About Us

Brad Perry graduated from Georgia Tech in Aerospace Engineering and had a 32-year NASA career that included serving as an astronaut instructor for the Space Shuttle, designing the International Space Station, crew systems research, and evaluating proposal concepts for NASA’s robotic missions to visit the planets and study the universe. He accomplished graduate studies in astronomy at the University of Virginia and observed professionally, publishing a number of papers on optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of variable stars, novae, supernovae, and also small Solar System objects.

Brad has taught the Introductory Astronomy course for the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning at the College of William and Mary since 2008 and promoted amateur astronomy for over 20 years. He is the recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Service and Outstanding Leadership Medals, and he is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Full Member of the American Astronomy Society. In addition to his NASA career, Brad served as a U.S. Air Force and Texas Air National Guard pilot. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate and has over 3,800 hours of flight time in a variety of jet aircraft.

Carbon Monoxide Emission in the Nova V496 Scuti, Rudy, Richard J.; Russell, R. W.; Dimpfl, W. L.; Prater, T. R.; Bernstein, L.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Sitko, M. L.; Bjorkman, K. S.; Wisniewski. J. P., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, January 2012.

Mid-Infrared Ethane Emission on Neptune: 2005-2009, Hammel, Heidi B.; Sitko, M. L.; Russell, R. W.; Lynch, D. K.; Bernstein, L. S.; Perry. R. B., American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #41, September 2009.

V1280 Scorpii: Ir Spectral Evolution From 4 Feb 2007 To 4 Oct 2008, Lynch, David K.; Rudy, Richard J.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S.; Pearson, R. L.; Woodward, C. E.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Liebert, J. W.; Cushing, M.; Bjorkman, K. S.; Rivkin A. S.; Sitko, M. L.; Hammel, H. B., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, May 2009.

Infrared Spectroscopy of the Unusual Slow Nova V5558 Sagittarii, Rudy, Richard J.; Lynch, D. K.; Russell, R. W.; Prater, T. R.; Woodward, C. E.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, May 2009.

Infrared and Optical Spectroscopy of the Nova V1280 Scorpii, Rudy, Richard J.; Lynch, David K.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S. M.; Pearson, R. L.; Woodward, C. C.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Liebert, J. W.; Cushing, M.; Bjorkman, K.; Rivkin A., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, December 2007.

Spitzer, Swift and Ground-based Spectral Evolution of the Double Thermonuclear Runaway in Nova V2362 Cygni (Nova Cygni 2006), Lynch, D. K.; Woodward, C. E.; Gehrz, R. D.; Helton, L. A.; Rudy, R. J.; Russell, R. W.; Pearson, R.; Venturini, C. C.; Mazuk, S.; Rayner, J.; Ness, J.; Starrfield, S.; Wagner, R. M.; Osborne, J.; Page, K.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Schwarz, G.; Vanlandingham, K.; Block, J., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, December 2007.

Time Variability of the Inner Dust Rims in PMS Disk Systems, Sitko, Michael L.; Russell, R. W.; Lynch, D. K.; Rudy, R. J.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Carpenter, W. J.; Kimes, R. L.; Beerman, L. C.; Ablordeppey, K. E.; Grady, C. A.; Wisniewski, J. P.; Polomski, E. F.; Brafford, S. M.; Hammel, H. B.; Perry, R. B.; Wilde, J. L., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, December 2007.

Time Variability of the Dust Sublimation Zones in Pre-Main Sequence Disk Systems, Sitko, Michael L.; Carpenter, W. J.; Grady, C. A.; Russell, R. W.; Lynch, D. K.; Rudy, R. J.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Kimes, R. L.; Beerman, L. C.; Ablordeppey, K. E.; Puetter, R. C.; Wisniewski, J. P.; Brafford, S. M.; Polomski, E. F.; Hammel, H. B.; Perry, R. B.; Wilde, J. L., American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #39, October 2007.

Time Variability of the Inner Dust Zone in Pre-Main Sequence Disk Systems, Sitko, M. L.; Carpenter, W. J.; Kimes, R. L.; Wilde, J. L.; Lynch, D. K.; Russell, R. W.; Rudy, R. J.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Puetter, R. C.; Grady, C. A.; Brafford, S. M.; Perry, R. B., 70th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, held in August 13-17, 2007.

