Photo courtesy of Dennis Mammana
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About Us: Expedition Leaders
Joe Llama is an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Joe's undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, followed by a Ph.D. in astronomy, completed in 2014. He grew up in south Penbrokeshire, and speaks with a slight Welsh accent. He has spent a great amount of time in the countryside learning and photographing nature and the night sky. During his time in St. Andrews University he made numerous trips to Tromso, Norway to photograph the Northern Lights. He has occasionally seen Northern Lights over the univerisity during his eight years studying.
Dr Llama studies the magnetic fields of both stars and exoplants and the interaction between the two. In particularl, he searches for star-planet interactions that occur between very planets close-in to their parent star. Some of these planets are the size of Jupiter, but are located closer that Mercury is to the Sun.
Joe has lead numerous trips to see the aurora and co-lead the 2024 trip to Alaska for nights of aurora viewing and many daytime activities.
Dr. Tyler Nordgren is a professional astronomer and artist. He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University. For two decades he was a professional astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Lowell Observatory, and the University of Redlands in California. Since 2007 he has worked with the National Park Service to promote dark skies education and outreach, writing the book "Stars Above, Earth Below: A guide to astronomy in the national parks". As an artist, his vintage-style "Half the park is after dark" posters are on sale in state and national parks across the country. For the 2017 Great American Eclipse he wrote the book, "SUN MOON EARTH: The History of Solar Eclipses from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets", describing the vast array of social and scientific influences eclipses have had throughout history. His "See the Sun and Moon align with You" posters for the 2017 and 2024 total eclipses have been acquired by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Dr. Nordgren’s work has also appeared at NASA Headquarters and the White House where he designed the poster for President Obama's White House Astronomy Night in 2015.
Dr. Nordgren's work also appears on Mars as a member of a small team of scientists and artists that turned NASA's Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rover camera calibration targets into working sundials. He lives in Ithaca, New York, and his work can be found at www.SpaceArtTravelBureau.com
Dr. Jim Bell is actively involved with the Mars program and is a professor of Astronomy at Arizona State University. He did his PhD research at Mauna Kea Observatory on Mars surface mineralogy and climate variations using infrared and optical telescopes. He has been a member of the Science Teams of the NASA Mars Pathfinder, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) and Comet Nucleus tour (CONTOUR). He has been Principal Investigator in the NASA Mars Data Analysis and Planetary Geology and Geophysics programs. He has published four popular books on asteroids, Mars, and the Moon, including Postcards from Mars. Jim also represented the Planetary Society on Total Eclipse Expeditions in Tahiti in 2010 and 2019, Australia in 2012, Iceland in 2015, Indonesia in 2016, Great American Eclipse 2017, and Bali in 2023.
Bryan Bates is a long time educator interested in Native American sky knowledge, and created a Archaeoastronomy cirriculum for his students. He secured a grant from the NASA Space Grant, via NAU Physics Department, and developed the course manual he used for several years and is now, in part, being used at ASU. Bryan taught archaeoastronomy at CCC for 10+ years, NAU summer teacher programs, and has presented at numerous conferences including Flagstaff’s Festival of Science where he served on the Board for 10+ years.
He continued his studies with native tribes and teaching archaeoastronomy. Now retired, he continues to spread knowledge as a guide and naturalist. See Full Biography
Rick Baldridge will join the group in Abiquiu Valley for three nights as a special guest astronomer. Rick has been involved with SF Bay Area astronomy since grade school and has been on the Board of the Peninsula Astronomical Society for 43 years, serving as President and currently Vice-President. As an advanced amateur astronomer and member of I.O.T.A., Rick has discovered dozens of double stars, measured the diameter of many asteroids and has six NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) credits. He is currently on Staff at UCO/Lick Observatory as a Public Programs Telescope Operator, running the 36 inch Great James Lick Refractor.
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