Congratulations Trevor (Quark)

[erick]

Only just caught up with a great article in The Age, Insight, Sat 2 August - "Encounter with Trevor Barry". Haven't seen anyone mention it as yet here.

A great writeup - congrats Trevor on the story. :thumbsup:

I've attached a "quality" scan of some of the article and photo.

[Dennis]

Well done Trevor – it’s terrific to see write ups about local amateur astronomers in the main stream press. Thanks for posting this news Eric.

Cheers

Dennis

[Kal]

Well done Trevor, what a great article too. You must be chuffed! A truly Australian story as well of someone coming from an outback mining town as a miner, to becoming one of the leading amatuer astronomers in the world:thumbsup:

[Matty P]

Congratulations Trevor, what a great write up.

Like Dennis has said it is great to see an article of a local amateur astronomer getting published but most importantly recognised in the newspaper.

:thumbsup:

[Jen]

:2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs :
Great story well done Trevor :thumbsup:
:cool:

[Quark]

Hi Eric,
Thanks Eric and all that have posted such positive comments.
I did not mention this article on IIS as I am a little embarrassed by the extent of the media coverage I am getting. Occasionally , as in this instant, it gets noticed by ISS members. There are many amateurs in Australia that are doing excellent work that get no recognition at all, I have been trying to rectify that.

Later this month there will be a story on me on the ABC TV Catalyst program. They flew in a crew from Sydney and filmed over two days, at my observatory and at a presentation that I gave to the yr 10 & 11 students at Broken Hill High School on star formation. This is in a special program in conjunction with The Eureka Awards.

The Catalyst researcher who set this up contacted me about another space related story they were doing and I walked her through how to get on IIS and pointed her to relevant material that related to the story.

If you have seen the story in The Age then you may have noticed a small box top right containing a brief CV. One of the questions asked by the journalist was if I had any unfulfilled ambitions, top of my list was a visit to the Keck's.

Monday last week I was contacted out of the blue by Professor Duncan Forbes from Astrophysics & Super Computing at Swinburne University. Duncan was my final unit instructor when I did my degree at Swinburne and gave me my highest ever essay mark for an essay on the distance to our galactic centre. He deducted 1 mark.

Duncan is organizing a group of four people to accompany him on his next observing run with the Keck's and offered me one of those places. I have to pay my own way but it is the opportunity of a life time. At this stage I will meet up with the team to fly out of Sydney on Oct 26th, Duncan will be driving us to the summit of Mauna Kea to inspect the Keck's on Oct 27th and we will be observing with Keck 2 the nights of Oct 28th & 29th flying back to Sydney on Oct 31.

We will observe from the Keck 2 control room at Wiamea HQ and use the Deimos Spectrograph to obtain spectra of globular clusters, measure their motions and hence probe the dark matter halos of galaxies ( weighing galaxies).

To have this opportunity is a great honor. I have a passion to raise the profile of astronomy at the community level to maybe inspire some of our young to follow careers in science, to follow paths that I discovered to late in life.

Regards
Trevor



T

[badchap]

What wonderful, great news ! Congratulations (again) !

Best regards, Carmel :)

[leinad]

:D 'Congratulations!' :eyepop:

My best of wishes with you in your career!
Thank you for sharing Trev.

[Amy]

How exciting! It does sound like the opportunity of a lifetime. Congratulations and enjoy it for all it's worth~ :2thumbs: It's equally wonderful that you want to help educate others along the way. As you Aussie's say Good on ya!

[Kevnool]

To iceman, Mike after all of Trevors achievments and the promoting of astronomy on all levels, That maybe you should consider interviewing Trevor also so everyone in the astronomical community that misses the press clipits and media releases can actually know about what Trevor is up to and why all the attention.

Maybe this could be a way of IIS to reward Trevor also.
What does other IIS members think Cmon post your support.

Cheers Kev.........

[gary]

Hi Trevor,

Great to hear of your upcoming trip to the Keck and after our chats on the phone
where you explained the media interest, it certainly is amazing how one thing has
lead to another! :) Have a rewarding trip.

Hope the public outreach work in Broken Hill is going well.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: yep sounds good to me :thumbsup:
good on ya Trevor ;)

[Ric]

A top idea Kev.

Hope you enjoy your trip to Keck Trevor, I know you will. It sound like a real nice icing on the cake.

Well done.

[iceman]

Congratulations Trevor, what a fantastic achievement and what an opportunity and a lifelong dream to go and visit keck! Can you take your telescope and DMK along? :lol: The seeing would be fantastic up there!

When do you fly to Keck?


Absolutely, Kev. Great idea. I'll hook it up with Trev.

[Bassnut]

Wow Trevor, top work, nice to get the recognition, well done.

[astroron]

:thumbsup: Trevor it looks like he is on Catalyst next Thursday:):)
Ron

[Quark]

Hi Mike,
It would be great to take the DMK and scope but I think their gear might be a tad better than mine. But hey just imagine the sort of work you could do above so much of the worlds water vapor, stunning seeing and no stray light.

Duncan fly's out of Melbourne via Sydney on Oct 26th.
REX is our local carrier and due to pilot shortage has canceled several flights of late. I don't intend taking any chances with not getting to Sydney in time so I will fly to Sydney probably on Oct 24th and meet up with Duncan the evening of the 26th to fly out.

Due to the vagaries of the international date line we will arrive at Kona on the big island the morning of the day we left OZ.

Rest assured I will wear my IIS beanie with pride on the summit of Mauna Kea when we inspect Keck 2 on Oct 27th.

