Bio and Research Interests
Hello and thank you for visiting my observatory web site. Hopefully you will find pictures and links of interest.
My name is Fred Calvert and I live in Cold Spring Kentucky which is located just south of Cincinnati, Ohio with my wife Ann and puppy Abby.
My interest in astronomy dates back to when I was 9 years old, but not until the last 20 years - have I had the ability to afford having a real observatory, or a wife that would try to understand me spending the amount that a car would cost to look for ET, as she tells me I'm doing. Cold Spring Observatory is a 15 plus year project that is still ongoing.
My other personal interests are flying (pilot, aircraft mechanic, aviation safety director & safety investigator). Aviation safety program management and aviation safety investigation is my real day job. Boating, building computers, doing fun astronomy science, photography (my first 18 year career), flight simulation and, of course my wife Ann and puppy Abby.
As a pilot, aviation safety investigator and computer builder (been building my own computers since the 1980s) have started building my own flight simulators as a new hobby to have fun with.
My first 18 year career was professional photography, mainly wedding and school events. One day I said to myself this has been fun but time for change. So back to college I went and earned a AS degree in Aviation Maintenance and one year Certificate in Employer Labor Relations from Cincinnati State & Technical College and obtained my aircraft mechanic's (A&P) certification and two years later my FAA Inspection Authorization.
After getting my mechanics certificate, I went to work as a contract aircraft mechanic for GE Corporate Air Transport and worked for a great guy named John Willman. After GE closed their flight department in Cincinnati John, and shortly after I, went to work for Executive Jet Management located at Cincinnati's Lunken Field. John and I have been at EJM for the last 23 years.
Over the last 20 years I completed training as an aviation accident investigator at the NTSB Training Center in McLean, Virginia, The University of Southern California in Los Angles and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and Prescott and, Ethics Compliance and Safety Ethics at Bentley University in Boston and UC Berkley, California. I have graduated from the University of Southern California Aviation Safety and Security program and, the Aviation Safety Program Management and Aircraft Accident Investigation Management Programs at Embry-Riddle.
Research
My main research interests are the formation of Planetary Nebulas that form after the death of a star that is about the size of our sun, give or take a few solar diameters.
Secondary projects are searching for Supernovae in NGC 6946 and NGC 2403. Both of these galaxies are very active in star formation and death.
In January of 2021 I returned to collage at Northern Kentucky University to complete a BA in Integrated Studied with a concentration in Astronomy, Geology and Psychological Science/Human Services. During my second year I'm planning right now to conduct research on a number of subjects including period verification of selected eclipsing binary and variable stars and, imaging of gravitational lensing, gravitational visually enlarges galaxies and mapping of the dark matter around them, from my observatory.
Past research includes involvement with the Advanced Research Group at the Cincinnati Observatory Center, which was also the first Professional Observatory in the United States dedicated by John Quincy Adams in 1843. Our main efforts was providing some of the initial targeting data for the NASA Kepler Space Telescope.
Cold Spring Observatory is also a member of the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) (Observatory Code "CFV") and the Society for Astronomical Sciences.
My wife Ann & Me Our puppy Abby
FLIGHT SIMULATOR FUN
BOATING FUN
Our Yamaha SX230 Twin Engine Jet Boat Ann at the helm