Anton Vamplew interviewed
Above: Anton Vamplew
Seeing stars is all in a day’s work for Anton Vamplew, but it’s not the celebrity variety that interest him.
As one of the UK’s top young astronomers Anton has made a name for himself as a leading authority on the sky at night, through his work at Royal Observatory in Greenwich and in bringing the stars to a new, younger audience.
As well as making more than 30 appearances on the children’s TV programme, Blue Peter, Anton, 42, has written a best-selling book on the stars and recently helped oversee the £15 million rebuilding of the Planetarium at the Royal Observatory.
Talking space
That is only part of his work – he has also toured schools, colleges and museums giving talks about space and astronomy to children and adults in an inflatable mobile planetarium and has written and presented programmes for the BBC, including a 10-part astronomy series, Captain Cosmos’ Galactic Guide.
Anton says he has been interested in astronomy since ‘the dawn of time”.
Born in Rainham into a family of non-astronomers, he had a love of the stars from an early age.
“I suppose it was written in the stars, that I’d become an astronomer,” he says with a grin. “I used to write about the planets at infants’ school when we had a topic.”
When he was 13, Anton joined the Mid-Kent Astronomical Society, later becoming the group’s chairman and editor of its quarterly journal, Pegasus. In 1986, during the approach of Halley’s Comet, he made his first appearance on BBC Radio Kent, before creating his astro-persona, Captain Cosmos, and presenting a monthly live phone-in.
That was followed by an astronomy series entitled the Essential Guide to the Night Sky, which ran for eight months. For nine years he gave talks in schools and also worked at the Planetarium, while continuing to make programmes for the BBC.
Planetariums are one of the few places you see stars in all their shining glory
Three years ago, Anton was asked to become part of the team overseeing the building of the new hi-tech Planetarium, which opened this May. “I was one of the main task leaders chosen to select the right equipment for the new Planetarium. It took me round the world, looking at different planetariums seeing what they do differently.
“It is so wonderful to be able to see the stars during the day, and planetariums are one of the few places you see them in all their shining glory.”
Life continues to be busy for Anton, who with his wife, Gillian and children Morten, aged nine, and Etienne, three, recently moved from the village of Kemsing, near Sevenoaks to Hildenborough, just outside Tonbridge.
As well as continuing his TV and radio work, he also writes for the BBC Sky at Night magazine and for the BBC website, and is just starting work on his third book.
The first, called Simple Stargazing, was published two years ago, to great success, selling more than 50,000 copies in hardback alone. It has been published in Europe and America and next year will be launched in China.
Anton decided to write the book because he felt there wasn’t a “user-friendly” guide available for the first-time stargazer.
Starting from scratch
“Finding out about the stars is fun and easy. All it takes is a few minutes each night, but there simply weren’t any guides around that weren’t written in a scientific way. I wanted to produce a simple guidebook, where you didn’t need any expensive equipment, just the naked eye, and that anyone could pick up and start using from scratch wherever they were the world.”
Its sequel, Anton Vamplew’s Stargazing Secrets, comes out on September 3. “It follows on from the first book, continuing on a simple, basic journey on how to find your way around the night-time sky,” he explains.
“This time, we are taking it a step further, examining the constellations, looking into craters, seeing fault lines, exploring mountain ranges. It gets even more exciting the further you go.”
Like 70 per cent of astronauts, I get seasick, so I’d be hopeless up in space
So passionate is Anton about the subject, that he over-wrote the book and now has a lot of material left for book number three.
He feels we are entering a new and exciting era in astronomy and space. “There is so much going on, even as we speak. In August the Phoenix probe will be launching on a journey to Mars, and Virgin will be starting its space shuttle programme. It’s fantastic.”
For someone so keen on all things in the firmament, Anton is curiously reluctant to become more than a space tourist. “I would love to go into space, into the blackness of the stars, but only for a few minutes just to see the curve of the earth below,” he confesses.
“To be able to see your own planet, that would be exciting, but when you’re in space you are out of your own comfort zone, so I don’t have any desire to go any further. It would be so far away and I’d be thinking ‘that’s where all the air is and everything I love’. I wouldn’t want to be away from that.”
He pauses and then adds with a laugh: “Anyway, like 70 per cent of astronauts I get seasick, so I’d be hopeless up in space.”
Where to stargaze in Kent?
The further you are from London and the big towns and cities, such as Dartford, Ashford and Canterbury, the better it is for stargazing, says Anton.
“There are not too many major towns in Kent, but anywhere you get some very dark areas is best,” he advises.
“You will get a good view from many of the smaller villages, but the further you head west and south the better. Steer clear of the east of the county for the best views.
“Romney Marsh is a brilliant place; it is totally clear at night and if you want to see the Milky Way, particularly from September to December, head south of Ashford towards the Channel. And remember the darker the skies, the better you will see the stars.”
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