Judging by the content of the Keck Observatory waiver of liability form that I have to fill out, there can be quite a few problems with spending time at 14,000 ft. That is why they setup remote control rooms at their Wiamea HQ which is where we will observe on the nights of Oct 28th & 29th. From the research I have been doing on the Keck's it seems that Mauna Kea is the highest peak on Earth when measured from the sea floor, just over 34,000 ft.

I have never been to the northern hemisphere and look forward to seeing a new part of the night sky.

We will be observing globular clusters associated with M31, NGC 1407, NGC 821 and NGC 2768, obtaining their spectra and measuring their motions. These measurements will infer the amount of dark matter in the halos of these galaxies.

I'm reasonably fired up over this, gone right past the stage of mere excitement.

It is sure going to provide me with a mountain of material for new astronomy presentations to try and fire up more of our young, and not so young, to get into astronomy.

Your IIS members have already discovered the stimulation, elation and satisfaction that the various paths through astronomy create with all of us.

It is the vast majority of our community that have not been introduced to astronomy and science in general that I try to reach out to. I really do have a passion to the raise the profile of astronomy within my community.

Do you know if there is an amateur group or astro society on the big island and if so do you have any contact details for them?

Regards
Trevor

[erick]

That will make a good photo for the IIS gallery :thumbsup: And could start a trend as people visit astronomical sites around the world!

[Quark]

Hi Ron,
Yes, I have just been notified that my story will be part of the Catalyst program next Thursday night 21/08/2008.

Regards
Trevor

[leinad]

:thumbsup:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2335565.htm

"For 34 years, Trevor Barry worked in the Broken Hill mines only to discover a passion for astronomy later in life. But Trevor’s hobby soon became an obsession when one night he spotted something simply amazing. He was taking pictures of Saturn from his home made observatory when he noticed a white spot in his images. Since that fateful day, Trevor has managed to capture an incredible 169 images of a massive electrical storm on the ringed giant – something not even NASA’s Cassini probe could manage."

[MrB]

I have a book called 'The Astronomers'* (apparently also a TV series on PBS) that I found in a bookstore bargain-bin for $9 years ago, it's an interesting book, with chapters about different professional astronomers, their stories and research.

Anyway, there are a few interesting stories about the effects of altitude on astronomers on Mauna Kea, including stories about tourists finding the road leading up to the summit and attempting to drive up, getting drunk on the altitude and driving straight off the road!
Apparently, rental car contracts have warnings "Do not drive this vehicle on the 'saddle road'"
Rescues seemed pretty common but I reckon there would be some sort of control now, even if it's just a locked gate.

Mate, looking forward to next weeks Catalyst story, enjoy your trip!

*
The Astronomers
Donald Goldsmith
1991
ISBN 0-312-05380-0

[Kevnool]

It should be great viewing Trevor i,ll make sure i see it.........By the way Trev i now have a new laptop (Toshiba)that i,m useing now to take out to the next observing session with Starry night.....cheers Kev.

[Ric]

I've got Catalyst marked on the calendar for next Thurday to tape as I have our Astro society meeting on the same night.

[astroron]

(Mr wrote)

Anyway, there are a few interesting stories about the effects of altitude on astronomers on Mauna Kea, including stories about tourists finding the road leading up to the summit and attempting to drive up, getting drunk on the altitude and driving straight off the road!
Apparently, rental car contracts have warnings "Do not drive this vehicle on the 'saddle road'"
Rescues seemed pretty common but I reckon there would be some sort of control now, even if it's just a locked gate.

There are no locked gates
I spent a day up there a few years ago and there was no restrictions except no vehicles above the 9000ft mark on the the mountain after dark, that is where the visitor centre and living area for the astronomers and maintanence staff.
the mountain is the property of the Hawaian people on the island and is supposed to only have a certain amount of telescopes permitted.
the reason that the hire cars are not allowed to go up the mountain is the thin air is not good for normally asparated engines.
People ski up there in the winter time and I think the area is classed as a national park.
Ron

[AlexN]

Ron, Correct, High altitude thin air is no good for aspirated engines, a turbocharged or supercharged car/van would have no problems.. (ie - turbo diesels etc.)

I'm set to record Catalyst on the 21st :) Should be great!

[strongmanmike]

I read your post with much excitment Trevor, I recon just about everyone on this forum would be very jealous but also very happy for you. I really hope you have a great time in Hawaii and the weather is kind to your observing program.

Will you be on the sumit at dark? If so and it's clear skies please test the naked eye limiting magnitude, there have been so many conflicting claims, would be interesting to get some first hand reiable confirmation if it proves possible?

Congratulations again and I will be watching ABC next Thursday :thumbsup:

Mike

[MrB]

Yes please do, should be very interesting.

[AlexN]

Post removed by AlexN....

May have been seen as less than Civil and Respectful..

[RB]

Keep the thread civil please.
Reminder about TOS Rules (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=7856):

[turbo_pascale]

If you missed the show, Catalyst have the vodcast (WMV for MP4) online (Episode 27, 2008)

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/geo/catalyst/vodcast/default.htm

[taminga16]

Steve (Kinetic),
A knock on the bloke's door might have been a better approach.

Regards,

Greg.

Well done Trevor, I can only see Steve's initial motivation and your acheivements as good for all of us.

[RB]

Yes time to move on folks.

Steve you have the ability to edit your own posts if you really want to change what you've posted.

As moderators we prefer people make this sort of correction themselves rather than have us do it.