"Welcome to my Home Page! It's a Big World (To Us)" Stargazer1's Profile

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Pacific Ocean, Africa, and S. America from space

The Earth, so huge to us, is just a tiny speck

in a large galaxy with hundreds of millions of stars in a universe of billions of galaxies. Here's an ESA (MSG-2) image of Earth that I like. Copyright ESA.

Earth from Space

Satellite image of Earth centered on Houston, TX

Here's another picture from NASA of the Earth from space, pretty much centered on my home (and NASA's home in Houston). Copyright JPL.

This is a picture of me.

Office picture taken a couple of years ago

I'm a scientist (geophysicist, specifically, not an astrophysicist/astronomer). However, I am an amateur astronomer and write an astronomical newsletter several times a week. I live in Sugar Land, TX (made famous by Goldie Hawn in "The Sugar Land Express"), a suburb (essentially) of Houston, TX.
Sugar Land was named for the now-defunct Imperial Sugar factory in the center of the old town. I work and spend a lot of time in Houston. A lot of my travel is for business, but of course I love to travel and take vacations with my family several times a year.

Closest thing to an obligatory pet picture

Me about as close as I wanted to get to the camels

Let's get this straight. I wouldn't want one of these as a pet. This is me in front of some camels we encountered while duning (4-wheel driving with air let out of tires for traction) outside Dubai. I'm afraid that unlike most VTers, this will be the closest thing to a pet picture I'll ever have.

RobDavis PhotoShopped this for me.

Absolut Stargazer1 by RobDavis

Thanks, Rob!

Travels

Since this is a travel site, I guess I should put something about my travels on my homepage. Most of my travels have been for business (except India, parts of Canada outside Calgary, and numerous places in the U.S.), but I try to add some vacation to many of my trips. My previous job was for a software company, and I traveled extensively around the world (two around the world trips, one in each direction). Now, I mostly go to our offices, which include Perth, Stavanger, Aberdeen, Dubai, and Anchorage. I'd like to visit the Calgary and Beijing and KL offices as well. Perhaps Libya and Qatar, probably not the Lagos office, and probably not the Caracas one either. I'd love to see our company get into India -- it would be great to combine business and pleasure/family (and get to fly business class instead of coach).

Intro Updated Oct 1, 2007
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Comments (174)

balfor Oct 10, 2011 at 4:29 AM Report Abuse

Happy late birthday Ajay! I wasn't online at all yesterday so didn't get to tell ya to have a great day!
nada1712 Oct 9, 2011 at 11:51 AM Report Abuse

Hello Ajay. Happy gazing for your birthday Haven't seen you around lately
cachaseiro Oct 9, 2011 at 5:50 AM Report Abuse

Happy birthday Ajay :O).
lynnehamman Oct 8, 2011 at 8:44 PM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday for the 9th,Ajay. Have a great day-
nicolaitan Oct 9, 2010 at 3:14 PM Report Abuse

Ajay - been a while, hope you have been well. best wishes for a happy birthday and a healthy upcoming year. n.
Donna_in_India Oct 8, 2010 at 6:35 PM Report Abuse

Happy, happy birthday Ajay! Hope you have a great day and that all is well.
Stargazer1 Apr 13, 2010 at 5:30 PM Report Abuse

RE my dad. We've decided to wait for my dad's brain swelling to reduce. We're also seeing another skull-based neurosurgeon operating out of one of the downtown hospitals for another opinion, before scheduling the major operation to remove the tumor.
travelgourmet Apr 11, 2010 at 1:45 AM Report Abuse

Ajay, I just read your post on your home page and I understand your concern. My thoughts are with you during this time. Larry
balhannah Dec 6, 2009 at 8:11 PM Report Abuse

I take it you didn't get to Coonabarabran in Australia, it's Australia's astronomy capital!
Sharrie Oct 19, 2009 at 4:43 AM Report Abuse

Thanks Ajay for the BD wishes. That's quite something you've of our world!