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COURTESY OF Susan Weis
Award-winning astrophotographer Terry Mann has been fascinated by the night sky since childhood .
Night sky a lifelong inspiration for astrophotographer Terry Mann
By PATRICIA SMITH
D
Sky ’ s Up staff writer riven by her lifelong fascination with the night sky , award-winning astrophotographer Terry Mann has become a master of capturing stunning skyscapes . “ My mom once told me , when I was still small enough to sit on her lap that I would ask about the stars every time I was outside ,” Mann writes . “ I don ’ t know how , but that curiosity has stayed with me .” Now , through her camera lens , Mann fosters that same curiosity about the stars in others . This need to share the sky began in the latter half of her elementary school years , when her parents bought her a 60mm refractor . “ I took it to school to show everyone the Sun . It had one of those screw-in-the-eyepiece solar filters ,” she writes . “ I can ’ t believe my class all looked through that telescope that day , and I kept looking at the Sun with that filter . I still cringe when I think about it .” Her first foray into astrophotography came shortly after . “ I decided I wanted a picture of the Moon . My dad had a camera that I wasn ’ t allowed to touch . One night when he was reading the newspaper I took the camera and went outside to take a picture of the Moon ,” she writes . “ When the flash went off my dad came out to see what happened . I was caught red handed ! I ’ ll never forget , he didn ’ t punish me for taking the camera , instead he explained why I didn ’ t need a flash to take that picture . My parents were the best !” With just a quick look at her work or host of accolades , it is clear that Mann has honed both her outreach and her imaging skills in the decades since she first peeked through that 60mm refractor . Her images have been shown in galleries and have appeared in magazines , on television and on popular websites like space . com . She has served as both vice president and president of the Astronomical League — one of the largest amateur astronomical organizations in the world — and has been a NASA Solar System Ambassador since 2002 . Her honors have included the R . G . Wright Award from the Astronomical League , the Kepler Award from the Miami Valley Astronomical Society and an award from the Ohio House of Representatives . Even with all of these credentials , the road to these successes has had its share of bumps . “ I remember one of the first times I won a category in an astrophoto competition , since my name is Terry , they assumed I was a male . When they called my name and
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