What to say? I’m obviously passionate about astronomy. I caught the “virus” when my father brought home a small telescope (20×40) from one of his business trips. I was about 11 years old. After looking at the moon I was hooked and it wasn’t long before I wanted a bigger telescope.
All through my teenage years the word “telescope” was at the top of my birthday and Christmas wish list. Since a good telescope was quite expensive back then, getting one was never in the cards. I had to content myself with a small binocular and the 20×40 monocular till I finally got the funds to build a 6 inch newton during my time as a student.
My first real observations of Jupiter, Mars and some Messier’s were made with this instrument and I guess that’s when I caught my aperture fever. Although I spend a lot of time building telescopes, I really like to observe. Nowadays, when I can, I mostly observe deep sky and am especially interested in planetary nebula and galaxy clusters.
Since the Netherlands is one of the most light polluted countries in the world I hardly ever observe at my home. Most of observing time is spend in the north of Holland and on holiday in the south of France or Italy under darker skies.
Professionally I work as a freelance HR Psychologist and Business Consultant.
Setting up the third version of my 45 cm f4.6 (2009)
