Alnitak Astrosystems was founded in 2008 by Pete Kalajian and Phil Gaudet to develop and market astronomical accessories for the amateur astro-imager.

Pete with the bowling ball scope by Stellafane’s pink clubhouse

Pete is an avid amateur astronomer and astro-imager who is also a science teacher at a local small high-school. He’s working on his Master’s degree in Astronomy through the Swinburne Astronomy Online program. Pete graduated from Cornell University in 1981 with an electrical engineering degree, but has since sworn off electrons for mechanical design. He’s much happier drawing in 3-D space than looking at schematics. He did all the mechanical design on the Flip-Flat. An avid amateur telescope maker, Pete’s bowling ball telescope won a first place in the special category in 2006 at Stellafane Convention.

What Phil thinks he looks like!

Phil is an electrical engineer who enjoyed 8 months of retirement, got bored, moved to Maine, bought an old house and old boat (both wood) and when not fixing leaks still finds time to work as a hardware and software consultant. He designed the Flip-Flat hardware, firmware and Windows software. Phil graduated from WPI in 1967 with a degreee in EE and in 1971 with a masters from University of Denver. He had an interest in electronics as far back as he can remember and has had an amateur radio license for over 50 years. Phil has designed all sorts of industrial, medical, and consumer products. He has been interested in astronomy since his folks bought him a stove pipe telescope in the 50s and woke him way too early to see Sputnik. He now uses a pair of Canon IS binoculars because he doesnt have to wait for them to boot up and slew.