CWAS awards and the media...

[Peter Ward]

Guess I got my 15 minutes of fame when I got a call from my local newspaper (St George and Sutherland Leader) that a photographer was going to cover my recent results at CWAS.

They sort-of got it right. No, I didn't say I'd won every award out there. When asked "Have you ever seen anything weird, eg like a UFO""

My answer was "No UFO's, but lots of stars (billions and billions as Carl Sagan would say).

Reporter: " Carl who?"

"Actually I did once see Plasma Sprites (while at work)...very few people have witnessed them... going into space from the top of a very active thunderstorm"

Their translation was interesting :) that said... it's nice that they covered it as the "expanding boutique world of Astrophotograhy". I guess it is :)

[Adelastro1]

Good to see Peter! It's always good to get recognition even in local papers and especially since you take amazing images. Well done again on the Eureka finalist, and also the Greenwich shortlisting - I can't wait until Sept to find out about my two, but not holding my breath!

[DavidTrap]

Good story, although I thought an A380 pilot would take exception to being labelled as "flying jumbo jets..." :P

There are numerous times I see dodgy reporting of medical stories, and I'm sure you've see lots of misreporting in relation to aviation. Their lack of attention to detail in these astronomy related stories is just another example of their inability to cope with anything technical. I'm not sure if they're trying (unsuccessfully) to dumb things down for the average punter, or just don't care?

DT

[Peter Ward]

A380's have the callsign prefix "Super" (heavy).... and as result are often called a super jumbo.... Hence I won't be critical :). I sensed genuine interest in astro-photography from The Leader people, rather than indifference, is was almost a case of " Wow, how long has this sort of thing been going on!?"

I think you also have to understand, most journalists have zippo training in the sciences...hence subtle but significant differences are often missed, but I suspect not though indifference. :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

wow 15 more minutes of fame - well done.