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Contact information
website
http://www.astronomie.be/Tranquility.Base/
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Biography
I'm from 1953 vintage. My interest in astronomy dates from when I was
very young, let's say in the early 60's. I got my first telescope, a 60
mm refractor, after I worked during holidays to earn enough money to buy
this telescope. After that I joined an astronomical society (VVS in
Belgium) and also found other people in my wider neighborhood with an
interest in telescopes and astronomy. That's where and when I learned to
grind and polish my first mirror, a 110 mm f/10 plate glass mirror that
turned out quite well and was used for some time on a self-made mount. I
made a few more mirrors and telescopes after that. Once I finished my
studies, I joined the Belgian Air Force as a student pilot in 1973 and got
my "wings" in 1976. With my first earnings I bought a 200 mm f/6 mirror
from Fullerscopes in the United Kingdom. This mirror was mounted in a PVC
sewer tube which turned out so heavy that a stronger mount was needed. So
a Fullerscopes Mk 4 equatorial mount was bought and placed in a modified
garden shelter: birth of my first observatory. Around this time
I also became interested in photography and so it was not long before
astronomy and photography joined into a hobby I still have today. In 1978
I got a transfer to the Search and Rescue unit in Koksijde and flew SAR
missions with the Sea King Mk48. I married in 1979, moved to a new home
in Koksijde-Oostduinkerke, got two lovely daughters and of course built a
small observatory in my garden. This observatory was rebuilt and
enlarged by the end of the 90's and now houses my present equipment
(buying and selling and using lot's of equipment is part of the hobby, see
my website). I left the Belgian Air Force in 1997 and now work as a
pilot for Noordzee Helikopters Vlaanderen (NHV) in Oostende, Belgium. In
the meantime I saw the transition from film astrophotography to present
day digital imaging and I'm surprised every day by what an amateur can
accomplish these days.
Astronomy Tales
After I polished my first mirror, it had to be coated. Aluminizing at
that time was quite expensive, so chemical silvering was the way to go. I
got the necessary ingredients, read all about it what I could find at the
time and then started the messy process in the kitchen, much to my
mother's despair. Well, I must say that the mirror did not get any silver
on it at all, but a big glass dish that my mother normally used in the
oven and that I used as a recipient for the mirror got a very nice shiny
coating! I also coated a few other glass recipients
in subsequent silvering trials. Who remembers the spectroscopic emulsions
from Kodak: 103aO and E. These emulsions had an antireflection layer that
had to be rinsed off after development. I'm surely not the only one who
succeeded not only to remove the antireflection coating but the emulsion
as well after a night of painstakingly visual guiding on a dim guide
star... And of course the many common astrophotographers mistakes:
guiding many minutes while the camera shutter speed was set at 1/1000 or
taking planet photos without film in the camera, etc etc etc.
Astrophotography publications
Magazines
Astronomy, Astronomy Now, Sky and Telescope, Heelal, Zenit,
Astrobulletin,
Practical Astronomer
Book and Newsletter
I compiled a book "Astrofotografie", a dutch astrophotography manual
published by the
VVS astronomical association.
I
have also published articles in our society's publication Heelal
I am the coördinator of the VVS
Astrophotography Section, I "own" and moderate a Yahoo-group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/werkgroepastrofotografie/ (Dutch
language only)
Observing sites
Home site
My home
observatory is in Koksijde (Oostduinkerke), Belgium. The observing
site is near
the coast, only 4 m AMSL. This is a suburban location, on good nights I
have a limiting magnitude of 5 straight overhead, but most of the time it
is less.
Remote site
I try to go
to south-France for one or two weeks each year, these are not fixed
locations,
mainly a combination of holiday and astronomy.
Astronomical Equipment
Telescopes
Takahashi Mewlon 300
TEC 140
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Mounts
Astro-Physics 1200GTO
AP Mach1GTO
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CCD Cameras
SBIG STL-4020
SBIGST-10XE
SBIG ST-402
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