Spain's self-taught astronomer 'Galactic Shepherd' to watch eclipse from DIY observatory

SAN AGUSTIN DEL POZO, Spain - In a tiny Spanish farming village, retired shepherd Joaquin Tapioles is preparing to watch next week's first-in-a-century total solar eclipse from the observatory he built after being inspired by the mysteries of the skies as a boy.

The first total eclipse visible from the Iberian peninsula since 1912 is set to draw skywatchers from across Spain and abroad.

A self-taught astronomer who goes by the nickname the "Galactic Shepherd", Tapioles, 67, will be watching with his family on August 12 from the rotating dome that juts out among San Agustin del Pozo's red-brick buildings.

He operates the telescope he designed and assembled himself using a video game controller to track the sky.

And while he loves to share his decades-long passion with visitors who have donated to his project over the years, he wants to allow his family time to savour the moment.

"If people come to the observatory, I'll be more focused on making sure they see it than on watching it myself, and I'll end up missing it," he said. "I'll be watching it with my family."

Tapioles said his fascination with the night sky began as a child while helping his father tend sheep before dawn.

"One time, we saw a meteor shower, and that's my first memory of being fascinated by what I was seeing. My father used to say they were stars falling from the sky," he said.

Tapioles proudly displays a NASA sticker on his telescope, a reminder of his contribution to the Deep Impact mission to Comet Tempel 1, launched in 2005. Like many amateur astronomers, he helped collect observations used to support the project, earning recognition from the U.S. space agency.

Spain is set to experience another total solar eclipse on August 2 next year - the longest one in Europe in the 21st century - and an annular eclipse in January 2028, completing the so-called "Iberian Eclipse Trio".

(Reporting by Silvio Castellanos and Michael Gore; Writing by Javi West Larrañaga; Editing by David Latona and Alison Williams)