Exploring the Universe, Protecting Dark and Quiet Skies & Inspiring The Next Generation

Welcome to my corner of the cosmos, a place shaped by a lifelong fascination with the night sky. Most people know me as Jim Verner, others as James I. Verner, but in recent years I've become known as "the satellite guy."

My journey began when my father pointed out the Pleiades and Orion's Belt to me as a child. That moment sparked a passion for astronomy that has stayed with me ever since.

Today, that passion also comes with a mission. Across the world, our once pristine night sky is fading, washed out by ground-based light pollution and increasingly crowded by satellites in orbit.

Astronomers at every level, from professional to amateur to those who simply look up in wonder at the night sky, are watching that once beautiful tapestry of light and dark, wonder and science, art and inspiration, gradually eroding.

Slowly, almost inexorably, we are losing our view of the cosmos.

Yet I still believe it is not too late to turn the tide. My passion for astronomy runs deep — but I believe something else matters just as much: a dark and radio-quiet sky is essential not only to advancing our understanding of the Universe of which we are a part, but to the cultural heritage of all humanity, for this generation and the ones to come.

Here you'll find my passion for astronomy, my mission to preserve the dark and quiet sky, and my drive to inspire the next generation through STEM. Join me on this journey — and dip into the blog along the way.

These days, when someone greets me as "the satellite guy," I'll admit I've made my peace with it — if the label helps the message travel a little further, I'm happy to wear it. What I hope for, simply, is that some other child, on some ordinary night, still gets the Pleiades or Orion pointed out to them, clear, undimmed, and theirs to wonder at.