Our Story

In the summer of 1976, Michael Petrasko and Muir Evenden met as neighbors and quickly bonded over their shared passion for astronomy. Michael's fascination began at age eight when he received a telescope for Christmas and marveled at the moon's craters. A few years later, his family moved from Connecticut to North Falmouth, Massachusetts, where he met Muir. Muir’s interest in astronomy blossomed after his family relocated from Colorado. Evening walks with his mother, who had a science background, sparked his curiosity about the stars and constellations, which she enthusiastically nurtured.

Michael Petrasko (left) and Muir Evenden (right) were interviewed by the Cape Cod Times in May 1982 and then pictured at Insight Observatory's annual remote telescope maintenance visit at SkyPi Remote Observatory, in May 2019.

Over the years, Michael and Muir deepened their friendship through a shared passion for amateur astronomy. They spent countless nights stargazing with telescopes like Muir's Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain and Michael's Edmund Scientific Astroscan 4.25" reflector. Together, they explored galaxies, and nebulae, and memorized their designations. In 1985, as teens, they co-founded the Cape Cod Astronomical Society.

Even after Muir moved to Arizona in the early 1990s, their friendship endured. Michael visited annually, taking advantage of the Southwest's pristine skies for observing sessions. During this time, Muir developed a passion for CCD imaging and ordered a Dream Aerospace Systems 16" f/3.75 astrograph telescope. However, just as the telescope arrived, Muir relocated to Poland for work. He carefully boxed and stored the telescope components at Michael's home.

In early 2012, during an online conference call, Michael and Muir lamented the telescope sitting unused. Realizing it couldn’t be set up in Poland due to poor weather, they envisioned a solution: establishing a remote observatory accessible via the Internet. This idea became the foundation of Insight Observatory.

Michael assisting Sacred Heart High School Students observing the 2016 Mercury Transit with the 11" SCT (left) and
Muir installing the mirror cell for the 16" remote imaging telescope hosted in New Mexico (right).

Realizing the high costs of hosting their telescope remotely, Michael and Muir decided to rent out its use for educational and personal purposes to offset expenses and provide affordable access to advanced equipment. They also needed a mounting system, CCD camera, and other accessories for the telescope. To support their vision, they launched the Insight Observatory blog and social media pages to promote their projects.

Michael, with help from colleagues, completed installations like an 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with a GOTO mount at Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, Massachusetts, and a remote robotic telescope observatory for an environmental science camp in Plymouth. While awaiting their own telescope, Michael partnered with iTelescope.net, a network of remote telescopes, to develop astronomy projects for students and teachers. These projects served as a foundation for what they hoped to achieve with their own system.

Over the next five years, these efforts helped fund their dream. In May 2017, their remote robotic imaging telescope was installed at SkyPi Remote Observatory in New Mexico. By July 2017, they established Sublime Skies, LLC, doing business as Insight Observatory, with Michael as Managing Member/Project Developer and Muir as Managing Member/Systems Engineer. They named their first system the Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO-1). The telescope went live in October 2017, supporting its first educational project with a 5th-grade class in Plymouth, Massachusetts.