Hello. My name is Walker Franklin and I’m a citizen scientist, backyard engineer and neophyte amateur astronomer. Sure, I’ve build waste oil-fed furnaces and melted down aluminum cans and cast into ingots. I’ve tinkered with home weather stations and various other technologies. I’ve built and launched model rockets. I’ve never been satisfied with “if” something works, I want to know “why” and “how” it works. But I probably would not have created this website for that stuff alone. I created this website because I wanted to inspire my two young children to greatness by sharing the absolute jaw-dropping awesomeness of the cosmos.
My interest in astronomy began many years ago as a youngster growing up in New Orleans, LA. Orion was always my favorite constellation. But it wasn’t until July of 2022 that I began looking at the night sky through a different lens. That being a telescope! I’ve always been mesmerized by the night sky, but only recently dove into astronomy and rocketry head first thanks to my two children. I want to inspire them to dream big and it turns out they’ve inspired me as well.
This site was created for and with them. Spacedad.org is, basically, a log of my journey through not only amateur astronomy, but also citizen science in general, as well as what I call ‘backyard engineering.’ It was created solely for the enjoyment of my kids and posterity.
However, please feel free to look around and leave comments if you’d like. I am always learning and welcome any feedback.
My astronomical equipment so far:
-Orion SkyQuest 8″ (203mm) Newtonian reflector on homemade Dobsonian mount.
-Orion SkyQuest 6″ (150mm) Dobsonian reflector.
-25mm and 9mm eyepieces with a 2x Barlow.
-iPhone 11 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy Note8 smartphone cameras.
