IFAS Astronomer of the Year 2009

Well done - once again - Mike!

Congrats Mike, Well deserved.

Congratulations Michael! Well deserved for all the contributions you have made during the year in progressing Irish astronomy.

Eamonn A

www.kingslandobservatory.com

Many thanks everyone for your kind words.

It is a great privilege to receive this recognition from my colleagues here in IFAS. It has been a very busy year for me astronomy-wise between club events in MAC (helping organise IYA2009 events & COSMOS), IFAS events (helping organise Solarfest and the Astrophotography Workshop) and constructing the new observatory to mention but a few. It's always nice to have one's efforts recognised and thanks to all those you voted for me - brown envelopes in the post to you all!

Now that I have handed on the IFAS Chairperson baton to Dave McDonald and am finishing my third & final term as MAC Chairperson, I'm praying for some clear skies in 2010 so that I can put the new observatory to some good use. My aim for 2010 is to finish off the radio observatory (monitoring radio reflections from meteors) and install a computer-controlled light pollution detector & cloud sensor. I also want to do a bit more in the astrometry end and would hope to get the observatory code registered with the Minor Planet Centre in the early part of next year. I had hoped to have done more on a new IFAS Observing Challenges Handbook over the last couple of months but unfortunately have been very busy with work lately and illness didn't help either.

So, thanks again for your kind words and I'd like to take the time to wish you all a happy Christmas and clear skies for 2010!

Regards,

Michael O'Connell.

Congrats Michael!

Thumbs up.

Mark

Congratulations, Michael!

Sounds like you've got ambitious plans for next year.

-- Jeff.