An ardent traveler and photographer, Gary has hosted tours to observe comets and eclipses and takes urban students to the Southwest to view the heavens from some of the darkest regions in the US. He and his pupils volunteered at Chaco Culture National Historical Park near Nageezi, NM between 1999 and 2001 and helped to staff the Chaco Observatory as a part of the Park’s Night Sky Initiative. His StarWatch Team of student observers continues to make the heavens accessible through telescopes to urban audiences throughout the region. Currently, Gary is part of the Night Sky Team at Bryce Canyon National Park in SW Utah.

Gary Becker’s 45-year interest in astronomy and his career as an educator have provided him with a natural avenue for writing. Over the past decade he has authored the book that his astronomy students use, has founded the website www.astronomy.org as an educational outreach for his pupils and the public, and has been writing a homespun, but informative weekly column for the past 10 years called StarWatch which is now syndicated and appears in 25 newspapers nationwide.