Evered Kreimer
Evered Kreimer became an amateur astronomer during his high school years. Another even earlier hobby was photography. After college and wartime services he did various business endeavors. In the early 1960's, he began with serious astrophotography.
Kreimer is author (together with John Mallas) of The Messier Album, one of the first and most comprehensive books on the objects in Messier's catalog, where he contributed the photographs of the Messier objects (all but M102). He had obtained these black & white film photographs with a 12.5-inch f/7 Newtonian reflector, a Cave Astrola, from his observatory in Prescott, Arizona between December 1963 and March 1970 (all objects but the then-"missing" M91 and lately-added M110 had been photographed to October 1966; these two images have been obtained with another telescope, the 16-inch f/8 reflector of Richard Lines).
Kreimer's photos were taken on Kodak Tri-X film cooled to -109 deg Fahrenheit (-78 Centigrade), in a camera integrated with an eyepiece in a guiding head (described in Mallas/Kreimer 1978).
According to Forrest Lockhart (Lockhart 2003) as of August, 2003, Kreimer's telescope and camera is now being owned by Larry Hardin, the owner of Hardin Optical and successor of Cave Optical, in Oregon, and in process of being restored.
Links:
References:
Evered Kreimer became an amateur astronomer during his high school years. Another even earlier hobby was photography. After college and wartime services he did various business endeavors. In the early 1960's, he began with serious astrophotography.
Kreimer is author (together with John Mallas) of The Messier Album, one of the first and most comprehensive books on the objects in Messier's catalog, where he contributed the photographs of the Messier objects (all but M102). He had obtained these black & white film photographs with a 12.5-inch f/7 Newtonian reflector, a Cave Astrola, from his observatory in Prescott, Arizona between December 1963 and March 1970 (all objects but the then-"missing" M91 and lately-added M110 had been photographed to October 1966; these two images have been obtained with another telescope, the 16-inch f/8 reflector of Richard Lines).
Kreimer's photos were taken on Kodak Tri-X film cooled to -109 deg Fahrenheit (-78 Centigrade), in a camera integrated with an eyepiece in a guiding head (described in Mallas/Kreimer 1978).
According to Forrest Lockhart (Lockhart 2003) as of August, 2003, Kreimer's telescope and camera is now being owned by Larry Hardin, the owner of Hardin Optical and successor of Cave Optical, in Oregon, and in process of being restored.
Links:
References:
- Forrest Lockhart, 2003. Some Cave History. Newsletter of the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society (SVAS), Vol. 60, No. 8 (August 2003). Available online.
- John Mallas and Evered Kreimer, 1978. The Messier Album. Sky Publishing Corporation, 1978 (second revised printing 1979)
A Meeting with Evered Kreimer
by Justin Balderrama
It’s taken me way too long to get around to posting about this, but I had the opportunity to meet Evered Kreimer, the famous astrophotographer who first used the cooled emulsion camera.
Evered Kreimer was a big name in amateur astronomy back in the 60’s and 70’s. He had a contract with Sky and Telescope magazine and had his photos included monthly. He became interested in astronomy when he was a teenager. He moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1962 and built his observatory, housing a Cave 12.5″ F/7 Newtonian. Later on he moved to another part of Prescott and built another observatory. He also had his own imaging processing room, to process and develop the Kodak Tri-X film that he used on his photographs.
One of his biggest contribution was being co-author in the book, The Messier Album published in 1978. This book included information, sketches and photos off all the Messier objects as well as the history of Charles Messier. This is a popular book among astronomers looking for a quick reference on any Messier object. Kreimer included all the photos and John Mallas included the sketches of all the objects as seen through his 4″ Unitron Refractor. This book is still available today, look here.
Anyway. no one has heard of him recently at all, not for the last several years. During a trip visiting my grandparents in Prescott (from 2/14), we managed to get ahold of him and he invited us down to visit him. Kreimer showed us his photos and told us his story.
About 5 years ago, Kreimer gave away his telescope and sold his house, the observatory was torn down. He moved to a quiet, beautiful neighborhood in Prescott. He still is into photography, while he can’t get out under the stars anymore, he photographs birds, and has since switched to digital. He has a small spotting scope that he carries around now. Kreimer is still sharp as a tack, and he knows his stuff. He is 92. My grandpa and him really connected, he worked in a photo lab for over 30 years and did some astrophotography of his own with his 12.5″ F/6 Newtonian. They were both talking about how they did all the image processing, chemicals used, etc. Kreimer took a particular liking to my sketches, and it was fun comparing sketches with his photos. He told me that in the 36 years The Messier Album has been out, he never received one letter, one phone call, nothing. I’m the very first.
It was a real honor to talk with him, and is a really kind man. He signed my book:
This is the only signature in The Messier Album, and I’m so honored to have it be my copy. Thanks to all, who made this possible, my parents, my grandparents, and, of course, Mr. Kreimer.
Justin
by Justin Balderrama
It’s taken me way too long to get around to posting about this, but I had the opportunity to meet Evered Kreimer, the famous astrophotographer who first used the cooled emulsion camera.
Evered Kreimer was a big name in amateur astronomy back in the 60’s and 70’s. He had a contract with Sky and Telescope magazine and had his photos included monthly. He became interested in astronomy when he was a teenager. He moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1962 and built his observatory, housing a Cave 12.5″ F/7 Newtonian. Later on he moved to another part of Prescott and built another observatory. He also had his own imaging processing room, to process and develop the Kodak Tri-X film that he used on his photographs.
One of his biggest contribution was being co-author in the book, The Messier Album published in 1978. This book included information, sketches and photos off all the Messier objects as well as the history of Charles Messier. This is a popular book among astronomers looking for a quick reference on any Messier object. Kreimer included all the photos and John Mallas included the sketches of all the objects as seen through his 4″ Unitron Refractor. This book is still available today, look here.
Anyway. no one has heard of him recently at all, not for the last several years. During a trip visiting my grandparents in Prescott (from 2/14), we managed to get ahold of him and he invited us down to visit him. Kreimer showed us his photos and told us his story.
About 5 years ago, Kreimer gave away his telescope and sold his house, the observatory was torn down. He moved to a quiet, beautiful neighborhood in Prescott. He still is into photography, while he can’t get out under the stars anymore, he photographs birds, and has since switched to digital. He has a small spotting scope that he carries around now. Kreimer is still sharp as a tack, and he knows his stuff. He is 92. My grandpa and him really connected, he worked in a photo lab for over 30 years and did some astrophotography of his own with his 12.5″ F/6 Newtonian. They were both talking about how they did all the image processing, chemicals used, etc. Kreimer took a particular liking to my sketches, and it was fun comparing sketches with his photos. He told me that in the 36 years The Messier Album has been out, he never received one letter, one phone call, nothing. I’m the very first.
It was a real honor to talk with him, and is a really kind man. He signed my book:
This is the only signature in The Messier Album, and I’m so honored to have it be my copy. Thanks to all, who made this possible, my parents, my grandparents, and, of course, Mr. Kreimer.
Justin
Justin is an up and coming astronomer who participates regularly in the Classic telescope forum on Cloudy Nights. He has developed a talent for "sketching" the night sky objects a technique that came before the camera and still used by a few today. I like his images!
Thank you Justin! Looks like you have another talent also.
. . . . Turk
Thank you Justin! Looks like you have another talent also.
. . . . Turk
