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About Us

Bob Antol
  1. Bob Antol is from Des Moines, Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics. You can see his paper entitled "The Perfect Numbers and Pascal's Triangle" here: [ html | pdf ]
  2. Bob is a member of the Advisory Council for the Department of Mathematics at Iowa State [ Bob's Bio ].
  3. Bob was recently recognized at the Iowa State Liberal Arts and Sciences Honors and Awards Ceremony and received the Distinguished Alumni Award [ LAS | link | Math ] in the Department of Mathematics. The recognition speech from the award presentation can be found here.
  4. Bob and the Stargate 4173 observatory were in the summer 2009 edition of the Iowa State publication known as Math Matters. See the Iowa State University Mathematics Department Weekly Reader for the weeks of October 5th and October 12th for photos and information on his presentation at ISU.
  5. Bob retired from IBM in East Fishkill, New York after 35 years of service.

  6. In 1985, Bob went on an expedition to the North Pole with Society Expeditions. You can read about this fantastic experience in his Polar Journals.

  7. On May 9th, 1987, Bob and Barb were married. Bob can be contacted at antol@stargate4173.com.

  8. From October 3rd, 2017 to February 5th, 2019, Bob hosted a radio show called "The Astronomical Almanac" on WPWL 103.7 FM Pawling, NY. You can listen to any of the 57 episodes here.

  9. On April 26th, 2024, Bob gave a presentation at Iowa State University on his mathematical discovery [ html | pdf ]. The presentation was given prior to the Mathematics Department Awards Ceremony and was entitled "Perfection in a Scarred Mathematical World". This presentation can be viewed here (starts at 9:24).

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Barb Antol
  1. Barb Antol is from West Haverstraw, New York. She graduated from Pace University in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics.
  2. Barb retired from IBM in East Fishkill, New York after 33 years of service.
  3. Barb can be contacted at antolb@att.net.

About the Stargate 4173 at Grimaldi Tower Observatory

Stargate 4173 at Grimaldi Tower A brief history of the Stargate 4173 Observatory is collected in this series of photographs.

Directions to the Stargate are found here. Check out sky conditions near the observatory.

Stargate 4173 at Grimaldi Tower is currently featured at:


About the Equipment

Equipment Information on the equipment in the Stargate 4173 at Grimaldi Tower observatory can be found here.

About the Book My Heavens!: The Adventures of a Lonely Stargazer Building an Over-the-Top Observatory (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)

My Heavens! Book (original cover art) My Heavens! Book (actual cover art) Details of the design and construction of the Stargate 4173 at Grimaldi Tower observatory can be found in this book. It was released February 1st, 2008 from Springer-Verlag publishing. It is also available at Amazon.com.

The cover art evolved from this original image (our house) to what was eventually selected (Gordon's house) for the actual cover of the book. In the sky is Messier 82 as photographed by Gordon Rogers.

Original Cover Art Actual Cover Art

Expedition to the North Pole

NorthPole In April of 1985, Bob Antol went on an 11 day expedition to the North Pole with "Society Expeditions". This journey was documented in these Polar Journals.

About Our Pets

Our cats are named after craters on the moon (unless they were adopted and then we kept their original names). Their Photo Albums are available for viewing.

Ramsey Ramsey - Adopted from Mid-Hudson Animal Aid. Since this was his name at the shelter, we kept it (so he is not named after a crater on the moon). But, we decided to give him a middle name.

Ramsey Ptolemaeus - Greek astronomer, author of the Almagest. Geocentric model of the universe.

On the moon, the crater is 153 km in diameter and has a very prominent walled plain with numerous pits and depressions on its floor.

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Ramsey. This portrait is currently hanging in our Oak Room.

 
BellaDonna Bella Donna - Adopted from Mid-Hudson Animal Aid. Since this was her name at the shelter, we kept it (so she is not named after a crater on the moon).

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Bella Donna. This portrait is currently hanging in our Oak Room.

 

 
Grimaldi Grimaldi (deceased [28May2005]) - Italian physicist and astronomer, author of a map of the Moon which was used by Riccioli as a basis for his nomenclature.

On the moon, the crater is a basin whose flooded centre is surrounded by an inner wall 222 km in diameter; the damaged external wall has a diameter of 430 km.

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Grimaldi. This portrait is currently hanging in the lower octagonal room. In Grimaldi's honor, we named the 2 story structure after him. It is known as Grimaldi Tower.

Grimaldi was Cat of the Day .

 
Kepler Kepler (deceased [21Aug2013]) - German astronomer and ingenious theoretician who, on the basis of Tycho Brahe's ovservations, formulated the three Laws of Planetary Motion that bear his name and which describes the motions of the planets around the Sun.

On the moon, a very prominent crater (32 km in diameter) with an uneven floor and is the center of an extensive bright ray system.

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Kepler. This portrait is currently hanging to the right of the western windows in our Oak Room.

Kepler was Cat of the Day .

 
Copernicus Copernicus (deceased [25Nov2013]) - the renowned Polish astronomer, one of the founders of modern astronomy. His heliocentric system was explained in his main work De Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium (1543).

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Tycho and Copernicus. This portrait is currently hanging above the fireplace in our Oak Room.

On the moon, the crater is a ring mountain, 93 km in diameter and 3760 m deep; terraced walls, relatively flat floor with a group of central peaks (heights up to 1200 m); the height of the wall above the surrounding terrain is 900 m.

Copernicus was Cat of the Day .

 
Mothra Mothra (deceased [25Oct2017]) - Adopted from Mid-Hudson Animal Aid. Since this was her name at the shelter, we kept it (so she is not named after a crater on the moon).

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Mothra. This portrait is currently hanging in our Oak Room.

 
Tycho Tycho (deceased [3Oct2018]) - Danish astronomer, prominent observer and organizer of scientific research. His accurate observations enabled Kepler to discover the laws of planetary motion.

On the moon, the crater is 85 km in diameter and 4850 m deep with the most extensive ray system.

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Tycho and Copernicus. This portrait is currently hanging above the fireplace in our Oak Room.

Tycho was Cat of the Day .

 
Sterling Sterling (deceased [9Jul2019]) - Adopted from Mid-Hudson Animal Aid. Since this was his name at the shelter, we kept it (so he is not named after a crater on the moon). But, we decided to give him a middle name.

Sterling Picard - French astronomer, the first person to measure the size of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy. He also developed what became the standard method for measuring the right ascension of a celestial object.

On the moon, the crater is 23 km in diameter and is located in Mare Crisium.

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Sterling and Capella. This portrait is currently hanging in our Oak Room.

Sterling was Cat of the Day .

 
BlueEyes Blue Eyes (deceased [28Jun2023]) - Brought back from Des Moines, Iowa. Since this was her original name, we kept it (so she is not named after a crater on the moon).

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Blue Eyes. This portrait is currently hanging in our Oak Room.

 
Capella Capella (deceased [15Sep2023]) - Adopted from Mid-Hudson Animal Aid. Martianus Capella was a fifth century AD Carthaginian lawyer. Copernicus refers to his theory that Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun, and that the Sun, together with the rest of the planets, revolves around the Earth.

On the moon, the crater is 49 km in diameter and is located on the northern edge of Mare Nectaris.

Sharon Challand did a portrait of Sterling and Capella. This portrait is currently hanging in our Oak Room.

Capella was Cat of the Day .

copyright © 2005, 2006 Robert A. Antol