My interest really took off however when I built my first telescope in 1976 having received a copy of ‘Amateur Telescope Making, Volume 1’ and a 6 inch mirror kit for Christmas 1975. The view of Saturn through my very own telescope got me hooked and I progressed to 8 and 12 inch mirrors in the next couple of years.

While studying for a chemistry degree at the University of East Anglia I joined the Norwich Astronomical Society for a few years in the late 70’s and early 80’s. When I returned to Ipswich to start work at BT Research Labs in 1985 I joined the Orwell Astronomical Society, where I have had two terms as treasurer, and the BAA.

Also in 1985 I built a 6 inch Schmidt camera for the return of Halley’s comet. The film version of the Schmidt was always difficult to use but a few years ago I replaced the film holder with a CCD camera and now that it is so much easier to use I regularly image comets for the BAA comet section and The Astronomer web site. I am currently building a 32cm Schmidt for comet and near earth asteroid imaging and a 48cm reflector for deep sky work.

Having been an amateur astronomer for as long as I could remember I wanted to study the subject in much more detail so I began an Open University degree in 1994 starting with S281, Astronomy and Planetary Science. After eight years of fascinating courses in both astronomy and earth sciences I graduated with a 1st class B.Sc in 2002.

In 1995 I went to my first total solar eclipse and although it was just 40 seconds long I was hooked. Along with my partner Sue, who started her eclipse chasing in 1991, I have been to most total eclipses and several annulars since then.

I was elected to the BAA council for the first time in 2007 and became the New Members Coordinator in early 2008.

Mike Harlow, March 2008