Board of Directors

TAAS President

Steve Snider is a “semi-retired” Human Resources Professional, active Volunteer Firefighter/Paramedic, Corvette enthusiast, Vietnam Veteran, and amateur astronomer.  He joined TAAS in 1983 and served as Secretary, VP, and President.  He lives in Placitas with wife Kathy, 6 cats, and a roll-off roof observatory housing a C14.

TAAS Vice President

Boris is a retired physicist who joined TAAS in 2015. He enjoys both visual and photographic exploration of the night sky and its phenomena, and he enjoys noodling around with his equipment. He has served as a TAAS director for several years, and coordinates two of the TAAS observing outreach activities.

TAAS Secretary

An amateur astronomer from the age of 4, Christina joined TAAS in 2007 upon moving to New Mexico from Texas. Christina is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Star Party organization. She also is a visual observer who greatly enjoys giving tours of the universe through her 30” f/3.3 Lockwood-Starmaster Dobsonian, and participating in public outreach with her 12”.

TAAS Observatory Director

Jim is a retired U.S. Navy Submarine Officer who joined TAAS in July 2012 because of the Annular Eclipse. He completed the Astronomical League qualification as a Master Observer in 2017. Jim has also served as the TAAS President from 2018-2022. He continues to serve as the TAAS Observatory Director. He enjoys Astrophotography and imaging Globular Clusters.

TAAS Membership Director

Bob has been interested in Astronomy practically all his life, when he was 5 years old and looked through a telescope at the Moon. He had been a member of TAAS since 1988. His main interests are deep sky objects and far away, high luminous objects such as Quasars, Active Galactic Nucleus, very distant Galaxies. He also enjoys going to the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and very dark observation sites.

TAAS Education Coordinator

Mark is an amateur astronomer whose love of the night sky started the first time he viewed Saturn through a telescope.  He still owns the 6-inch Newtonian he built in Junior High, though his optics have broadened since then.  He enjoys opening the wonders of the night sky to students.

TAAS Director

Bob is a retired astronomer who built a 6” Newtonian telescope in HS and which he never uses. He worked at ESO/Chile, UVa, & NRAO, and directed the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.  He and his wife, Carolyn, love to travel and have seen 6 total solar eclipses.

TAAS Technology Director & Webmaster

Joey is an Astrophotographer who enjoys photographing distant galaxies and nebulae. Joey joined TAAS in 2021 and serves as the webmaster for the club. He is currently employed as a System Engineer Lead with Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union. Joey is also the creator of ChessNoteR, Open Astro, and CEO of Black Mirror Studio, LLC.