Jan and Allyson Porter at their home on a hill in Lodi, Texas. An Atlanta native and 1971 Atlanta High School graduate, Jan has returned to Cass County to be at home.Allyson is from Lubbock.
Allyson Porter does the art work for Lodi Skies Astrophotography. She will take her husband’s photographs of the skies and turn them into earthbound works of art such as this one.
Jan Porter shows his two major instruments, i.e., the large field and the narrow field celestial telescopes on their concrete posts ready to be turned upward to the sky.
Jan Porter inside his earth cave. He is studying and processing at the computer the views he has gained of the universe’s night time sky.
The “Whirlpool Galaxy” Jan has photographed is some 31 million light years away. Enough said. But Jan and Allyson Porter still have a relationship with Whirlpool.
On the wall in the Atlanta store of Jana’s Mercantile, are the result of a passionate hobby that Jan and Allyson Porter share with others.Their hobby is called Lodi Skies Astrophotography.
One thing is clear, a tee-shirt with a galaxy design produced by Lodi Skies Astrophotography will be unique.This one is titled “Whirlpool” can be found at Jana’s Mercantile in Atlanta.
Lodi Skies Astrophotography
Two local science researchers will be most enthusiastically interested in the solar eclipse to occur on Saturday. Jan and Allyson Porter are entrepreneurs of Lodi Skies Astrophotography with its observatory located near the community of Lodi at the southern edge of Cass County and its meeting with Marion County.
The eclipse starts Saturday at 10:23 a.m. and ends at 1:33 p.m. Jan Porter is the astronomer and his wife Allyson Porter is the artist who will turn his work into desirable creations available to the public. For example, her star work is shown at Jana’s Mercantile in Atlanta.
In his observatory, Jan Porter may photograph a galaxy millions of light-years away in a project that will take 10 to 15 hours. He’ll then bond the galaxy image to a glass plate and this view of the night sky can be shown by Lodi Skies Astrophotography. It’s a dramatic evening hobby for Jan and Allyson.
Porter notes a galaxy’s distance is too far to imagine, but at least knowing its name is the beginning of a friendship. Once the earth observer recognizes and becomes familiar with this part of the sky, one at least feels comfortable having some knowledge of the universe, Porter explains.
“I just feel, ‘Wow’ about astrophotography,” he says. “It may be a spiritual journey, but mostly it’s a personal skill I like to improve on even if it’s mind-boggling.”
The artwork that Allyson creates will cost a few dollars, but it will show something only earth-bound humans have knowingly seen and which may never have been seen by any other object subject in the universe. That’s a long time. The universe is, scientists say, some 13.7 billion years old.
This is reason enough to ask Jan how he does observing and why he puts Lodi, a hill in Cass County, on the Earth’s map.
First, there’s the personal reason and then the equipment.
Jan is the son of the late D. R. Porter of Atlanta, a building contractor, and his mother Louise, a well-known Atlanta elementary teacher. After graduating from Atlanta High in 1971, he then earned his degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and is now a retired certified public accountant, having returned to Lodi and Atlanta from Houston.
Always interested in telescopes, Jan progressed from a small system to one that can produce striking images. He and Allyson acquired their home on a tall, spacious hill near Lodi which generally has clear night skies free from artificial light pollution.
The two built their observatory and installed two telescopes on firm concrete.
A computer will guide the telescopes and cameras to the chosen object. That object is photographed many times during the viewing as the computer compensates for the movement of the earth through the skies.
Once the images are combined and improved, they are sent to a company in Florida that prints the image on glass.
Jan is independent. He’s a researcher. He is not one to lecture but will give explanations if asked. Allyson is enthusiastically artistic in many ways.
“We can see the Milky Way from here,” the two say. “That glow on the horizon is Shreveport, Longview, or Texarkana. It’s beautiful here. You just come away thinking there’s so much potential for life on other planets.”
Astronomer Porter cautions that while the moon passing between the sun and earth is expected to be at its full 11:45 a.m.. Saturday and the atmosphere clear, viewing should be only through ISO (International Safety Standard) approved eclipse viewing sunglasses or filter Perhaps the Porters’ entire experience can be summed philosophically. Here’s one.
“If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, we bet they’d live life differently.” — Calvin and Hobbes