Member Highlight: Carey Horwitz

This month, we would like to highlight AAA Carey Horwitz, long time site chair for The High Line!

Name: Carey Horwitz

Hometown: Grew up in Chicago; in NYC for more than 50 years.

How did you get involved in AAA? Found out about High Line observing on Google; took my scope over there about 10 years ago and met the AAA folks. Joined about a year later.

When did you become interested in astronomy? My parents gave me a small reflector – a Moonscope – when I was a kid. That got me started – picked up the hobby again about 25 years ago.

When was the first time you looked through a telescope and what did you observe? Probably about 12 years old. Looked at the Moon – what a sight!

What is your favorite observable object from NYC? Your favorite observable object outside of NYC? The Moon is my favorite target, because of the level of detail and the night-to-night changes. The most extraordinary object I’ve seen is the Tarantula Nebula, from the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Do you have any equipment, and if so, what kind? My main scope is a 90mm apochromatic refractor. I also have a 60mm apo, a 125mm Maksutov-Cassegrain, a PST solar scope, and 10×42 binoculars.

If you could have any equipment in the world, what would it be? The Yerkes refractor, with an apartment inside the observatory.

What astronomical experience/event sticks out in your head the most? Two, actually: my first aurora sighting, in Champaign, Illinois, in 1967; and my first total solar eclipse, on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, March 1970.

Are there any astronomy-related pieces of media that you’d like to recommend? “Turn Left at Orion” (Consolmagno & Davis) is my pick for the best introductory astronomy/stargazing book. David Malin’s “The Invisible Universe” is the most awe-inspiring photo book I’ve seen. And there are tons of good NASA/YouTube videos that can take you down the rabbit hole for hours. I’d begin with this Hubble/Spitzer fly-through of the Orion Nebula.

Any other hobbies you’d like to share? If you want a reason to look skyward during the day, birdwatching is great fun!