Robert A. Garfinkle, F.R.A.S. Robert is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of London as well as two local astronomy clubs. He is also a member of the British Astronomical Association, where he is the Historian for the Lunar Section. He is a Lifemember of the Fremont Peak Observatory
Association and serves as an Editor-at-Large for the "Journal of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers." He contributes book reviews on lunar books to the journal. Robert is also a member of the Antique Telescope Society and owns an 1875 With-Browning 8-1/2-inch reflector. His
main observing instrument is a 10-inch (250mm), f/10, Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

He is the author of the book "Star-Hopping; Your Visa to Viewing the Universe" (Cambridge University Press, 1994, 1997) and a co-author of "Advanced Skywatching" (The Nature Company, Time-Life Books, 1997). Robert is the author or co-author of a number of lunar and star-hopping articles.
His latest article is "Polar Moon" in the December 2004 issue of "Astronomy"
magazine. Robert is currently working on the manuscript for a major lunar observers' handbook.

Robert and his family have traveled to the Gulf of Baja California to see the July 1991 total solar eclipse. February 1998 found them in the Caribbean Sea, August 1999 in the Black Sea, and June 2001 in Zimbabwe for total solar eclipses. He traveled to Florida to see the 2004 transit of Venus.

In addition to astronomy writing, Robert writes fiction and poetry. For 25 years, he was a senior technical writer for defense and high-tech companies in the San Francisco bay area. He has earned Bachelor of Arts degrees from California State University-Hayward in History (1975) and English
Literature (1994). Robert is married, has two grown daughters, and lives in Union
City,
California.