[1] Espenak earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Wagner College, Staten Island, where he worked in the planetarium.

His master's degree is from the University of Toledo, based on studies he did at Kitt Peak Observatory of eruptive and flare stars among red dwarfs.

[citation needed] He was employed at Goddard Space Flight Center, where he used infrared spectrometers to measure the atmospheres of planets in the Solar System.

[8] He is also a co-author (with Mark Littmann and Ken Willcoxof) of Totality: Eclipses of the Sun.

Astronomical photographs taken by Espenak have been published in National Geographic, Newsweek, Nature, New Scientist, and Ciel et Espace [fr] magazines.