IYA 2009 MALTA - Leonard ELLUL MERCER

I got interested in astronomy 13 years ago, while browsing through the newly introduced World Wide Web. On that particular day, the only available site was that of the Solar System. Since then Astronomy became my top hobby. In March 2005, I bought myself my first GoTo computerized 8 inch. telescope. Two months later I bought a Meade DSI-col. ccd camera. That is when I launched myself to one of the most fantastic pastimes, that of Astro-photography. In Febr. 2007 I upgraded to a larger telescope, an 11” Celestron CGE-1100 XLT telescope plus a new Meade DSI-Pro II ccd. camera. However now I upgraded to a state of the art ccd camera, an SBIG ST10-XME. This has improved the quality of my images considerably. In May 2007 I got a 7' diam. dome observatory. This is now housing my telescope permanently. A few months ago a new telescope and mount, a Takahashi 106 FSQ ED, was included to my other telescopes. This telescope produces high quality images. During the last 3 years I have participated regularly in weekly TV programs, on Education Channel 22 , dealing mainly with Astronomy and astro-photography, besides having done many talks and animated presentations, created by me at various venues. Now my aim is to participate in the IYA 2009 to promote Astronomy especially with the younger generation.

Apolen observatory

Eagle nebula by Leonard Ellul Mercer