I am a retired science teacher who taught many science subjects, over many grade levels, and for many years. Some of the subjects I taught were biology, chemistry, astronomy, physical science, and earth science. I also led many geology trips to Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. We used to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon as a part of our trips. I've also done extensive camping in Eastern US.
My main claim to fame, it seems, is using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as an amateur two times. My first research project with HST was published in Icarus. However, some would say I'm more famous for setting the sit-up record at my college by doing 4010 consecutive sit-ups in three hours.
One of my biggest passions is learning about Mars. I received many images from Mars, under NASA's Public Target program for the Mars Global Surveyor, Recently, I've been picking images for HiRISE under the HiWish program. Some of these have been uploaded to Wikipedia and posted to various articles about Mars. Most have been posted to facebook, under my name--James Secosky.
In most of my contributions, I have tried to describe the surface of Mars, one quadrangle at a time, using pictures from various NASA missions (Mariner, Viking, Odyssey, Mars Global Surveyor, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). I have also created articles on 164 craters--most of which are the main ones listed on maps. On May 2, 2017, I counted up a total of 2051 picture files that I had uploaded to Wikipedia. That includes 1490 connected to pictures I received through the HiWish program. On my facebook page, I've uploaded 1676 HiRISE related images from the HiWish program (as of 5/2/17). Many of the pictures include captions and arrows showing special features.
On November 7, 2016 I was added as an "Autopatrollers"
I currently live in Golden, Colorado after having lived near Rochester, NY for many years. I love Colorado and hike the mountains every week. In New York state, in an earlier life, I was very active physically, running marathons and fighting in martial arts tournaments.
Following are most of my contributions in Wikipedia, as of 3/14/2015.
Major Contributions
- Water on Mars
- Martian Gullies
- Groundwater on Mars
- Chaos terrain
Pages created from scratch
- Ore resources on Mars
- Fretted terrain
- Lobate Debris Apron
- Deuteronilus Mensae
- Protonilus Mensae
- Glaciers on Mars
- Protonilus Mensae
- Ismenius Lacus quadrangle
- Nilosyrtis Mensae
- Dark slope streaks
- Fossa (geology)
- Phaethontis quadrangle
- Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle
- HiWish program
- Icaria Planum
- Thaumasia quadrangle
- Dust Devil Tracks
- Amazonis quadrangle
- Eridania quadrangle
- MOC Public Targeting Program
- Oxia Palus quadrangle
- Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle
- Mare Tyrrhenum quadrangle
- Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle
- Amenthes quadrangle
- Tharsis quadrangle
- Aeolis quadrangle
- Lunae Palus quadrangle
- Iapygia quadrangle
- Noachis quadrangle
- Hellas quadrangle
- Argyre quadrangle
- Concentric Crater Fill
- Scalloped Topography
- Pedestal craters
- Transverse aeolian ridges
- Solis Planum
- Arsinoes Chaos
- Vernal (crater)
- Milankovic (Martian crater)
- Bamberg crater
- Lockyer (Martian crater)
- Nicholson (Martian crater)
- Columbus (crater)
- Kunowsky (Martian crater
- Ritchey (Martian crater)
- Moreux (crater)
- Cerulli (crater)
- Boeddicker (Martian crater)
- Galdakao (Martian crater)
- Maunder (Martian crater)
- Asimov (Martian crater)
- Kaiser (Martian crater)
- Rabe (Martian crater)
- Russel (Martian crater)
- Proctor (Martian crater)
- Kinkora (crater)
- Bonestell (crater)
- Arandas (crater)
- Bacolor (crater)
- Kufra (crater)
- Fenagh (crater)
