Andrew Harrison
I wish I had bought a telescope earlier rather than waiting until my 50th birthday. Odd given that I was so fascinated by the scale of the universe and our solar system within it as a boy growing up in the Apollo moon landings era. Instead I followed my interest in our own planet and went off to study geography at university. Here I was drawn to the methods and technologies of measuring and observing the earth and so, captivated by stunning imagery from the recently launched Landsat satellites, went on to pursue an academic career in remote sensing and earth observation. Having spent the last twenty years in the private sector running my own information management company I am now returning to earlier interests in scientific imaging and pointing my cameras and telescopes away from the earth and out into deep space.
I am interested in all aspects of electronic imaging in astronomy. Disappointed with the eyeball views through my first telescope because of pollution from the city lights I attached a camera and so became obsessed with astrophotography. Over the following years I have progressed to a permanent setup in my back garden observatory, developed a system for fully unattended imaging and I am currently developing a remote imaging facility under pristine dark skies at a mountain top location in SE Spain.