THE night sky has fascinated people for centuries, from the ancient Greeks to the Egyptians, and the term astronomy comes from Greek words: astron which means star and nemein which means to name.

Jonathan Powell has had an interest in astronomy since the 70s, and he can trace back his passion for the subject to one man.

“Patrick Moore and the Sky at Night was the grounding for my fascination,” he said. “I used to make an effort to stay up and watch it at about 1am on Monday and in the late 70s and early 80s I read a book on astronomy and decided to see where it would take me. I joined Cardiff Astronomical Society and started doing reports and building up my knowledge of the night sky, it is a massive learning curve and takes a good few years for you to see the season change and the constellations change. There are new findings being made all the time.”

His knowledge has meant that Mr Powell has written for UK national astronomical magazines, and broadcast on the topic at both regional and national level for BBC Radio as well as writing regularly for the South Wales Argus.

He has now written a book about the mysterious debris that surrounds the earth, from the Asteroid Belt to orbiting satellites. His book Cosmic Debris - What It Is and What We Can Do About It, also examines current research techniques used to find potentially harmful rogue elements in the earth’s atmosphere.

He said: “There are all these bits of debris which fall into the classes of asteroids, comets and meteors. I think there are two main categories now, firstly the ones we have always known about but we have been unable to track, but we are tracking now, on a daily basis rocks pass the earth and we have had a few pretty near scrapes. We have always had them, now we are actually aware that these things are going on and if they are a treat to earth.

“Then there is our own stuff that we have put up in the earth’s orbit. Since the space race began we have been putting up all sorts and there is an awful lot of space junk. We have managed to litter near earth’s orbit with things like astral gloves and I think there is a glue gun up there somewhere. Then there is the serious stuff like communication satellites which are just there and have no purpose and at some point they will be come back to earth.

“In the book I talk about bits of junk that has come down to earth. There is one place in America where they have named a street after a lump of metal that landed there, but there is only one case of somebody being hit by a fragment of metal from outer space, and it didn’t cause her any harm.”

Many people have grown an interest in extra-terrestrial life and whether there are other beings out there in space.

Mr Powell said: “There are more stars than there are grains of sand on a beach, and we are one galaxy among millions, so ‘Are we alone?’ is always going to be the big question. I don’t think we are alone, statistically we can’t be, it’s just a case of proving it. “

Cosmic Debris is available now from springer.com.

The Argus is launching our very own book club and we would love for your clubs to get involved. We will be featuring your book reviews and we will choose a star reviewer each week. Find us on Facebook - South Wales Argus Book Club, or email carys.thomas@gwent-wales.co.uk or call 01633 777231.