Derek Robson is an analytical chemist and amateur astronomer with interests in astrophotography and astronomical spectroscopy. His first main telescope in 1982 was an f5.6 8.75” Fullerscope Newtonian reflector. Currently uses a William Optics GT81 and Ostara 102 mm refractors. Watec 902H2S meteor video camera built and tested by William Stewart (NEMETODE group http://www.nemetode.org/.) captures meteors. Images feed to UKMON's Network https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/live/#/ and data to NEMETODE and UKMON for triangulation, orbit calculation, ground trail prediction and dark flight modelling. Radio meteor activity is monitored continuously using a Fun Cube Dongle Pro+, home-made yagi antenna on 143.048 MHz (GRAVES radar transmitter, Dijon, France).
In 2017, Derek was awarded at the Royal Greenwich Observatory by the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017. He imaged a one-mile wide potentially hazardous asteroid - Near Earth Object (164121) 2003 YT1 which came within 3 million miles of the Earth on 31st October 2016, permanently displayed in the National Maritime Museum, London. In 2019, Derek's image of an occultation of a star by an asteroid by the drift method was short-listed in the 2019 competition and published in the 2019 yearbook. Recorded the visible spectrum of the Winchcombe meteor 28/2/21, which became a recovered meteorite allowing comparison of its gas and recovered solid phase spectra.
Main interests: comets, meteors; micrometeorites, meteor and stellar spectroscopy; asteroids and occultation of stars by asteroids. Chemical analysis of meteorites.
Local society membership: A long-standing member of the British Astronomical Association, a member of the East Midlands Stargazers, Sunderland Astronomical Society, NEMETODE, UKMON
