I've been an avid amateur astronomer since the summer of 1963 when a high school friend showed me Saturn through his telescope. I received a BS degree in astronomy from the University of Massachusetts in 1969, then worked for two years at the Alice G. Wallace Planetarium in Fitchburg, Mass. After that, I spent 30 years as a middle school science teacher in the Fitchburg and Groton-Dunstable school systems. I currently write the monthly “Observing Basics” column for Astronomy and am a member of the Amateur Telescope makers of Boston and the American Association of Variable Star Observers.