"This was a hobby that got out of control. It's an addiction" - David Healy as he stood inside his private observatory in the backyard of his home southeast of Sierra Vista.
After discovering more than 500 asteroids from his Junk Bond Observatory in his back yard, Healy was ready for another challenge.
"A lot of amateurs were discovering asteroids. but no amateur has discovered an exoplanet yet."
June 30 marks the 100th anniversary of an asteroid that exploded over Tunguska, Russia, with a force 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that levelled Hiroshima at the end of World War II. David Healy, by day an auto analyst with New York-based Burnham Securities Inc., wasn't around to warn people about that one. He built his own $500,000 observatory in his backyard in Arizona so he can have a shot at preventing the next.
The Junk Bond Observatory is located in Sierra Vista, Arizona in the Sonoran Desert.
* Longitude: 110 degrees, 12.24 minutes West * Latitude: 31 degrees, 28.51 minutes North * Elevation: 4425 feet (1349 meters)
Established in 1996, observer David Healy began by using a Celestron 14 SCT and a Meade16-inch LX 200 telescopes in a roll-off shelter. In 2000, a 20" Ritchey-Chretien was installed, to be replaced by a 32" Ritchey in 2004.