Sir Patrick Moore, CBE, FRS is one of the world's leading popularizers of astronomy and space. He has presented his BBC TV program, The Sky at Night continuously since 1957, which has been broadcast every four weeks since, making it the world's longest running television program of any kind. Patrick has written more than 100 astronomy book. In recognition of Patrick's contribution to the popularization of science over the past 50 years, he was knighted in November 2000. He has also been made a Fellow of the Royal Society, an honor he values particularly highly. As the presenter of the record-breaking The Sky at Night, Patrick was awarded a BAFTA in 2000.

John Watson, FRAS, has been an active amateur astronomer for forty years. He retired in 2004 from Springer London, where he had been Managing Director for fifteen years, prior to which he was Editorial Director at McGraw-Hill, and before that, Senior Publisher at Macmillan. During his time at Springer he was responsible for the creation and development of Springer's amateur astronomy publishing program, the first book have been published in 1995. The author of several textbooks on electronics and electrical engineering - and one on car maintenance - he has recently contributed to various astronomy books, including those by Philip Pugh and Michael Munder, both published by Springer.