Connecticut amateur astronomer Bob Crelin is a clever fellow. He’s an inventor, designer, musician, skygazer, and more — and you may know some of his products. His Moon Gazer’s Wheel is a nice device for novice Moon watchers, and one you should recommend to those getting into amateur astronomy. By rotating the wheel and matching it to the Moon in the sky, the device reveals the phase, the Moon’s position in its orbit, the day of the lunar month, the rise and set times, and the time of day or night the phase is visible in the sky. It’s a cool device.
In his day job, Bob designs drums for Gretsch, music hardware for Gibraltar, and guitar inlays for Ovation. He has written children’s books on astronomy like There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars (Sky Publishing Corp., May 1, 2007). As a drummer, I find his design for the Gretsch Cosmic Force drum kit phenomenal.
See it here.
Hat’s off to Bob Crelin, one of amateur astronomy’s innovators, and check out his Moon Gazer‘s Wheel!