Penultimate interview in the series with Patrick Bosse

Hello fellow stargazers!

Today, our penultimate interview in the series with Patrick Bosse.

Hello dear Telescope Specialists team, and thank you for the invitation to this great interview series. I'm Patrick, 37 years old, and a self-employed master bricklayer specializing in stonework. Like many others, I first came into contact with astronomy as a young child. I received a small telescope, and the "flat" moon transformed into a moon with mountains, valleys, and craters—simply amazing! Unfortunately, my interest waned considerably during my youth, specifically until 2012. But a trip to New Zealand changed everything. A crystal-clear night in the Aoraki Dark Sky Reserve made me see the sky differently from then on.

It was simply full of stars... breathtaking! The longer I looked, the more impressive it became. After the vacation, I came across astrophotography groups on Facebook and thought... I want to be able to do that too. In 2015, I got my first camera, and shortly after, my first telescope (150/750, old EQ6 mount, etc.) followed. It was the first hobby I felt completely at ease with, whether it was nights out in the fields for the Milky Way, in the garden with increasingly complex equipment, or image processing, which I really struggled with at first. Through astrophotography, I've also made some great friends whom I wouldn't want to be without.

Several years have passed since then, I've tried out a lot of new equipment (I have to keep that greedy little voice in my head in check somehow), and I still take advantage of every clear night whenever work allows. These days, I enjoy the luxury of a small roll-off roof observatory. While I lose some of the feeling of setting it up, I can still use breaks in the clouds, load up the mount, and am "always ready." At this point, I should mention my Facebook page @ Million Miles Away, but there haven't been any new pictures posted there for a while. I lost the motivation to edit photos "to generate likes" at some point, but I think I'll be more active there again soon.

Best regards and clear skies, Patrick