A FORMER Nasa astronomer set up his latest star-gazing project - after transporting a telescope 3,500 miles from the United States to his Todmorden garden.

Dr Ian Griffin has been sending his findings on asteroid movement to Nasa for three years since the international space agency funded an observatory to be set up in his garden.

Dr Griffin said: "I worked for Nasa for four years, as the head of public outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, running the Hubble Telescope programme.

"While I was there I was awarded a research grant to study asteroids, and with it I bought the observatory.

"When I left, Nasa let me bring the telescope back to England so that I could carry on my research."

Dr Griffin, 41, left the US in 2004 when he was offered the position of director of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

The dad of three said: "The research I do with the telescope is not connected with my work at the museum, so now astronomy is more my hobby.

"But I think that's the best way to study astronomy, you can relax and enjoy it rather than worry about any other pressures."

Dr Griffin, who has a PhD in astrophysics, studies the skies as much as the Lancashire weather allows him to, looking at the rotation of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.

The 14-inch lens telescope is modest in comparison to others used by Nasa, but it enables him to look at objects millions of miles away.

The telescope, which costs several thousands of pounds, is linked to a motor which allows Dr Griffin to control its movements remotely by computer inside the house.

The data he collects is sent to a Nasa research centre in Boston, Massachusetts.

He has discovered 23 asteroids over the last decade.