The man who watches the stars

Retired astronomer Norman Butler while at work observing the sun shining on
Saipan. (Contributed Photo)

Retired astronomer Norman Butler has made Guam and Saipan his home since 2011. His love for astronomy dates back from his childhood and by pursuing this passion, this led him to Guam in the 1960s working as an optical man in the U.S. Navy. Since then the skies above the islands has mesmerized him.

“I have spent equal amounts of time living on both Saipan and Guam…retired here for good… the islands are a haven for astronomers. Saipan for example has some of the most fantastic sea level clear skies on the entire planet especially for observing the heavens,” he said.

“It would be hard to beat the beautiful night skies of Saipan for amateur astronomy anywhere. In fact, the Milky Way was the cover photo on a very popular astronomy magazine called Astronomy Technology Today published on Sept. 29, 2009… with the Palms Resort Hotel (now Kensington Hotel) on Saipan with the Milky Way rising behind it,” he added.

Butler, a graduate of San Diego City College, holds advanced degrees in physics and astronomy including a Ph.D and this catapulted him to lead a colorful career in the field of astronomy.

“Aside from serving in the U.S. Navy as an optical man on submarine tenders repairing submarine periscopes and optical navigational equipment throughout the 1960s, I did galactic core measurement studies (M-87), chasing the space shuttle, satellite tracking, atmospheric scintillation, and meteor trail studies for AVCO Everett Research Laboratory at the Haleakala AMOS Observatory, a U.S. Air Force research laboratory located in Maui starting in the early ’80s,” he said.

“I was also involved building electro-optical equipment for use on both 1.6M and dual 1.2M telescopes… After a career in electro-optical engineering, I became an educator at Shenzhen Polytechnic College and later at Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School both in Hong Kong. Now retired and living on Saipan, I enjoy writing popular books on binoscopes as well as searching for comets, asteroids, as well as other mysterious cosmic interlopers (UFOs) with my trusty binoscope under the beautiful dark tropical skies of Saipan and Guam,” he added.

Butler is an award-winning binoscope maker. Binoscopes are like huge binoculars that will give you a brighter picture of heavenly bodies because of the combined two sides. “Imagine the night sky to be filled with beautiful points of light, almost like sparkling diamonds when they look through the two eyepieces of a binoscope…I have also authored popular books on binoscopes and binocular telescopes,” he said.

“My future plan is to write a picture book of Saipan, some of its history, historical and picturesque views of Saipan, and also include some beautiful photos of the Milky Way to show how beautiful the night sky is in the Northern Mariana Islands,” he added.

Butler would like to see the young generation take an interest in astronomy because of the endless possibilities out there “A young kid who is interested in astronomy should try and learn about the moon—its phases and some of the names of the big craters on the lunar surface and planets… I advise parents to get their child a book about the night sky so they can learn the constellations by name, their shape in the night sky, and the names of some of the bright stars like Sirius and galaxies such as Andromeda for example,” he said.

“Also, to have them try and learn a little about telescopes to get them excited about astronomy… once a young boy or girl gets excited about astronomy at an early age, they’ll really enjoy learning about the heavens even more in school, college, or a university. Then maybe even a possible career in astronomy someday working at big observatory in Hawaii. Anything is possible if you start early to plan your future,” he added

Butler’s books Building and Using Binoscopes, History of Binoscope, and Building Binoscopes are available at Amazon.com.