BACKFOCUS

The Astropotamus

Host Eric Wright and co-host Rowan welcome Eric Loyd — better known as The Astropotamus — for a wide-ranging conversation about the long, winding road into astrophotography. From a cheap department-store telescope that became a childhood toy-gun prop, to a wife's gift of remote-telescope time, to finally building a permanent backyard observatory, Eric traces how he went from casual stargazer to serious imager — and why he's come to see the craft as an art form, not a formula. Along the way they dig into the make-or-break skill of target selection, why "the data is always there," the rare generosity of the astronomy community, and Eric's mission to rescue used telescopes and put them into the hands of kids at star parties. Plus: his favorite deep-sky object (M81, Bode's Galaxy) and a mind-bending thought experiment about what the night sky would look like from inside another galaxy.

with Eric Loyd

BackFocus - Season 1 - Episode 1

Hi! We're BackFocus! A podcast all about the people behind the telescopes! Who are we? What do we do? Why do we do it? We'll answer all of those questions here!

BackFocus Intro

Welcome to BACK FOCUS. Where we bring astronomy communities together!