- Chincoteague Crater
- Zumba (crater)
- Ritchey (Martian crater)
- Orson Welles (crater)
- Pickering (Martian crater)
- Ptolemaeus (Martian crater)
- Mariner (crater)
- Fesenkov (Martian crater)
- Santa Fe Crater
- Canso (crater)
- Montevallo (crater)
- Spallanzani (Martian crater)
- Lipik (crater)
- Penticton (crater)
- Lowell (Martian crater)
- Porter (Martian crater)
- Ross Crater
- Zunil (crater)
- Thila (crater)
- Mohawk (crater)
- Grindavik (crater)
- Púnsk (crater)
- Crommlin (crater)
- Becquerel (Martian crater)
- Mojave (crater)
- Sagan (crater)
- Kipini (crater)
- Radau (crater)
- Trouvelot (Martian crater)
- Curie (Martian crater)
- Taytay (crater)
- Hartwig (Martian crater)
- Baltisk (crater)
- Arkhangelsky (crater)
- Galle (Martian crater)
- Jezža (crater)
- Wirtz (crater)
- Green (Martian crater)
- Bond (crater)
- Dilly (crater)
- Persbo (crater)
- Brashear (Martian Crater)
- Dromore (crater)
- Lyot (Martian crater)
- Arrhenius (Martian crater)
- Flammarion (Martian crater)
- Cruls Crater
- Gasa Crater
- Danielson Crater
- Focas Crater
- Janssen Crater
- Rutherford Crater
- Quenisset Crater
- Teisserenc de Bort Crater
- Marth Crater
- Maggini Crater
- Hussey Crater
- Renaudot Crater
- Copernicus Crater (Martian Crater)
- Very Crater
- Sinton Crater
- Resen (Martian crater)
- Richardson Crater
- Phillips Crater
- McMurdo (crater)
- Wright Crater
- Keeler Crater
- Trumpler Crater
- Coblentz Crater
- Lamont Crater
- Douglass Crater
- Eudoxus Crater
- Williams Crater
- Liu Hsin Crater
- Kuiper Crater
- Nansen Crater
- Li Fan Crater
- Burton Crater
- Ejriksson Crater
- Halley Crater
- Hipparchus Crater
- Vogel Crater
- Tikhov Crater
- Wallace Crater
- Rossby Crater
- Wells Crater
- Hadley Crater
- Knobel Crater
- Huggins Crater
- Campbell Crater
- Martz Crater
- Helmoltz Crater
- Hooke Crater
- Maraldi Crater
- Jones Crater
- Clark Crater
- Haldane Crater
- Huxley Crater
- Biachini Crater
- Fontana Crater
- Bouguer (Martian crater)
- Jarry-Desloges Crater
- Fournier Crater
- Bakhuysen Crater
- Mie Crater
- Da Vinci Crater
- Gledhill Crater
- Vinogradsky Crater
- Vinogradov Crater
- Perepelkin (Martian crater)
- Barabashov Crater
- Peridier Crater
- Baldet Crater (Martian Crater)
- Tyndall (Martian crater)
- Adams Crater (Martian Crater)
- Gill crater (Martian crater)
- Rudaux Crater
- Lampland Crater (Martian Crater)
- Lassel Crater (Martian Crater)
- Von Karman Crater
- Wegener Crater
- Redi Crater
- Le Verrier (Martian Crater)
- Millochau Crater
- Lambert Crater (Martian Crater)
- Graff Crater (Martian Crater)
- Briault Crater
- Du Martheray Crater
- Slipher Crater (Martian Crater)
- Priestly Crater
- Firsoff Crater
- Heaviside Crater (Martian Crater)
- Lau Crater
- Smith Crater (Martian Crater)
- South crater (Martian crater)
- Mitchel crater (Martian crater)
- Main crater (Martian crater)
- Holmes (crater)
- Jeans (Martian crater)
- Rayleigh (Martian crater)
- Steno (Martian crater)
- Schmidt (Martian crater)
- Playfair (Martian crater)
- Lyell (Martian crater)
- Joly (crater)
- Liais (crater)
- Weinbaum (crater)
- Reynolds (crater)
- Stoney (Martian crater)
- Suess (Martian crater)
- Crommelin (Martian crater)
- Tombaugh (Martian crater)
- Coprates quadrangle
- Ring mold crater
- Ausonia Montes
- Vallis
- Brain terrain
- Yardangs on Mars
- Uzboi-Landon-Morava (ULM)
- Lakes on Mars
- Equatorial Layered Deposits
- Upper Plains Unit
- Linear ridge networks
- Dorsa Argentea Formation
- True polar wander on Mars
- Polygonal patterned ground
- Latitude dependent mantle
- Auki Crater
- Boron on Mars
- Expanded craters
- Mud cracks on Mars
- Martian craters
- Thaumasia Planum
- Louros Valles
- Common surface features of Mars
- Evidence of water on Mars found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Evidence of water on Mars from Mars Odyssey