Martin Mobberley’s observatory

... in deepest Suffolk

Since the age of 11 I have had a variety of telescopes, including the standard ‘Dixons’ 60-mm Prinz refractor, and then a home-made 22-cm Newtonian (which I made when I was 15). In 1980 I bought a 36-cm Cassegrain–Newtonian from AE of Luton, and during my prison term (working for Marconi from 1980 to 2002) I bought a house and installed a 49-cm f/4.5 Newtonian (which still exists). In recent years, however, I have yearned for compact ‘go to’ instruments rather than giant Newtonians, and in 1997 I installed a 30-cm LX200 at my parents’ home. This instrument has now been supplemented with a 35-cm C14 on a superb Paramount ME mounting. My main interests are in taking quality images of anything new or dramatic in the night sky – especially bright comets, supernovae, and unusual variable stars and novae. My original inspiration came from Patrick Moore’s Observer’s Book of Astronomy (1968 edition) and from the Apollo Moon landings; but the inspiration to image came when I joined the BAA and saw the lunar and planetary photographs obtained by Horace Dall and Cdr Henry Hatfield.

E-mail :.martin.mobberley@btinternet.com. Web site : http://martinmobberley.co.uk/