Lisa Frattare
I have been working at STScI since 1996 and started on the Hubble
Heritage Project in early 1997. My titles with the team include Image
Processor and Project Coordinator, and I keep up with the monthly
schedule of releases, planning future observations, hiring and training
interns and keeping other team members busy. Coming close to our 100th
release which will occur in fall of 2006, I have had the pleasure of
being awestruck by some of the most moving images that the telescope
has taken.
My earliest memories of astronomy are precious: the "Goodnight Moon"
book; having mom rinse my hair saying "Look up at the moon..."; someone
pointing to an early evening planet saying it was "The Star of
Bethlehem." I loved staying up late, having the shades open at night to
watch stars and the moon traverse my bedroom window. One of my most
vivid memories of the cosmos was not at night but during the day, with
the shade pulled down in my room. Tiny pinprick holes in the shade made
up little constellations, and I remember contemplating that perhaps
real stars were pinpricks on what would evolve into a celestial sphere
shade. Who put them there, and why?
I took astronomy as a college elective, and I fell in love with it.
Stepping out on the roof overlooking Lake Ontario for my first
astronomy lab class in Oswego, NY, seeing first the sunset over the
lake, and then the crescent moon and several planets lined up across
the sky, I felt I had never seen such a beautiful sight. I was
mesmorized by the beautiful display before my eyes.
I studied astronomy in college for 11 years, at Oswego State, Arizona
State University, and Wesleyan University. I must say I love observing
the most: observing Kitt Peak, Cerro Tololo, Flagstaff, Keck and of
course with Hubble, are now at the top of the my list for precious
astronomical memories.
I do have some professional interests: luminous blue variable, issues of Women in Astronomy, working on software to find coordinates on astronomical images. Working on the Hubble Heritage Team, I satisfy other needs---to find beauty in science, to share it with others, to help others be inspired, and enable them to see something wonderful. In my non-professional time, I like to investigate my family geneaology, garden, paint, quilt, read, and be a mom.
|
.jpg)
