I do my visual observing from Basingstoke but use Sierra Stars, California and the Bradford Robotic, Tenerife for imaging.My ‘home’ instruments are 10x50B, 15x80B, Canon 10D digital, 0.44-m reflector; 0.138-m Maksutov. My main interests are visual, imaging and historical for teaching purposes. As editor I also log observers’ results for publication in ‘The Astronomer’ monthly. Handling incoming discovery claims.

Comets are fascinating objects which behave in an unpredictable manner and so need close tracking. I have observed them since 1970 and picked up several cases where brightness or other activities have caused surprise.