Stephen LaFlamme

Stephen LaFlamme held up a pair of binoculars during the summer of ’78 and “discovered” the crescent shape of Venus. This spectacle led to his lifelong passion for backyard astronomy. Reaching the point in high school where a career path had to be chosen, Stephen wanted to pursue astronomy. His Dad, who was paying for college, wanted him to be a pharmacist. So, while consuming his days counting pills for Walgreens, he spent his nights under the constellations with wonder. He designed and built a backyard dome some 25 years ago. Astrophotography rose to the forefront as local light pollution grew worse each year. Artificial light glow can be subtracted by software. A sampling of this work can be found under Universefromthebackyard on Facebook or Instagram. Stephen has many tales to share about owning meteorites, and a piece of the moon. His day spent with John Dobson. Being ‘visited’ by his deceased astronomy mentor one night at his observatory. And an amusing anecdote about a failed Astronomy Club start-up. Having retired three years ago and with no alarm clock to set, Stephen now takes full advantage of every opportunity to study the stars.