KATE NEWTON Hastings man Graham Palmer still likes to spend the night sleeping under the stars and tonight he will be joined by about 100 other stargazers in the Tukituki Valley for the annual astrocamp, StarDate. With the weather forecast looking clear, Graham's hoping to get another glimpse of a daylight comethe saw at lunchtime last Sunday. "I stood outside, blocked out the sun with my hand and stood there looking at it. That is one thing I won't forget in a hurry," he said. But it was Halley's Comet passing over Earth in 1986 when Graham was 14 that sparked his fascination with space. "Sitting on the back steps at home as a child, I wanted to see a UFO. I used to sit there for hours counting meteors and satellites, but never got to see any UFOs, though." Eight years ago Graham, 34, built his own telescope and has since become interested in photographing what the naked eye can't see and posting the pictures on his website. "It's always a magic moment to capture that something special, like the southern lights or a fly-by of the space shuttle. "Some weeks I hardly look out the window, but others I am hardly inside at night." By day, he is a plasterer and extramural student studying a Bachelor of Science in earth science and geography through Massey University. Over Christmas, he took a friend and an airbed out to Lake Tutira and slept under the moonlight. "I woke about two in the morning and could hardly believe my eyes. "The moon had set, and the stars looked like a ceiling above my head. "I didn't get much more sleep that night, the view was just too good to miss." The unknown and unpredictability of space has him hooked. "There is always something new to discover or re-discover. A meteor, a satellite, a galaxy or nebula you've never seen. "It's a kind of peaceful excitement." This weekend will be his seventh StarDate.
