Isle of Man 2008

Observer of the Year Award

                                      Achievements

                          Astronomical Awards &  Achievements

    Finnish 2009 Postage Stamp

This page shows any astronomical achievements and awards that I have been fortunate enough to have been awarded.

  On the 2nd October 2008 I was fortunate enough to be awarded

  'The John Boase Shield' - Isle of Man Observer of the Year Award by the

  Isle of Man Astronomical Society. This award is in recognition of my observations

  and astrophotography images. The large shield I have for a year, and the smaller shield

  I get to keep.

  I wish to personally thank the IOMAS committee members for this award!

This photo shows Howard Parkin 'Chairman of the IOM Astronomical Society'

and Mrs Helen Boase (wife of the late John Boase whom the award is named after)

presenting me with the shields at the Isle of Man Astronomical Society's

2008 AGM Meeting.

Some of my photos have been used on one of Finlands 2009 postage Stamps (left). 

I think you will agree the stamp design is absolutely stunning. The stamps can be

seen and ordered on the Finnish Post Office Website.

Click here to see or order the stamps.

I wish  to personally thank 'Petri Pohjolainen' Product Manager of stamps

for the Finnish Post Office for this opportunity.

I have contributed in writing a scientific paper on 'Using Fractional differentiation in

Astronomy' with Amelia  Carolina Sparavigna  (Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di

Torino C.so  Duca degli  Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy). Four of my photos (M31,M33,M51,M81)

are also used in the paper.  This interesting paper describes the use of fractional

 differentiation within image processing and astronomical research.

 Amelia has coded a Fortran tool to enhance edges & enhance dim objects within photos.

 Click here or click the image on the left to download the scientific paper in PDF format.