Focal Pointe Observatory

Focal Pointe Observatory
Astrophotography by Bob Franke

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Hello, my name is Bob Franke (as in yankee) and I am not the folk singer. I may have to change my web presence to Robert Franke. The image, to the left, was taken on my retirement day in Feb 2007. I was a software developer for a Fortune 500 company near Seattle, WA. All images, before 2007, were taken from the Seattle neighborhood of Magnolia. This is about three miles from the core of downtown Seattle. I now live in Chino Valley, AZ with my wife, Joanna.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Focal Pointe Observatory is to produce "pretty pictures." Purists will say my images are bogus because the data are highly modified and all scientific value is lost. Well, like many other astro-artists, I just don’t care about science with my images. The closest I may get to science will probably be searching for a super nova. Shown below is a comparison of an unprocessed "scientific" and a "pretty picture" image. The two images were created from the same data.


original unprocessed	highly processed pretty picture

After 20 years of engineering software development, I was burned out on programming. I am now starting to finish some of the programs I have started for astrophotography. Five free programs are now available, just click the "My Freeware" link.

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All images and site content are Copyright ©2003-2018 by Robert Franke, unless otherwise noted for specific content. Images may be used on a personal computer (for wallpaper, etc), or in a non-profit publication (such as a club newsletter) with proper credit to the author. Any commercial or for-profit use is prohibited without permission.