Astro Camp

Guest Astronomers

Darren Drake

In-Residence for summer at the Yarger Astronomy Center at Camp Eberhart. In this support position, Darren will be a resource person for campers all summer long, present each night at the observatory to assist campers in their quest to gain proficiency in the Astronomy program. Since 2006 Darren has assisted Kids Astro Camp as well. Darren holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University; his specialty is Astronomy. He has a Teaching Certificate in Science and has taught on the Elementary, Jr. High and High School levels in the Chicago area. In addition, Darren is Planetarium Operator at the Cernan Space Center at Triton College in River Grove. Darren owns an awesome 18-inch diameter reflector telescope (which requires a step-ladder for viewing) and is active and well-known in Astronomy outreach in the Chicago area.

Joshua Burton

Joshua earned his Ph.D. in 1990 from UC Berkeley, where he worked with Mary K. Gaillard and Bruno Zumino during the exciting early years of supergravity and string theory.  He has held research appointments at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Harvard, Brown and Northwestern, publishing original work on supersymmetry, particle astrophysics, cosmology, and high-energy physics beyond the Standard Model. In 1997, a friend's start-up company lured him away from academia into software, and through acquisition he eventually wound up at IBM. He retired in 2016 to return to his true calling as a physics educator, and is now teaching and running the astronomy club at Proviso Mathematics and Science Academy, in the near western suburbs of Chicago.

Dr. Carl J. Wenning

Dr. Wenning has been an amateur astronomer since being introduced to the sky by his grandfather during the summer of 1957. He has been involved with the Twin City Amateur Astronomers since September 1978. Today, he is the president of that organization. He is also an Astronomical League Master Observer who spends most of his free time introducing new amateur astronomers to observing using his club’s Celestron 11” and PlaneWave 20” telescopes. Carl served three consecutive two-year terms as NCRAL Regional Chair from 2017 to 2023 and sat on the Nation Council of the Astronomical League. He was recognized for his Regional education efforts in 2007 when he received the NCRAL Region Award. Carl co-taught Astro Camp at Camp Eberhart for the first time in 2023. He served as planetarium director (1978-2001) and taught as a physics teacher educator (1994-2022) at Illinois State University in Normal, where he resides.

Joe Comiskey

Joe has been interested in Astronomy since the summer after his 8th grade, when he noticed Jupiter rising in the middle of the night. After a long hiatus, he got back into the hobby in 2009, being active in the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society and spending many nights observing the moon, planets, stars and deep sky objects. In 2017, he designed a device to use binoculars comfortably (even for zenith viewing), and recently started astro-sketching. Joe has found that stargazing a great way to connect with God's creation.

Joe is a retired analytical chemist who worked in the pharmaceutical industry, is happily married to his wife Ellen (for 33+ years), has four adult kids, and is active in several ministries at St. Joseph and St. Catherine's parishes. Other hobbies include fixing things, piano, physical fitness, sketching, helping others, and being social.

Sam Springer

Sam Springer is a recent graduate of Delavan High School, and a current student of Illinois Central College. As a resident of rural Illinois and treated with beautifully dark skies, Sam is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer pursuing a degree in astrophysics. He is a current member of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers, a club of which he acts as the Visual Property Manager in a shared position with Dr. Carl Wenning. In lieu of a lifetime of experience, Sam holds a strong passion for astronomy and bountiful zeal for the discipline.

Ryan Ehlers

Ryan Ehlers is a amatuer astronomer and astrophotographer from Royal Oak, Michigan. He currently is a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University studying Aviation Maintenance Science in Daytona Beach, Florida. This will be his 5th summer at Camp Eberhart and his 2nd as a Astrocamp guest astronomer. He spends his free time on clear nights taking images of deep sky objects from his backyard.

Lou Sandock

Lou is the founder of today’s Kids AstroCamp! He loves the night skies and loves introducing the campers to them. He is mentor to the teachers and friend to all campers who share his interest. He tells the best Camp Eberhart stories – just ask him during a campfire!

Earl Todd

Earl Todd is a retired aerospace engineer who spent 25 years of his career working on the Space Shuttle Main Engine project and loves rockets. In the 1970’s he was on the Eberhart Astronomy staff where he learned to love the night skies.  Recently he has combined his passion for the night sky with his love of photography and travel to capture nightscape photos.

A Letter from the Astro Camp Director

Where would you go in the United States to find a place where kids aged 9-15 can have fun discovering the night sky? Here! Day and night, we practice learning how to operate a telescope with our fleet of newer 8” Dobsonian telescopes, to find your own way around the constellations. We turn day into night with our StarLab portable planetarium as we see where the night’s planets and stars are located. We make paper projects, have mini-lessons, and on Friday we launch water-bottle rockets! You can earn proficiencies with your new friends and enjoy S’mores on cloudy nights while we share mythologies and star stories with a bunch of great visiting astronomer-teachers!

We will have an astrophotographer with us to show you how to take your own night-sky photos. We ask that you bring a stick/flash/thumb drive with you to camp so you can take home the images that we process during camp week! This year we will get Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn, and maybe even see a few galaxies and clusters.

AstroCamp owns a BIG 18” Obsession telescope, along with other types of telescopes. We have a few digital varieties, too.

Get the full camp experience and choose from other programs like swimming, sailing, canoeing, fishing, archery, horseback riding, and more in the morning; and join us for Astro Camp in the afternoon and evening to view the stars. You may even have starry dreams!

Darren Drake, Astro Camp Program Director