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

Atlantic 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 3, 2012
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Comments (179)

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nicolaitan Oct 9, 2012 at 6:56 PM

ajay, such a long time, hope you have been well. best wishes for a happy birthday. n.
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lynnehamman Oct 9, 2012 at 6:06 AM

Have a great birthday Ajay!
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DAO Oct 9, 2012 at 1:45 AM

Happy Birthday Ajay!!!!
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cachaseiro Oct 9, 2012 at 1:45 AM

Happy birthday.
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DaHongHua Oct 9, 2012 at 12:37 AM

Nice to meet you and other 1062 VT friends in today's birthday list. Wish you happy birthday and good luck. Cheers from Malaysia.
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balfor Oct 10, 2011 at 4:29 AM

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

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

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

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

Ajay - been a while, hope you have been well. best wishes for a happy birthday and a healthy upcoming year. n.