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Contact information
e-mail
mobiusltd@aol.com
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website
http://www.newforestobservatory.com
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Locator
Map
http://www.frappr.com/apppublic
Level of accuracy: town of
Brockenhurst,
England
Biography
I was born in Barking, Essex
(U.K.) on 20th April 1954.
On leaving school
I
joined the Harwell & Culham laboratories where I
took an H.N.C. in Applied Physics at Oxford Brookes University (then
Oxford Polytechnic). After two years, having gained a taste for study,
I went to the University of Sussex to take a
degree in Physics Math & Astronomy. In June 1978 I
graduated with a First Class Honours Degree and
then joined the Philips Research Laboratories in Redhill, Surrey (U.K.).
Concurrently, I enrolled in the doctoral program
at the University of Surrey, Guildford (U.K.)
where I received the Ph.D. in December 1982 --
my subject being “Characterisation of Deep-Levels in
Silicon for Applications in Thermal Imaging”. A
further five years were spent in Industry until 27th April 1987 when
I joined the Department of Electronics (as it
then was) at the University of Southampton, Hampshire (U.K.). During
my years at Southampton I
slowly climbed the ranks becoming Professor of
Photonics in December,
2000 . My research
during this time was in two main areas:
1) Novel growth systems for Silicon compatible materials
2) Silicon-based optoelectronics
I designed, built & developed 4 LPCVD systems
for the Microelectronics Group at the University, the latest system being
a large 6-chamber cluster-tool. These systems are used for research into
novel devices incorporating Si, SiGe, SiGeC and Silicon Nitride. I
have published over 110-refereed papers, over a dozen
patents and published a textbook on
semiconductor physics.
Around 1994 I was investigating the formation of
high aspect-ratio single crystal Silicon pillars for their light emission
properties. This research included (unintentionally!) the fabrication of a
Photonic Crystal as part of the process. Since that time my
research has mainly concentrated on Silicon compatible Photonic Crystal
structures and their applications.
I live in the New Forest (U.K.) with my wife,
son, Celestron Nexstar 11 computer-controlled telescope, and Sony VAIO
PCG-C1MHP.
Astronomy Tale
“The most amazing two and a
half hours of my life (so far)” was sadly the title of a “Lateral
Thoughts” article in the September 2002 issue of Physics World (IOP
Publications). It described the first time I got the Celestron Nexstar 11
GPS scope fired up so that I could automatically go to all those objects
I’d only read about before. I can still recall that night of Thursday 2nd
May 2002 as if it were yesterday. Amazingly, since that time more amazing
things have happened – I got a CCD camera and started deep-sky imaging.
Never in my wildest dreams as an 11 year old fascinated by astronomy did I
guess that I would be able to take deep-sky images from my own back garden
in my lifetime!
Areas of interest
Deep-sky astrophotography
Astrophotography publications
Magazines
Astronomy Now,
The Sky at Night
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.Books
The Beauty of Deep-Sky Astrophotography
(Springer:
the Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series)
.
Noel Carboni and Greg Parker have just signed a contract with Springer for
a large-format coffee-table book of their deep-sky images. The 12" x 10"
book will be called "Star Vistas" and will be available early December
2008 just in time for the Christmas market.
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Exhibition
Three month
exhibition of my astrophotography in the University of Southampton's
exhibition centre beginning mid-July 2006
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Internet
Starizona picture of the month (September/October 2005)
APOD for January 4th 2007 for a wide field of the Sadr region of Cygnus
Astronomy Picture of the Day [APOD] August 9th 2007 - Wide field M67
Observing site
I observe from a fiberglass dome erected in my
garden in Brockenhurst,
Hampshire, U.K.
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.
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Astronomical Equipment
Telescopes
Celestron
Nexstar 11
GPS
SCT
(modified
to be able to collimate a Hyperstar f/1.85
lens assembly)
Celestron 80mm refractor guide scope
Cameras
SXV-H9C colour CCD camera
SXV autoguider
Activity
Head of the Nanoscale Systems Integration Group, and Professor of
Photonics at The
University of Southampton, Southampton, U.K. |
