Ken Fulton

Ken Fulton was born in Texas in 1947; no brag, just fact. Since a deeply dark yet starlit night in 1957 when his parents forced him outside during one of their many marital spats, he has been a devoted amateur astronomer. As it turned out, his parents did him a favor that cold transparent evening, and the Powers That Be directed the rest of his life. In 1960, he managed to obtain his first telescope: an excellent 4-inch Criterion DynaScope reflector. In 1965, he won a NASA AWARD FOR SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT for photographs of the Moon taken through that very telescope. Later, in the late 1970s, he wrote numerous articles for ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE. These articles resulted in his first book: THE LIGHT-HEARTED ASTRONOMER (AstroMedia, 1984). It was a best seller; the first "survival manual" for beginning amateur astronomers. It is now widely considered a classic in its genre. Again, no brag, just fact. The book was adapted into a successful planetarium show produced by the more than capable staff of the Sudekum Planetarium in Nashville. Fulton co-wrote the award-winning script. THE LIGHT-HEARTED ASTRONOMER enjoyed four printings, and remained in print for nearly ten years. Even in out-of-print status, the little book never actually faded away. There appeared threads on the World Wide Web yearning for an updated version. And so, THE LIGHT-HEARTED ASTRONOMER OBSERVES AGAIN answered the call in 2019. Fulton's wife, Doris, designed the book. She is also a dedicated amateur astronomer and astro-photographer, known for her MOON NOIR images.