Norwich Astronomical Society hosted European Space Agency Scientist and Astrophysicist Dr. Matt Taylor on Friday.

Doctor Taylor is well known for his part in getting the Philae lander onto a comet which is 4.6 billion years old in November 2014 as part of the Rosetta mission.

He spoke for an about the mission, giving insights into why it was undertaken, the technical challenges, the people involved and the results received so far.

Afterwards he answered questions from the members, ranging from questions about the mission and deflecting near earth objects to his taste in music and tattoos.

His journey to Seething had started from the #askRosetta Twitter Chat held in November 2014 where he had been asked by Norwich Astro member Chris Greenfield if he would be able to visit and talk at Seething; 16 months later, he spoke to over 55 members in a packed clubhouse.

After the talk he was presented with a cartoon drawn by NAS member and artist Mike Doddington as a thank you for his visit.

He was then able to join his wife and two teenage children in viewing the night-sky from the eight inch telescope housed in the society's Herschel dome.

He is very keen to promote the interest in Science and is hoping to return to Norwich in the Summer to give a talk from the city center, Norwich Astro Chairman Andy Gardner is already working with a venue to accomplish this.