ABOUT ADRIAN   Adrian Berry has been nominated for ``inspiration'' in the 2005 Sir Arthur C. Clarke awards and he was short-listed for space reporting in the 2008 Sir Arthur C. Clarke awards. He has been called the "most erudite of columnists" and the ``Dean of British science writers.'' As a reporter he has covered science stories from many parts of the world, and he was in the Houston press room when Neil Armstrong stepped on to the Moon in 1969.

He was Science Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph * from 1977 to 1997, and he is now the paper's Consulting Editor (Science). He writes the monthly ``Sky at Night'' column for The Telegraph, and a monthly column for Astronomy Now magazine under the heading "Berry's Viewpoint.'' He has written 15 books on popular science, including two science fiction novels and two spy novels. His books have sold in many countries, including the United States and Japan. His first non-fiction book The Next Ten Thousand Years: A Vision of Man's Future in the Universe had global sales of over 500,000. His next book The Iron Sun: Crossing the Universe Through Black Holes, sold equally well. He has twice addressed meetings of Mensa International. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Interplanetary Society. * If you register on the www.telegraph.co.uk website - then click on Weather, then click on UK Night Sky - you can read the current article from Adrian.