Recent Infrared Spectroscopy of V838 Monocerotis and the Current Model, Lynch, D. K.; Rudy, R. J.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Bernstein, L. S.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Skinner, M. A., The Nature of V838 Mon and its Light Echo ASP Conference Series, Vol. 363, April 2007.

B[e] Stars with Warm Dust – A New Type of Intermediate- and High-Mass Interacting Binary?, Miroshnichenko, A. S.; Bjorkman, K. S.; Kusakin, A. V.; Gray, R. O.; Manset, N.; Klochkova, V. G.; Yushkin, M. V.; Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Gandet, T. L., Massive Stars in Interactive Binaries, ASP Conference Series 367, 2007.

Optical and Near-IR Observations of the B[e] Star AS 119, Miroshnichenko, A. S.; Bernabei, S.; Polcaro, V. F.; Viotti, R. F., Norci, L.; Manset, N.; Klochkova, V. G.; Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.; Venturini, C. C.;  Mazuk, S.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Gandet, T. L., Stars with the B[e] Phenomenon. ASP Conference Series, Vol. 355, December 2006.

B[e] Stars with Warm Dust: Revealing the Nature of Unclassified B[e] Stars and Expanding the Family, Miroshnichenko, A. S.; Bernabei, S.; Bjorkman, K. S.; Chentsov, E. L.; Klochkova, V. G.; Gray, R. O.; Levato, H.; Grosso, M.; Hinkle, K. H.; Kuratov, K. S.; Kusakin, A. V.; Garcia-Lario, P.; Perea Calderon, J. V.; Polcaro, V. F.; Viotti, R. F.; Norci, L.; Manset, N.; Men’shchikov, A. B.; Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.,;Perry, R. B., Stars with the B[e] Phenomenon. ASP Conference Series, Vol. 355, December 2006.

Spitzer Space Telescope and Visible/IR Spectrophotometry of V574 Pupis (Nova Pupis 2004), Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Russell, R. W.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B.; Woodward, C. E.; Schwarz, G. J.; Bode, M. F.; Evans, A.; Geballe T. R.; Gehrz, R. D.; Greenhouse, M. A.; Hauschildt, P. A.; Helton, L. A.; Lyke, J. E.; Salama, A.; Shore, S. N.; Starrfield, S. G., 2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, December 2006.

The 0.5 13 um Spectrum of V4332 Sagittarii in 2006, Lynch, David K.; Rudy, R. J.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S. M.; Venturini, C. C.; Sitko, M. L.; Hammel, H. B.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B., 2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, December 2006.

New Candidates for Dust-forming Hot Stars, Miroshnichenko, A. S.; Bjorkman, K. S.; Kusakin, A. V.; Gray, R. O.; Manset, N.; Klochkova, V. G.; Yushkin, M. V.; Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.; Mazuk, S.; Venturini, C. C.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B., American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, December 2003.

Multi-wavelength Spectrophotometry of V2573 Ophiuchus, Venturini, C. C.; Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S.; Hammel, H. B.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B., Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B., American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, December 2003.

0.9-2.5 Micron Reflectance Spectroscopy of Pluto, Perry, R. B.; Rudy, R. J.; Venturini, C. C.; Lynch, D. K.; Mazuk, S.; Puetter, R. C.; Buie, M. W.; Grundy, W. M., American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, December 2003.

The 1 – 13 um Spectra of Deimos and Phobos, Lynch, D. K.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S.; Venturini, C. C.; Hammel, H. B.; Perry, R. B.; Sykes, M. V.; Puetter, R. C., American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, December 2003.

Dramatic Changes in the Infrared Spectrum of V838 Monocerotis, Venturini, C. C.; Lynch, D. K.; Rudy, R. J.; Russell, R. W.; Mazuk, S.; Dimpfl, W.; Sitko, M.; Puetter, R. C.; Bernstein, L. S.; Perry, R. B., American Astronomical Society Meeting 202, May 2003.

Considerations and Lessons Learned in Implementing Effective, Low-Cost, Unmanned Space Exploration Missions, Perry, R. Brad; Pelaccio, Dennis G., SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INT.FORUM-STAIF 2003: Conf. on Thermophysics in Microgravity; Commercial/Civil Next Generation Space Transportation; Human Space Exploration. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 654, January 2003.

The Near-Infrared Fe II lines of Nova Ophiuchi 2002 (V2540 Oph), Rudy, R. J.; Lynch, D. K.; Mazuk, S.; Venturini, C. C.; Puetter, R. C.; Perry, R. B., American Astronomical Society, 201st AAS Meeting 202, December 2002.