Author Profile:Phil Harrington |
 |
A lifelong amateur astronomer, Phil Harrington was bitten by the "astronomical bug" when he was assigned to watch the total lunar eclipse of April 1968 as a homework assignment. Since then , Phil has spent countless hours touring the universe through telescopes and binoculars. He is a former staff member of New York City's Hayden Planetarium and instructor at the Vanderbilt Planetarium in Centerport, New York. Phil is an adjunct professor at both Dowling College, Oakdale, NY, and Suffolk County Community College's Eastern Campus in Riverhead, New York, where he teaches courses in stellar and planetary astronomy. He is a member of Custer Institute, a founding member of the Westport (CT) Astronomical Society, and is also one of the coordinators of the annual Astronomer's Conjunction, held ever summer in Northfield, MA.
Phil is most familiar to amateur astronomers for his books:
|
|
(Globe Pequot Press, 1994; second edition 2000) |
|
(Sky Publishing, 1998) |
|
(John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1997) |
|
The Illustrated Timeline of the Universe (Sterling Publishing, 2006) |
|
|
(Browntrout Publishers, 2003) |
|
(John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1st edition 1994; 2nd edition 1998, 3rd edition 2002, 4th edition 2007) |
|
(John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2003) |
 |
TOURING THE UNIVERSE THROUGH BINOCULARS (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1990) |
Phil is also a contributing editor for Astronomy magazine, where he writes the monthly Phil Harrington's Binocular Universe as well as frequently reviews telescopes, binoculars, and other astronomical equipment. Phil has also written a quarterly on-line column on Astronomy.com entitled Phil Harrington's Challenge Objects, monthly columns highlighting monthly deep-sky objects on AstronomyDaily.com, as well as for Deep Sky and Sky & Telescope magazines. A complete bibliography can be found here.
Academically, Phil has undergraduate degrees in science education from Wagner College and mechanical engineering from New York Institute of Technology, as well as a Master's degree in environmental engineering from New York Institute of Technology. By day, he is an instructor of technical training courses at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
A native of Rowayton, Connecticut, Phil married his Wagner College sweetheart, Wendy, in 1980. They now live on Long Island's north shore with their daughter Helen. Phil is also an avid bicyclist and authored, with Wendy, SHORT BIKE RIDES IN AND AROUND NEW YORK CITY.