Greg Piepol
From AstronomyOutreach network
Greg Piepol, a native son of Illinois, was born in Chicago and is a former member of Air Force One. Greg trained as an aircraft electronics technician and has travelled the globe with the United States Air Force, giving him plenty of opportunity to survey the sky.
But the first time he looked through a solar telescope with a hydrogen-alpha filter at the Sun he decided to plunge into observing and imaging. Piepol quickly become involved in sharing his experiences with our closest star, and today Greg lectures, monitors the Sun's daily activities with his safe solar filtered telescopes, and constantly works to find new ways of improving his view of the Sun's constant changes.
Contents |
Outreach
It's no secret that Greg's passion is public outreach. Greg explains: "Observing our star provides one of the most memorable experiences in amateur astronomy. A person's first look at the sun through a properly equipped telescope is not quickly forgotten and can be compared to the first time they saw Saturn in a telescope. It's that good!"
Awards
A recipient of the 2011 AstronomyOutreach Award (the "Astro Oscar") Greg has won numerous awards, including the 'Astronomical League's first ever Webmaster of the Year" award in 2003 for Sungazer.net. His website won further recognition with Griffith Observatory's Star Award for its promotion of astronomical awareness. Sungazer.net offers hydrogen-alpha, calcium K, 3D and zoom-able solar images and includes solar resources and historic solar advertisements.
Piepol is constantly involved in educational outreach to the public, through his live demonstrations, his images that are used in educational resources have been featured in everything from Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), Spaceweather.com, Sky and Telescope, Astronomy Magazine, and thousands of blogs worldwide. Publications include Astronomy, Sky and Telescope and Nature magazines to name a few. They continue to be used in technical and teaching resources worldwide.
Lecturer
Greg is a dynamic speaker and is one of the best presenters on the Sun that is active today. You can reach Greg for live in-person, or for live online lectures for your organization through his award-winning website Sungazer.net.
Personal
Greg lives with his wife and three children in Rockville Maryland.