Pete Lawrence
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I first became interested in astronomy when I was a small boy, at the time of the Apollo Moon landings. My parents bought me a small 40mm refractor and after hunting down the planet Saturn with it, I was hooked! I remember Patrick visiting my school and leaving such a strong lasting impression that I decided I just had to have a larger telescope. Being a schoolboy at the time, my funds were limited so my next telescope was completely homemade; I even ground the main 8.75" mirror myself! It took a long time but the views I eventually got made all the effort very worthwhile. A few years later I graduated from the University of Leicester with an honours degree in Physics with Astrophysics, but the fortuitously timed lure of an interesting job in computer software development diverted me from any further academic studies. My interest in the night sky never left me throughout this time, and in the late 90s I was able to merge my computer expertise with astronomy, using digital cameras for astrophotography. Here, the lure and challenge of being able to capture images of dynamic astronomical events proved irresistible and I now have quite a library of images.