The President's Award
for Service
to the Centre

The Observer
of the
Year Award

Paul Campbell and Sherry Campbell

There is a story behind the choosing of this award. When the Nominating Committee was looking at who to present with the President's Award for Service to the Centre, we wanted to consider someone who has contributed in a significant way to multiple aspects of the Centre and our attention turned to one member Sherry Campbell. Sherry has been very actively involved in many aspects of the Centre including observing, public education, numerous committees and council as well as providing support for others within the Centre and particularly one other member Paul Campbell. We then realized that Paul has also had significant involvement in all aspects of the Centre and also provides support for others within the Centre, especially Sherry.

So, in recognition that each of these could handily qualify for this award but working together they are definitely a force to be reckoned with (and without identifying who is “A” and who is “One”) the President’s Award for Service to the Centre goes to Sherry and Paul Campbell.

Alister Ling

This year?s Observer of the Year has always been eager to share observing experiences with the membership, and for a long time had served as our observing group director. This person also participates in and encourages others to participate in observing projects with real scientific value including occultation timings and meteor counts as well as unique astrophotograhy opportunities, recently becoming particularly infamous for his predictions of when and where to capture the Moon in the glory of reflected sunrises and sunsets from Edmonton?s downtown core buildings. As well as observing objects outside the Earth?s atmosphere we have come to rely on the atmospheric observations and professional weather reports provided at great personal risk?

The Angus Smith Award for Excellence in Telescope Making and Design

The Bryce Heartwell Memorial Award for Excellence in Astroimaging

Not Awarded in 2007

Massimo Torri

The Award Committee received more nominations from the general membership for astrophotographer of the year than for any of the other awards. This person is a relatively new member of the Centre, but has jumped into participating in many aspects of the Centre with both feet including starting the astrophotography group, being the driving force behind obtaining astrophotography-related equipment for the Observatory, being a very active member of council, participating in public education and outreach, and generally being willing to take part in on-line and in-person discussions on astronomy and astroimaging. In putting considerable work into researching and experimenting in digital astrophotography and image processing the photos produced have advanced from ?nice? to ?wow? in an amazingly short period of time. Among the ?wow? images are the recent lunar images and the first forays into IR photography.

The George Moores Memorial Award for Excellence in Public Education

The Franklin Loehde Award for Project of the Year

Bruce McCurdy

The recipient of this award has done much to promote both Astronomy and the RASC to the general public and is frequently (and has been for a number of years) involved in a wide variety of public education activities. The list includes many hours (both scheduled and unscheduled) volunteering at the Observatory deck, frequently acting as a spokesperson to the media for activities and events, writing regular columns, volunteering for numerous outreach activities, helping to develop a new National observing program, taking up the mantle of Light Pollution Committee chair, and most recently expanding to help teach the ?The Night Sky ? An Introduction? course. All this while still maintaining personal observing programs, sitting on council, and maintaining a family life.

Dave Robinson and Roman Unyk

The project leading to this award is one where a significant amount of time and effort has gone into the project, but most of this has been behind the scenes. Now it is time to shine a bit of a spotlight on the prime movers of this project in recognition of the work to date. The recipients of this award seem to thrive best when working on large projects, and the Black Nugget Lake Observatory certainly fits the bill. So far there has been considerable effort put into planning and executing this complex multi-year project. This includes putting together one of the most detailed proposal submissions for Alberta Gaming that I have seen, negotiating the lease with Beaver County, arranging for the preparation of the observing area, the installation of power to the site, the snow removal schedule, and the all important toilets. Because of their efforts, by next fall we should have a viable dark site with a secure and heated storage area.