J09 - New Irish Observatory

Folks - I'm absolutely delighted to tell you that Carl O'Beirnes has just been awarded his observatory code!

J09 - Balbriggan observatory is now officially recognised by the IAU.

Carl has put in a tremendous amount of hard work over the years in astrophotography - many of us are familiar with his stunning images. But recently he embarked upon asteroid work. As a result of all his efforts, and particularly with such a long wait for a decision, his work has paid off.

This is a proud moment for Carl, for amateur astronomers in Ireland and especially for IYA 2009!

Well done Carl - this is a most deserving recognition for all your hard work. I'm really delighted for you!

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Here's a list of the 9 recognised Irish observatories:

Up to 2006 – Armagh, Dunsink and Markree
March 2006 – J65 (Celbridge)
May 2006 – J62 (Kingsland, Boyle)
June 2006 – J61 (Brownstown, Kilcloon)
September 2007 – J41 (Raheny, Dublin)
January 2009 – J16 (An Carraig)
May 2009 - J09 (Balbriggan)

Well done Carl !!

Congratulations Carl, well deserved. All you have to do now is emulate the other pair and bag yourself an asteroid.

Best of luck.

Paul

Good stuff Carl! Well done!
It's good to know that the guy that has been "teaching" Dave G all this time now has an observatory code himself!


Michael.

Fair play Carl.
It's fantastic to see so many observatory's
being set up in such a small country.

Wonderful news!! I know that Carl worked very very hard indeed to get this recognition and as such there really is extra credit due to Carl because of this. It is fantastic to see such a great interest in minor planet astrometry in this country. I can see a very useful role for Carl with his wide field setup in confirming the bright fast moving NEO's which can be difficult to recover in larger scopes due to the positional uncertainty caused by few observations. Carl's setup will no doubt bag a few of these over time.

Anyway congrats again to Carl on this fantastic acheivement.