It is my sad duty to have to tell SolNet and the ALPO, that the amateur
solar astronomical community lost one of it's brightest lights last
night. At about 10pm EST Don Trombino died peacefully in his sleep
after a long bout with kidney disfunction and numerous surgical
procedures. He was a strong promoter of the ALPO Solar Section over the
last 10 years or so and as recently as this spring represented us at
the NOAA Conference in Boulder, CO. His observatory in Deltona, Florida
was one of the finest and best equipped amateur solar observatories I
had ever seen. His yard and home was a memorial to the many famous
persons that had visited him and that he had visited over the years.

He was a dear friend and will be sorely missed.

* Richard E. Hill *

Coordinator-Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers Solar Section

* http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/alpo *

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The following contains extracts of Don Trombino's homepage:

The Davis SolarNet project's goal was to link together the Davis Memorial Solar Observatory and Stetson University, to provide internet access to the solar data the observatory was gathering.

The project designed to provide data in several formats, including quartersize NTSC live video , fullsize S-video, and high resolution digital (DVD) archived images.

Image data gathered from the observatory's telescopes would be digitized and stored on site at Deltona, Florida on an imaging workstation. From here it will be streamed over the net via a gateway at Stetson University (DeLand, FL) or transmitted in non-real time over the net to be archived at Stetson for ftp and web access.

Some users would be NOAA'a Space Environment Center, NASA , universities, the Volusia County School District Planetarium, and the Museum of Arts & Sciences, the Orlando Science Center, the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and Disney's new Celebration School.

Roger R. Hoefer, curator of Astronomy, Museum of Arts & Sciences and Director of the Volusia County District School Planetarium, would coordinate participation and uses of solar studies information at the Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Resposibilities should include Public Solar Viewing, use of real-time, multi-spectral solar images from the DMSO in a new "Solar observing" wing located in the Museum's proposed education hall. Use of real-time and recorded views of solar events in planetarium programs to Volusia County students and the public. This phase had already been implemented to a limited extent using internet computer transmission directly from the DMSO to a newly installed digital color image projector in the planetarium.
Apart from this, scientific data collection in maintaining a computer workstation at the Museum of Arts & Sciences "Science Center" and a staff responsible for collecting, archiving and disseminating scientific data gathered by instruments at the DMSO. The Museum had recently hired two Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students for intern positions at the Planetarium. They have experience in computer imaging techniques used in Planetarium live programs.
Also, Volusia District Schools Planetarium, for use of real-time solar imaging in curriculum related planetarium programming to thousands of students and educators in Volusia and neighboring counties in central Florida.  Other items were to provide access to solar scientific information and real-time images to interested and motivated Volusia district Schools science students and teachers to supplement class room courses, maintaining an Internet web page of DMSO images, scientific papers and projects, and student papers and projects for use by any educational, research or scientific facility or interested individual.
 
The next phase should include a global coordination comprising the work in cooperation with the Solar Section of the Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers (ALPOSS) who should propose to establish and expand the current SOLNET program established by Richard Hill of ALPOSS. Utilizing internet connectivity between the Solar Section of the British Astronomical Association, the Davis Memorial Solar Observatory, Stetson University, private amateur solar observatories, the Fachgruppe SONNE Vereinigung der Sternfreunde (VdS), (Solar Group of the German Astronomical Society) Berlin, the Solar Sections of the Oriental Astronomical Association (Japan) and the Astronomical Society of South Africa (Boksburg RSA).

The combined data was to be gathered and archived at Stetson University as funds permit and relayed to the professional researcher on demand.

The author had discussed this prospect with the Executive Committee of SONNE as part of an invited presentation at the Deutches Museum, Munich in September l997. The concept was enthusiastically welcomed and further details was to be discussed during a planned Amateur-Professional week-long Convention at the Headquarters of the European Southern Observatory at Garching, Germany in August l999.

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 * CV-Helios Network; e-mail received 30. July 1998 at 09:52 hrs. (UTC+1)