MEET THE ASTRONOMY TEAM
Adrian Dening Assoc. CIPD
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| Adrian has been a keen astronomer since school days and has played a major role in the delivery of |
| science courses for able children in the South West for the past thirty years. |
| His particular speciality at Charterhouse is running sessions for beginners in astronomy and providing |
| practical advice for telescope owners. |
| Amateur Radio is another of Adrian's passions and he includes radio astronomy in some of his |
| more advanced courses, reflecting radio signals from the ionised trails of meteors |
| and even bouncing signals off the Moon ! |
| Adrian has been the driving force behind the restoration of the Observatory. |
| He is a founder member of both the Wells & Mendip Astronomers Group and Yeovil Astronomy Group. |
Chris Starr
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| Chris Starr is based in Wells and runs Starscape, an independent consultancy in Space Science |
| Education and Public Outreach - lecturing, teaching and organising astronomy-related events. |
| He has recently set up the Wells & Mendip Astronomers group. |
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| Previously, Chris was Head of Space Science at Aiglon College in Switzerland, where he built a |
| small observatory, taught Astronomy and led student astronomy trips to the USA. |
| Chris has also spoken at educational conferences in Europe, written for magazines and the Internet. |
| He ran a public outreach programme with Villars Tourist Office in Switzerland for a |
| number of years and designed their exhibition 'From Earth to the Universe' |
| for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. |
Jo and Pete Richardson
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| The Richardsons are a husband and wife team of amateur astronomers who operate |
| from their home observatory here in Somerset. |
| They specialise in astrophotography work using a CCD camera and are well known |
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within the local astronomical communities for displays of their astro images. |
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| As keen and active promoters of astronomy and astrophotography to a wider audience, |
| they are heavily involved with all astronomical events running as part of Exmoor National Park |
| Dark Sky Reserve and regularly assist Simon Ould from “Space Odyssey” at events held at |
| Fyne Court on the Quantock Hills. |
| As members of Tiverton and Mid-Devon Astronomical Society for several years, Pete and Jo |
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are part of the local “BBC Stargazing Live” Team and have been involved in the |
| programme since it first started. |
| Keen to bring more astronomy events to their own back yard i.e. the Mendips, Pete and Jo are |
| valuable members of the Charterhouse Centre Observatory team. |
| By day, Pete is a Manufacturing Aircraft Engineer and Jo works |
| in the Medical Library at Weston General Hospital. |
Mark Woodland FRAS
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Mark is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and committee member of the |
| Wells & Mendip Astronomers group. |
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He is an Astrophysics undergraduate with the Open University an works as an IT specialist in the NHS. |
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Mark is a published author of astronomy articles in “All About Space” magazine and the |
| “Communicating Astronomy to the Public” journal of the European Southern Observatory. |
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Since December 2014 he has been heading up the Charterhouse Exoplanet Project with the aim |
| of bringing research astronomy to the public and connecting with universities |
| in the UK & USA to verify KEPLER data. |
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