Kevin Earp
50 something now, with a lifelong passion for wildlife, science and astronomy. I hope you'll also take time to have a look at my wildlife blog "Wild Times" from the link on the home page.
Astronomy.....
I've been interested in astronomy since my formative years - a long time ago now! I have two early memories on the subject -
Watching coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing at my auntie's house in Liverpool (for foreign visitors, that's in the north west of England), and seeing my first bright meteor whilst walking home from the local chip shop with my friends. This was particularly memorable - the meteor exploded in a fiery finale, causing my jaw to drop in amazement, and my fish exploded as it fell from the newspaper and crashed to the ground in all the excitement. It's strange the way some childhood memories stick so vividly in your mind.
A few years later, I received a wonderful Tasco refractor for Christmas. Never having used a "real" telescope before, I couldn't wait to feast my eyes on the colourful nebulae at 500 x magnification that were pictured on the box. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was hugely disappointed with my first views. That was until I turned the behemoth instrument on the Moon. Although the views were by far inferior to those I would enjoy in later years, I didn't know that at the time, and the craters and maria I could see blew me away. I was hooked!
I was also amazed when I managed to find Saturn - my first planet - mainly due to the fact that the non-circular nature of the tiny disk was orientated in a different direction to the non-circular nature of the disks of all the other stars I looked at. With huge concentration, I could just about see the blurry rings.
Around about the same time I chose Astronomy for a school O level physics project. This was great because it encouraged me to read up and learn some facts on the subject. I now understood why I couldn't see those technicolour nebulae through my small (I now realised) telescope. I still have fond memories of lying in bed on Saturday mornings, reading Patrick Moore's Observers book of Astronomy, over and over.
For my other interests, I enjoy trying to play acoustic guitar, 'though I'm not sure the rest of the family get the same enjoyment - mainly blues, ragtime and folky stuff, my music heroes being Eric Bibb, Ralph McTell, Blind Blake and a lot of the old American bluesmen from the 20's and 30's.
I'm also interested in researching my family history, and can safely confirm there's not an ounce of royal blood in me, nor any family fame nor fortune for at least the last 200 years.
For my sins, I also follow the changing fortunes of my home football club Liverpool (who else).
I now live in Bedfordshire, England, in a small village just outside Bedford.
I hope you enjoy my blogs. Thanks for looking!
