT does not affect me personally, but we are all watching the progress. Keck sits on the ridge right above the TMT site, we will have a ringside seat for the construction.

  7. Hi,

    I’d like to know if there is a way to re-configure the sensor locations on a Wii Fit Balance Board. For example – presently the arranged sensors detect force applied on North and South directional detection with the Wii Fit Balance Board in a horizontal arrangement. But I’d like to use the Wii Fit Balance Board in a Vertical Position and have the it detect North and South

  8. hi, just been looking at your wii board pcb repair looks pretty straight forward but i cannot make out what you have done to the two middle contacts with no wires.

    can you please advise.

    thanks

    tom

    1. I assume you are referring to the blue wires I added to the solder side of the PCB… The existing PCB traces to the middle contacts were in decent shape and needed no repair. The other traces on the PCB were badly corroded, or looked rather dodgy. Thus the blue wires were added to insure that those circuits were intact, bypassing the damaged parts of the PCB. Just follow the copper traces to see what goes where.

      1. Andrew,
        I think it may be a god send that I found your site. Fascinating! I will try to summarize here so bare with me.
        I currently have an original Celestron Nexstar 8 which I purchased in 2000. This is the original as it is not the i version or the GPS version, as the hand controller evidently has no way to be upgraded. But that doesn’t matter.
        Now with the BS. I am retiring in 2 days finally, I had to stop using the scope about 2 years go because of health reasons as I couldn’t lift the scope on the mount or take it to destinations. In two years I am now past that part and would love to get it out again.
        The problem that I am having and after reading how you retired your scope, I hope you can point me to some answers. Unfortunately, I cannot get my scope aligned my more. 1. It will not hold the longitude and latitude or time an date. When I try to align using either auto or two star, my tracking of the stars do not work. Making it hard fro a mature like me to find and track different objects.
        I have searched high and low for an original hand controller but they have been discontinued for many years, and the new Nexstar + will not work with my scope. I have asked many sources and all are stumped.
        This is all electrical as far as I can tell, but would like your advice on what I can do.
        At the time of purchase it was not an issue forking out that much for a scope, but at this time of my life, I can’t fork out that type of money now.
        I hope you have a solution, and if it helps I work better with pictures.
        Thanks in advance even if I don’t get an answer.

  9. I found your page/site looking for information about arc minutes and seconds. I am quite jealous about your position at Keck and impressed with your site (mine is E-alloftheabove.com).
    Could I ask a couple of simple questions about your site set up and spam control?

  10. Bonjour

    Votre llien avec le pilote 60Hz pour le telescope ne fonctionne pas
    Hello

    Your link with the 60Hz telescope driver does not work…

    a bientot

  11. Andrew,

    Are you aware of any overlay of the Dark Skies mapping compatible with Google Maps? I am moving to Hawai’i next year and I would love to have such a tool to select my new home. i am an amateur astronomer (Northern Virginia Astronomy Club – NOVAC) and could also use some recommendations (pier vs. pod) best suited to the Island neighborhoods. I am a spry 73 but no longer sling my OTA over my back and run uphill. Photography is another passion after 38 years as a Systems Engineer.

    Thanks for your consideration,

    Jack

  12. Andrew,
    I really enjoy your blog with all the photos, information about Hawai’i and astronomy. I especially enjoyed your recent editorial about free press. In the olden days, it seems like editors of newspapers kept the news and editorials anchored on rational real world thought processes regardless of whether they were left or right. Now truth and facts no longer matter as way too many people get their “news” from quack sources completely divorced from reality.
    Thank you for all that you blog on!
    Knox

  13. Andy! Hello. Couldn’t find your email address, so I’m commenting here.

    Seeing that there’s a live-action D&D movie out made me think of you and the many afternoons spent in the basement of your house with Ben and JD, eating powdered cocoa out of the packet and rolling the dice on the Wand of Wonder.

    Send me an email and I’ll catch you up on all the stuff you don’t care to know about my life. Heh.

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