LPOD NOTE March 4, 2009: " The P in
LPOD nominally stands for Photo, but also People, for every lunar image,
map or globe ever made was from the hands, eyes and brains of dedicated
people who used a telescope or built a spacecraft. Here is the first of
a series of occasional LPODs about people currently studying the Moon,
or their classic predecessors. Raffaello Lena and his colleagues have
elevated amateur lunar studies to the professional level. Over the last
decade the Geologic Lunar Research Group that Raf founded has produced
dozens of published studies of lunar domes, faults and transient
phenomena. Raf has been interested in the Moon since he was 10 years old
and has progressed from a small Newtonian telescope to high quality
scopes (6” Maksutov Cassegrain and a 5” refractor). He is also the
leader of the editorial board of
Selenology Today, a
journal that has produced the highest level of amateur lunar studies
since the 1800s when gentleman scientists mapped the Moon. Like all
amateurs, Raf has a reallife job in a different field. He has a
doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Rome and
works on food safety. And whenever possible he listens to jazz and
explores Italy’s volcanoes and mountainous geology." Chuck Wood