In Memory of Chris Ratcliffe.

Chris was a dedicated Magneteer with a strong passion for the night sky. He was a very respected member of UK Cloud Magnets and loved life to the full. He and his wife Debbie would set up their telescope in the back garden on clear nights and look through the eyepiece in awe at the wonders of the night sky and the hidden treasures it held that could only be unlocked with a telescope.

The pure beauty of what the heavens had revealed soon had Chris and Debbie investing in a specialist astronomy camera which they could use to capture the wondrous sights they had witnessed.

The love of imaging the night sky had taken hold of them both and between them they were very soon producing some fantastic images of Galaxies, Nebula’s, Star Clusters, Planets and the Moon.

Every forecasted clear night Debbie would come home from work to find Chris had already set up the telescope in pure eagerness and anticipation of their sleepless night ahead to image Chris’s favourite Deep Space Object, The Horsehead Nebula which is found within the constellation Orion and is a prime target during the winter months in the UK.

With a restricted view of the night sky from where they lived, astro nights normally entailed many hours of waiting for the Horsehead to come into view. These long cold hours were spent together in their rear garden searching for other new objects to image.

This fantastic night time hobby now had Chris and Debbie caught fast in the tangled web of enthusiasm that amateur astronomers get trapped in on a regular basis with no escape. They both loved every minute of the cold and the darkness that came with it as they were in this together and wouldn’t pack up till they had the data they needed.

I never had the privilege of meeting Chris, however I did have the honour of sitting down and having a cup of tea with Debbie and hearing all about this wonderful man who loved life with both arms wide open. A man that had compassion and strength in his heart. A man who took pride in everything he did. A man that was respected and loved by many.

Chris sadly passed away on the 14th May 2019 and began his next journey of becoming part of what some believe we all started from.

To once again become part of the cosmos from which life began all them millions of years ago.