PCW Memorial Observatory – Erika Rix

Erika Rix – PCW Memorial Observatory, Liberty Hill, Texas

Erika Rix is a co-author of “Astronomical Sketching: A Step-by-Step Introduction”, Springer 2007 and “Sketching the Moon: An Astronomical Artist’s Guide”, Springer 2011″. She also is a writer/illustrator for Astronomy Now magazine, along with Jeremy Perez and Peter Grego for the monthly “Drawn to the Universe” column. She and her husband, Paul, share their love of astronomy.  Paul enjoys the imaging side of the hobby, and Erika is a visual observer who sketches her observations while studying the views through the eyepiece. She is a member of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers and the Austin Astronomical Society.

After the purchase of their first telescope, it was the Moon that initially caught Erika’s eye. It wasn’t long before charcoal and paper accompanied her at the eyepiece and along with her lunar sketches and reports, she wrote a beginner’s guide for the “Virtual Moon Atlas”. She soon joined several other astronomical sketchers to kick-start a new sketching forum on the website “Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews” where sketching tips and tutorials were freely shared and where she later volunteered her time as a moderator.

While at a star party in Michigan, Erika got her first dose of solar observing through a hydrogen alpha filter and there was no looking back. She logs observations of the Sun with reports and sketches when sky conditions allow with her internally double-stacked Coronado 60mm Maxscope and her white light solar filters. She strives for improving her sketching technique at the eyepiece for accuracy and sharing her techniques with others in the process.

The original PCW Memorial Observatory, built by Backyard Observatories, remains in Ohio after Erika and Paul relocated to Texas. The PCW Memorial name will be carried until such time that a new observatory is built at their new home in Texas.