ONE MILLION Home Page Hits for ASO

Arkansas Sky Observatory topped the ONE MILLION point early in the morning on September 8; the home page of the ASO website has now surpassed its 1,000,000th visitor and growing rapidly every day.

In addition, the number of registered Forum members has increased to over 1,000. Because of our strict zero-spam and tight posting tolerance, we are proud of our tight group of Forum participants. Hats off to you all for making ASO a success.

Historically the Arkansas Sky Observatory is now in its fourth decade - 40 years! - of providing astronomical education, outreach and research to both the scientific and public communities. ASO was established by P. Clay Sherrod through Arkansas Sky, Inc. in 1971 and continues to be one of the most active privately funded observatories in the world.

The ASO website was started in 2001 by Brian M. Sherrod, Sr., Doc Clay's brother and computer mentor. Brian specializes in computer design and implementation in both hardware and software applications and is an active Amateur (HAM) Radio operator. Brian saw the need for the outreach of a well-designed website for ASO, while Doc Clay resisted....to the point of insisting only ten years ago that computers did not belong in the gentlemanly profession of astronomy. Turns out Brian was right on this one. Brian still assists in what sometimes become difficult situations in the operation of this complex and intricate websites.

The website is now pretty much self-operating, but when times arise that technical input is necessary, Keith Yohn assists as the ASO Webmaster and provides vital input and changes when they are needed....if it were not for Keith, the Forum registrations would have to come down because of the horrendous attempts by spammers and worse to register for access to our members.

In all, Arkansas Sky Observatory, www.arksky.org, has become one of the leading and most popular astronomical website in the world, with its packed links including custom calendars, Guides for observing and telescope operation, weather and climate information, Forums, astronomical observations including all the latest information on comets, asteroids and the planets, and serves as the home base for the state of the art Planetary Image Archives of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. (link on the homes page).

A personal thanks to all of our visitors to ASO www.arksky.org over the past 7 years. Special thanks to all of our registered Forum Members.

We are fortunate to have an array of very fine moderators (please see the Forums) who specialize in the many specialty fields of our Forum Topics and I am proud that they have been with us from near the inception of the ASO website.

Special Thanks to Mr. Dave Birmingham, of Thompsonville, Illinois who has always assisted me in monitoring the website diligently in search of people needing advice, or problems as they may arise. Dave is a good friend to me, and operates the Harvard/Minor Planet Center H53 Birmingham Astronomical Observatory in Thompsonville, Illinois.

We look forward to watching the home page counter as it ticks away to our 2,000,000th visitor in the not-so-long future.
Welcome aboard ASO....make yourself home and enjoy the ride into the Cosmos.

Dr. Clay