Our Astronomers (past and present)

Sir Patrick Moore

Author, TV personality and the ultimate astronomy populariser, Patrick was a fixture on our eclipse expeditions for more than twenty years.  He was an amateur astronomer who attained prominent status in this field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.  He was President of the British Astronomical Association (BAA), co-founder and president of the Society for Popular Astronomy, author of over 70 books on astronomy, and presenter of the world's longest running television series with the same original presenter, BBC's The Sky at Night.  He became known as a specialist in Moon observation and for creating the Caldwell catalogues.

Dr John Mason

John has travelled on more than a dozen solar eclipse trips as guest lecturer and has been actively involved in astronomy and space science for almost 50 years. Past President of the British Astronomical Association and a full member of the International Astronomical Union, he is currently Education Officer and Principal Lecturer at the South Downs Planetarium in Chichester. He lectures extensively in the UK and overseas on a wide range of scientific topics with a reputation as a passionate communicator of science. He has led many expeditions overseas to observe the Northern Lights, total solar eclipses and meteor showers and is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television.   

Nick James

Nick has been interested in astronomy for as long as he can remember (certainly since the age of 8) and has been a member of the British Astronomical Association since he was 12.  He is now the Director of the Comet Section. He has written many articles for magazines and books, and co-authored "Observing Comets" which was published in 2003 as part of Sir Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy series.  Professionally, he is an engineer in the space industry, leading a team responsible for implementing highly sensitive and accurate systems for receiving and processing signals from deep-space spacecraft. He is also a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) ambassador trying to encourage more young people to take up science and engineering as a career.

Mike Frost

Mike Frost has a Master’s Degree in Astronomy and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is the Director of the British Astronomical Association’s Historical Section, and a founder member of the Society for the History of Astronomy. He lectures to astronomy societies, schools and anyone else who will book him! He discovered astronomical holidays thirty years ago, and was delighted to find that this let him observe wonderful things in the skies above obscure and beautiful places. He has travelled a long way to observe meteor storms and aurorae, but his absolute favourite remains total eclipses of the Sun.

Dr Nick Hewitt

Nick has been a keen amateur astronomer for many decades. Although his strengths have been in the Deep Sky (he was Director of the British Astronomical Associations Deep Sky Section from 1992 to 2003), he is also an enthusiastic eclipse chaser, imager of Mars (when not too low!) and enjoys all aspects of astronomy. He joined the British Astronomical Association in 1967 and was a member until 1974.  He lapsed during his 'wine, women and song' (!)  years but rejoined in 1983 and has thoroughly enjoyed the support and friendship of so many great amateur and professional astronomers throughout these years. Recently retired from General Medical practice, he hopes to become more productive with observations and imaging.

Aditya Madhavan

Aditya (or Deech as he's affectionately known ) doesn’t remember a time in his life where he hasn’t been fascinated with the universe beyond our planet. Shortly after his first peek through a telescope at Saturn (isn’t that everyone’s first?), our solar system was visited by two great comets, Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake which he greatly enjoyed imaging.  At a high school astronomy club meeting, he got wind of the US eclipse of 2017, and after waiting 14 years for his first solar eclipse, he was instantly hooked. Eclipse chasing and astrophotography are his great passion and with six totalities under his belt, he can't wait to share his passion with you for imaging these amazing phenomena.

Sheridan Williams

A seasoned eclipse-chaser Sheridan has written several eclipse publications on eclipses. He has taken groups to places as many diverse places to witness astronomical events such as eclipses, aurorae (Northern Lights) and meteor showers.  Sheridan is the education tour guide at the National Museum of Computing with Colossus (the world’s first programmable electronic computer) located at Bletchley Park and was Director of the Computing Section of the British Astronomical Association.  In the past he has worked as a 'Rocket Scientist' with the Ministry of Defence using early valve-based digital computers and analogue computers and now spends his time travelling and compiling the astronomy pages for Whitaker’s Almanac.

Dr Francisco Diego

A guest lecturer on previous Solar eclipse expeditions, Francisco is a well known professional astronomy lecturer. Born in Mexico City (where he got his first degree in Mechanical Engineering), his career in Astronomy started at the Sociedad Astronomica de Mexico and the Planetario Luis E. Erro. He worked for several years at the Instituto de Astronomia, UNAM and then came to University College London where he got a PhD in Astronomy. Currently, he is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, vice president of the UK Association for Astronomy Education and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is a keen populariser of natural sciences and extensive experience as a planetarium producer/presenter, lecturer, author and broadcaster.