Our Experts

For nearly five decades, Dennis Mammana has delivered the wonder and mystery of the cosmos to audiences around the world.

With a B.A. in physics and astronomy from Otterbein College and an M.S. in astronomy from Vanderbilt University, he has held positions at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum, the University of Arizona, and San Diego’s Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater & Science Center.

Dennis is the author of six books on popular astronomy―including co-authoring the first-ever book about the search for extra-solar planetary systems―as well as hundreds of popular magazine and encyclopedia articles, scripts and blogs. Since 1992, he has written “Stargazers”, the only syndicated weekly newspaper column about astronomy.

As an accomplished night sky photographer, he is one of only six Americans invited to TWAN (The World At Night), an elite international team of the most highly acclaimed night sky photographers on the planet. His images have been featured nine times as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day and dozens of times on the front page of Spaceweather.

A dynamic public speaker, Dennis has inspired and informed audiences on six continents. He has traveled to the Arctic and Subarctic more than 30 times to lecture about and photograph the aurora borealis (the northern lights) and has witnessed and photographed 18 total solar eclipses.

When not spending time with his head in the stars, he enjoys cooking home-style Italian food, sports, weight-training, tending to his Italian herb and vegetable garden, exploring the desert canyons in his Jeep 4×4, watching reruns of Gunsmoke, taking naps, and relentlessly pursuing the perfect Philly cheesesteak sandwich―not necessarily in that order.

He now works as an astronomy writer, lecturer, and photographer under the clear, dark skies of Southern California’s Anza-Borrego Desert. You can visit him online at dennismammana.com.

Senior Editor Rich Talcott brings to the magazine a lifelong interest in the science of astronomy as well as observing the night sky. He graduated from Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, in 1976 with a degree in Mathematics. After attending graduate school at Ohio State, Rich returned to Marietta in the early 1980s as a Lecturer in the Physics Department. He joined the staff of Astronomy in early 1986 and hasn’t looked back. 

Rich edits the Sky This Month section in the center of Astronomy as well as science and hobby features. In addition, he has written more than one hundred feature articles for the magazine. He also creates most of the star charts you see in Astronomy as well as the maps that appeared in Atlas of the Stars . Each year, he produces Astronomy‘s beautiful Deep Space Mysteries calendar. 
In collaboration with Joel Harris, Rich authored Chasing the Shadow: An Observer’s Guide to Eclipses. He has witnessed six total solar eclipses and hopes to add many more to the total.