Bristol star-gazer brings astronomy to the people
But when January and February came and went, and Steve, 50, realised that 2009 seemed much like any other year, he was more than a little crestfallen.
"I expected there to be lots of big astronomy events," he says. "I thought the newspapers would be filled with astronomy stories, and the TV listings would be wall-to-wall astronomy. I was rather disappointed when 2009 arrived and absolutely nothing happened."
Where lesser sky-watchers might have shrugged their shoulders and returned to their star charts, the unemployed telecommunications technician from Kingswood dusted down his telescope and set to work.
"I decided that even if the rest of the country wasn't doing much to mark the International Year of Astronomy, I'd make sure that Bristol goes down in history as having made its mark."
Steve set up a new website, www.astronomybristol.co.uk – a site specifically designed to show and interpret the night sky above the city.
"Often people don't realise that the night sky appears different depending on where you're looking from on Earth – even within our own country, the view that you get of the sky can be quite different.
"Here in Bristol we're on the same latitude as London, but because we're two-and- a-half-degrees west of Greenwich, the stars appear on our horizon 10 minutes later than they would in the capital."
Steve maintains a careful watch on the sky, and shifts the star charts on the website nightly – making it easier for astronomical beginners to get to grips with the shifting constellations.
"I also use the website to tell people about any astronomy news that might encourage them to pick up their telescope and head outside," Steve says. "For example, this week you can catch the Lyrid meteor shower. This should be an impressive flow of meteors, which will be at its height on Wednesday night. If you look to the South West around 10pm, you should be able to catch around half-a-dozen meteors every hour. They will look larger than normal shooting stars – perhaps looking more like firework rockets streaking down across the sky."
Not content with providing this online community resource to the city, Steve also wrote a book on the subject, which is freely available as a download on the website.
"I wanted to write an accessible introduction to astronomy, so newcomers didn't feel intimidated by the apparent complexity of the star charts," he says. "I've attempted to write the book in such a way so as to be easily understood, no matter how little you know about the cosmos.
"I've also illustrated it with my own star charts, which I've designed specially so they only feature the constellations that are visible with the naked eye – so you don't even need to own a telescope to get started in astronomy."
Steve was 10 years old when he caught the astronomy bug.
"I can remember the night when I went out into the garden and looked up and really started to study the shapes that the stars made.
"My grandfather was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and wrote all the astronomical stories for his local newspaper in Cardiff, where he lived.
"He even wrote the report when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon for the first time in 1969.
"So when he noticed that I was developing an interest in astronomy he was thrilled, and he paid for my membership in the British Astronomical Association and bought me a cardboard star chart."
Though he lost his grandfather in 1985, Steve still regularly points his grandfather's 10-inch Newtonian reflector towards the night sky in his memory.
Steve may have suffered life's knocks – he's divorced and currently unemployed – but he's still looking at the stars.
"I'm hoping to follow in my grandfather's footsteps, and develop a career late in life, writing about astronomy," Steve says.
"I've spent the best part of my life working in the telecommunications industry, and it would be nice now to be able to focus entirely on a subject that interests me.
"I'm hoping that as well as developing into an important community resource, my new website will also be a starting point for me to be able to develop my writing ability, so that hopefully one day I'll be able to make a living out of it. I can't think of a better way of spending your time than looking to the stars."
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