John Adair

John Adair was born and raised in Greenock, Scotland, not far from the towering shipbuilding yards. In those days there wasn’t much light pollution and the stars in the night sky shone brightly, when it wasn’t raining that is.  “John is always interested in the stars” his mother would say, but it would be some time before he would be able to realise his dream of being able to look at them, or indeed the closest one of all, our Sun.

Many years later John attended Cambridge University and had many fascinating and inspiring lectures from Dr Simon Mitton on the Sun.  The images he saw of the Sun in Hydrogen Alpha (H Alpha) rekindled the dream of seeing the Sun live.In those days H Alpha equipment, largely because of price, was the sole domain of universities and other scientific establishments.
 
Then around 1998/99 John found a company on the internet who were starting out to produce affordable H Alpha telescopes for the amateur market.  John immediately ordered his first H Alpha dedicated telescope, the Coronado Helios.

At the first Hands on the Sun conference in Tucson John met Jack Newton.  Through Jack’s wonderful solar images, and some personal coaching and advice, John felt he must share “this wonderful sight” with as many people as possible.  Be that astronomical societies, school children, or just members of the public who were interested.  John owes “a great thank you” to Jack Newton for his encouragement in those early days.

John has since pioneered live video imaging of the Sun in H Alpha, and more recently in Calcium K, which greatly facilitates sharing with larger groups.  Many of John’s lovely images, taken from live video, have appeared on the Coronado website.

Through his amateur work in this field John was invited by the BBC to help broadcast the Transit of Venus live from Egypt to television viewers around the UK, and the large outside screen at Greenwich on the day of the transit.

More recently John has assisted the BBC with live images of the Sun, in Calcium K this time, for a recent television program called the Sky at Night, presented by Sir Patrick Moore.This was a special feature, leading up to the recent 2006 total eclipse, and was called “A spin around the Sun”.

John has continued to share his solar passion with presentations, and demonstrations, at astronomical societies, local school open days and solar open days for the general public and other amateur astronomers.

John is currently enjoying a very successful 36 year career in the world of Information Technology, and is enjoying immensely sharing his dream of seeing the Sun “The Coronado Way”. 

“With much gratitude and fond memories of the late David Lunt, for making it all happen”. John  Adair.