Ian Ridpath | |
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Born | Ilford, Essex | May 1, 1947
Occupation | Writer, editor, encyclopedist, broadcaster |
Language | English |
Notable works | Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy; Norton's Star Atlas; Star Tales |
Notable awards | Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
Website | |
ianridpath |
Ian William Ridpath (born 1 May 1947, in Ilford, Essex) is an English science writer and broadcaster best known as a popularizer of astronomy and a biographer of constellation history. As a UFO sceptic, he investigated and explained the Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980.
Ridpath attended Beal Grammar School in Ilford where he wrote astronomy articles for the school magazine. [1] Before entering publishing he was an assistant in the lunar research group at the University of London Observatory, Mill Hill. He now lives in Brentford, Middlesex.
He is editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy [2] and Norton's Star Atlas, and author of observing guides such as The Monthly Sky Guide [3] and the Collins Stars and Planets Guide [4] (the latter two with charts by Wil Tirion, and both continuously in print for over 30 years). His other books include Star Tales, [5] about the origins and mythology of the constellations, and the children's book Exploring Stars and Planets, [6] now in its fifth edition. He is a contributor to the Dorling Kindersley encyclopedia Universe , and a former editor of the UK quarterly magazine Popular Astronomy . He is also currently editor of The Antiquarian Astronomer, the journal of the Society for the History of Astronomy.
His early books on the subject of extraterrestrial life and interstellar travel – Worlds Beyond (1975), Messages from the Stars (1978) and Life off Earth (1983) – led him to investigate UFOs. But he became a sceptic, a position reinforced by his findings about the Rendlesham case. He was one of the first to offer an explanation for the so-called Sirius Mystery [7] involving the supposedly advanced astronomical knowledge of the Dogon people of Mali, west Africa.
He was a space expert for LBC Radio from the 1970s into the 1990s, and was also seen on BBC TV's Breakfast Time programme in its early years. It was for Breakfast Time that he first investigated the Rendlesham Forest UFO case. [8]
His star show Planet Earth ran at the London Planetarium from February 1993 to January 1995; it was the last show to use the planetarium's original Zeiss optical projector. [9]
In 2012 he received the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Klumpke-Roberts Award for outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy. [10] In 1990 he won an award in The Aventis Prizes for Science Books (in the under-8 children's books category) for The Giant Book of Space.
From 1993 to 1995 he was Race Director of the Polytechnic Marathon from Windsor to Chiswick, Britain's oldest marathon race which traced its origins back to the 1908 Olympic Marathon. In that role, he was involved in a public controversy over the ownership of the Sporting Life marathon trophy, originally awarded to winners of the Polytechnic Marathon, which was claimed in 1994 by the London Marathon. [11] The Polytechnic Marathon was last held in 1996.
A keen astro-philatelist, he is chairman of the Astro Space Stamp Society. [12]
Ara is a southern constellation between Scorpius, Telescopium, Triangulum Australe, and Norma. It was one of the Greek bulk described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations designated by the International Astronomical Union.
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
Chamaeleon is a small constellation in the deep southern sky. It is named after the chameleon, a kind of lizard. It was first defined in the 16th century.
Equuleus is a faint constellation located just north of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for "little horse", a foal. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the second smallest of the modern constellations, spanning only 72 square degrees. It is also very faint, having no stars brighter than the fourth magnitude.
Fornax is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, partly ringed by the celestial river Eridanus. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was named by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. Fornax is one of the 88 modern constellations.
Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac, between Cancer the crab to the west and Virgo the maiden to the east. It is located in the Northern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Latin for lion, and to the ancient Greeks represented the Nemean Lion killed by the mythical Greek hero Heracles as one of his twelve labors. Its old astronomical symbol is (♌︎). One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, Leo remains one of the 88 modern constellations today, and one of the most easily recognizable due to its many bright stars and a distinctive shape that is reminiscent of the crouching lion it depicts.
Lepus is a constellation lying just south of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for hare. It is located below—immediately south—of Orion, and is sometimes represented as a hare being chased by Orion or by Orion's hunting dogs.
Puppis ("stern") is a constellation in the southern sky. It was originally part of the traditional constellation of Argo Navis, which was divided into three parts, the other two being Carina, and Vela. Puppis is the largest of the three constellations in square degrees. It is one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union.
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
Indus is a constellation in the southern sky first professionally surveyed by Europeans in the 1590s and mapped on a globe by Petrus Plancius by early 1598. It was included on a plate illustrating southern constellations in Bayer's sky atlas Uranometria in 1603. It lies well south of the Tropic of Capricorn but its triangular shape can be seen for most of the year from the Equator. It is elongated from north to south and has a complex boundary. The English translation of its name is generally given as the Indian, though it is unclear which indigenous people the constellation was originally supposed to represent.
Hydra is the largest of the 88 modern constellations, measuring 1303 square degrees, and also the longest at over 100 degrees. Its southern end borders Libra and Centaurus and its northern end borders Cancer. It was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. Commonly represented as a water snake, it straddles the celestial equator.
Heather Anita Couper, was a British astronomer, broadcaster and science populariser.
Stardome Observatory & Planetarium is a public astronomical observatory and planetarium situated in Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill Domain in Auckland, New Zealand.
Eridanus is a constellation which stretches along the southern celestial hemisphere. It is represented as a river. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century AD astronomer Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern constellations. The same name was later taken as a Latin name for the real Po River and also for the name of a minor river in Athens.
The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, in December 1980, which became linked with UFO landings. The events occurred just outside RAF Woodbridge, which was used at the time by the United States Air Force (USAF). USAF personnel, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt, claimed to see things they described as a UFO.
Anton Vamplew, is an English amateur astronomer, author, lecturer and media presenter of the subject.
Stuart Nigel Henbest is a British astronomer and science communicator. Born in Manchester and educated in Belfast and at Leicester University, Henbest researched in radio astronomy at the University of Cambridge before becoming a freelance author, television producer and astronomy lecturer. Asteroid 3795 Nigel is named after him.
Celestial cartography, uranography, astrography or star cartography is the aspect of astronomy and branch of cartography concerned with mapping stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects on the celestial sphere. Measuring the position and light of charted objects requires a variety of instruments and techniques. These techniques have developed from angle measurements with quadrants and the unaided eye, through sextants combined with lenses for light magnification, up to current methods which include computer-automated space telescopes. Uranographers have historically produced planetary position tables, star tables, and star maps for use by both amateur and professional astronomers. More recently, computerized star maps have been compiled, and automated positioning of telescopes uses databases of stars and of other astronomical objects.
The Yorkshire Planetarium was a planetarium in the grounds of Harewood House, near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, from May 2007 until October 2009. The Yorkshire Planetarium organisation announced that it was laying plans for a permanent base in Bradford and until that was developed it would tour various locations during the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
The Brussels Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium is a planetarium located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken. It was established during the Brussels International Exposition of 1935 as the Alberteum and is now part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office.