Key experiences shape you for life. As an 11-year-old boy in 1976, Thomas watched the sky through the skylight of the house with his father's spotting scope. A bright spot at that time surprisingly turned into a planet with its moons. This first sight of Jupiter left a deep impression on him and sparked Thomas' interest in astronomy.

After graduating from high school, Thomas trained as a foreign trade merchant and then completed a geoscientific degree. Professionally, he works in controlling, software development and further education at a large building materials cooperation near Frankfurt a.M.

Curiosity about the world in which we live accompanies Thomas in his life.

Astronomy as a hobby is very complex. Thomas' interests changed over time from purely visual observation to astrophotography and then to photometry and spectroscopy. On these pages he would like to share his results and experiences with you.

What has remained is the fascination of the little boy looking at the sky through the skylight.

Gerold is particularly interested in photometry as a method of obtaining information about stars and their planets, although stars appear to us only as points of light. The so-called exoplanets are his main interest.

It is precisely this evidence that our solar system and our Earth are by no means unique in the universe that fascinates and motivates him to engage with the sky above us.

In addition, the observation of objects, the so-called quasars, is a real challenge for him as an amateur.

He was born in 1954 and consciously witnessed the first moon landing. Perhaps this was the motivation for his physics studies. Although his career path took him away from research to management roles in industry and later academia, his interest in astronomy has never waned over the years.

Achim was born in 1965. He has always been enthusiastic about sciences and then as a consequence studied biology and devoted himself for many years to the protein driven control of photosynthesis in plants. His interests are wide-ranging – in addition to his involvement with astronomy, cosmology and astrophysics, Achim is also active as a watchmaker, goldsmith or in mechanical engineering, he is passionate about cooking and loves classical music, opera and Jazz.

He also works in the team of the Planetarium Osnabrück and shows the starry sky and interesting video shows using the 8 meter dome of the planetarium.

In addition, Achim is part of the team at the Expo-Sternwarte Melle where he shows the starry sky on one of the world's largest amateur Newton telescopes.

Achim is particularly fascinated by the principle of natural science, in which the relationships of the smallest particles in the standard particle model can be used to plausibly explain the unimaginably large structures of the universe and its history... a story that is far from complete, let alone fully understood.