Neil’s talk tonight is about how astronomical distances are measured and the history of the discoveries which made it possible.

About the speaker: Neil Haggath

Neil Haggath, graduated from the University of Leeds, England, in 1983, with an honours degree in Physics with Astrophysics. A software engineer by profession,

he has a lifelong interest in astronomy and spaceflight. Born in 1961, just a few months after Yuri Gagarin’s flight, so it’s fair to say that he “grew up with the Space Age”, in the exciting times of the early Space Race and the Apollo programme. The resultant fascination with spaceflight has never left him.

He's been an amateur astronomer since as early an age as he can remember and a member of Cleveland and Darlington Astronomical Society since 1981. He is very proud to be a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, having been elected to that honour in 1993.

6 times Astromind Champion - and now regular question master. Which was killed 5 years ago

A veteran of 6 total eclipse expeditions,4 successful.