about me

I was born in Poitiers (France) in 1972. I first became interested in astronomy back in 1986, age 14. I got my first instrument - a very classical 115/900 - with which I learnt my way around the sky. The excellent french astronomy book "A l'affut des etoiles", by Pierre Bourges, guided me along the way.

In 1988, my father, Bernard Morin, built a 250-mm F/D 6 Newtonian telescope. I remember vividly my first views of the moon and the globular cluster M13 through the instrument. I had the sensation to pilot a big observatory's instrument !
It gave very sharp images and its excellent equatorial mount allowed me to take quality deep sky images, using the legendary "Technical Pan 2415" B&W film.

In 1989, I joined the astronomical association S.A.P.P. (Societe d'Astronomie Populaire Poitevine), presided by Gerard Martineau. His boundless kindness and the enthousiasm of his talks further captivated my growing fascination with the night sky.
I met at the association my friends Frederic Pailloux, Laurent Chargelegue and Cedric Recalde. I shared wih them unforgettable memories under the sky ...

In 1994, Gerard Martineau, Frederic Pailloux, Laurent Chargelegue, my father Bernard Morin and myself created an association, GASPRA (Groupe d'AStronomie PRatique Amateur). We built two domes in the countryside of Poitiers (Vernon, Vienne, France), shielding 250-mm Newtonian telescopes.

We had wonderfull nights at the observatory, imaging deep sky objects with an Hi-SIS22 CCD camera. The quality of the sky was excellent and we could easily spend hours enjoying the milky way with naked eyes! I recall very well the stuning views of comets Hyakuyake and Hale-bopp, in 1996 and 1997.

In 2001, I relocated in Washington DC, USA. The light pollution here prohibited deep sky imaging. I acquired a 200-mm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (Meade LX90) in 2003. During that year, I became captivated by the superbly detailed lunar and planetary views obtained with mid-size telescopes and webcams (see the "links" section!).
Many have tread this path before me and through the internet, I came to learn that the webcam of choice for astro-imaging is the Philips ToUcam proII. What a coincidence ! .... I received this model as a birthday gift in 2004!

Since then, I can tell you that I fully enjoy all the nights I spend at imaging the moon and planets, and I hope that these pages will give you the desire to jump into the "webcam adventure" !!

I went back to France in 2005, with the ToUCam and the LX90 in my luggages. I am now a member of Rouen Observatory (Normandy). Here are the websites of the association and very active members.