Another Irish asteroid -- 30558 Jamesoconnor

It is with great pleasure that I can officially tell everyone that another Irish amateur astronomer has been honored by having an asteroid named after them.

James O'Connor, 61 years a member of the Irish Astronomical Society, was presented with the honor at a meeting of the IAS and SDAS in Gonzaga College on Thursday, October 14th.

Asteroid 30558 Jamesoconnor is a Main Belt object orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.31 years.

The citation from the International Astronomical Union reads;

"Irish amateur astronomer James O'Connor (b. 1931) has been a stalwart of the Irish Astronomical Society for sixty years, serving as president, secretary and council member. He has also written a history of the Society covering the years 1937--2006. The name was suggested by J. McConnell."

The asteroid was discovered on 2001 July 16 by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) at the Anderson Mesa Station.

I'm sure you will all join me in congratulating Jimmy on this award. I have known Jimmy since joining the IAS in 1987 and he has been a tremendous support to both the Society and individual members.

The presentation was made by John McConnell who travelled from Northern Ireland. Many people deserve mention in their contributions to this special occasion.

Dave Grennan did fantastic background research on the asteroid discovery circumstances and compiled a beautiful framed collage of the asteroid, citation and elements. John McConnell himself liaised with the professional community when nominating Jimmy for the award. Jonathan Bingham drove John down to Dublin on the night and both Liam Smyth and John O'Neill worked in the background to ensure Jimmy would be at the meeting.

Not to forget that Thursday night's gathering also included asteroid discoverers Dave McDonald as well as Dave Grennan, newly designated Observatory Code holder Michael O'Connell, and Dave Gradwell, who gave a superb talk on observing the Sun which included many of his own beautiful images of our nearby star.

All in all, one of the best IAS/SDAS meetings with so many historic moments.

More details about Jimmy's asteroid at;

ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=jamesoconnor&orb=1

John (Flannery)
SDAS

Many congrats to James O'Connor. 61 years service to the IAS is an incredible achivement and it is great that his efforts are recognised in such a manner. Well done to John McConnell for his work in arranging this presentation.

Michael.

Congrats James! It was a very memorable evening and showed all the best aspects of Irish Astronomy. The stalwarts who recognised the need to acknowledge the service given by Jimmy and the support of those who made it happen.

Dave Gradwell's brilliant talk on Solar observing and Dave Grennan's brief explanation of his extraordinary achievement completed the evening.

The room was full of the pride of the supporting fans!

Well done also to John Flannery and John McConnell for doing all the groundwork.

Joe Ó Briain, Gonzaga Astronomy Club/SDAS

Sincerest congratulations to James on this well merited award. It was lovely to See James's face as John Mc slowly revealed what was going on and the realisation dawned upon James. I must say James is a true gentleman and his humility in accepting the honour bestowed upon him was remarkable.

It struck me during James's acceptance speech some of the astronomical headlines he has seen since joining the IAS is 1949. Sputnik launched in 1957. Yuri Gagarin in 1961, Moon landings starting in 1969, Venera landing on Venus in 1970. Mariner 10 visits Mercury in 1974. I could go on. The point is Jimmy has been there through it all at a time when some of us 'new kids on the block' were still in nappies!

On a personal note. I want to thank the IAS, SDAS and Gonzaga AS for the humbling presentation they made to me after the lecture. I am deeply touched and honoured by the gesture.

Well done James! It has been such a long time since we met but I'll bet the crooner members from the TAS days would also congratulate you!

Seanie.

It was a great night and it belonged to Jimmy. I think, like Dage G said, his humble acceptance was remarkable.

I've said it before - there are a good few people out there who have done far more than I would be barely cpabale of achieving for the rest of my life. And they are unsung heroes. This is one of those moments when a prolific contributor gets the recognition they deserve and that's wonderful. There are a few other folks out there who I sincerely hope receive similar recognition in the future.

Well done Jimmy - it was an honour and a pleasure to meet you last night.

Dave