Vale Les Dalrymple

[Paul Haese]

I received word today that Les Dalrymple has died today in his sleep.

He was very ill with a return of the cancer that he fought a few years back. I want to express my condolences to his family and friends at this time.

I met Les during the 2009 solar eclipse tour to China. I found him to be a likable rouge over the years since. We would often debate a variety of topics including, astronomy and US and Australian politics. I did not always agree with his opinions but I always enjoyed his intellect and knowledge. He will be sadly missed in the astronomical community.

[Rainmaker (Matt)]

I received a very sad message from John Sarkissian, Secretary of Central West Astro Society, that Les Dalrymple has passed away today. Les, as many of us know, posted here under the username ‘ngcles’ and shared his vast knowledge on all things astronomical.

His passing is a great loss to the amateur Astro community. Condolences to his family and friends.


Matt

[Peter Ward]

I first met Les via the Sutherland Society decades ago.

Yet in many ways it seems like the blink of an eye.

I recall his understandable pride of having a monthly column in Sky & Telescope (the US edition no less) passion for hunting down obscure "faint fuzzies" visually.

.....and his frank and fearless nature.

Bugger.

[PCH (Paul)]

I’m so sorry to hear this sad news.

When I saw the thread labelled ‘Les Dalrymple’ I knew I recognised the name but couldn’t place him.

Then when his username ‘ngcles’ was revealed, it all came flooding back.

I remember he disappeared from the forum for the longest time at one stage. And when he eventually came back, he revealed he’d had health and mental health issues and was working thru them.

He never really posted much after that time but he did try to contribute useful stuff as opportunity allowed.

All that being said, clearly he’s sadly finally succumbed and my heart goes out to his surviving family and associates here.

RIP Les.

[spacezebra (Petra)]

He will be missed by me, in many many ways.. he was always someone who I could call on for astrophotography advice. It's a sad day for me.

Petra

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

This is sad news to wake up to. Les was an accomplished observer whom I never met personally but interacted with a few times on this forum

He will be sadly missed. RIP amongst the stars Les and condolences to his family and friends.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very sad news indeed. Condoléances.

[RB (Andrew)]

Very saddened to hear this.
My condolences to his family.

RB

[JohnG (John)]

Rest in Peace my friend, you are now at home with the stars you so loved.

It was a pleasure to have worked with and known Les, a sad, sad loss to the Astronomy Community.

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Sad news indeed, he will be missed. RIP Les, your passing is a loss to our community.

[astroron (Ron)]

Les was one of the most knowledgeable visual
observers in Amateur Astronomy.
He wrote observing articles for Sky&Telescope
both USA and Australian versions plus many others.
I first met him at NACAA at Southerland NSW in 2005
but the eclipse in North Queensland that we really had
a good chat.
Astronomy has lost a great ambassador
Condolences to his family and friends
Rest In Peace Les.

[Robh (Rob)]

Sad to hear. He will be greatly missed.

Les had an incredible knowledge of the NGC objects (hence, his IceInSpace moniker) and a very good eye for visual observing. He seems to have made copious notes of his observations over many years.

Often someone in the forums would comment about an observation and he could dig up information on the object from his log from years ago.

Condolences, Rob

[AstralTraveller (David)]

This is very sad news. My condolences to his family and friends.

I used to 'see' Les when we both observed from the Bargo airstrip. I used quotes because I don't think I ever saw him in the light. We were both busy setting up in the twilight and it was only later that my partner and I would wander over to say hello. She recalls him being very generous with views through his 20"(?) dobs. My memory is that after observing an object he would walk away from the crowd and speak a description into a voice recorder (presumably a micro-cassette recorder). He obviously latter wrote up his observations because he could quote descriptions he made decades ago. A stark contrast to my haphazard approach.

We have lost a fine person and a fine astronomer.

[Greg Bryant]

I'd like to touch on how I knew Les through his writing. Les and I both grew up in Sydney, yet because we were at other ends of the city, I didn't get to know him until the US magazine Sky & Telescope invited both of us in 2001 to write regular columns for their global magazine - he did a monthly Southern Hemisphere binocular column and I did the overall sky as seen from the Southern Hemisphere. Les would then do the occasional deep-sky feature while I took on comets etc.

Our first face-to-face meeting was in 2003 when the then-US Editor of Sky & Telescope Rick Fienberg came out to Sydney. He and I were covering the IAU General Assembly being held here. We had a dinner with Les, a wonderful evening!

An editorial re-design at S&T in the mid-2000s saw Les's binocular column dropped, but by then I was Editor of the Australian edition of S&T and Les was thrilled to be invited to write both the AS&T binocular column, a regular deep-sky column, and the occasional feature or test report.

Les stopped writing for AS&T and elsewhere a year or so ago before I left AS&T in 2014 - and I couldn't find a suitable replacement. He was the finest deep-sky writer I had known here in Australia.

By chance, I learned earlier this year that Les was recovering from cancer surgery, and got in touch with him. He was confident it was gone ...

Yes, he struggled with life sometimes. But where he shined, you didn't have to take all day to see the sunlight. Vale Les - gone far too early.

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Time to Morn Suzy������

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Condolences to all Les's friends and family. He was always engaging and very knowledgeable in all his posts in the Visual Astronomy section. Another sad loss for the IIS community.

[alan meehan (Alan)]

very sad news indeed my he R.I.P

[erick (Eric)]

Oh dear! I'm just catching up with IIS after being too busy for some time and I read this sad news. I always enjoyed Les' material in AS&T. I met him twice or was it three times over ten years, the last time at MAS in 2019 when he explained the history of the constellations - a fascinating talk. His astronomy knowledge and experience was tremendous and I enjoyed our few meetings. Is he now observing all those NGC objects from a completely different perspective? One could only hope.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

My sincere condolences to family and friends. I didn't know the gentleman but read his articles in AS&T.

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

I loved Les for his no nonsense approach to life. His honesty in conversation, and his beautiful common sense and logic. His Facebook friendship was more genuine than many and I was delighted to see he got a glimpse of the solar eclipse and more recently the southern Auroa australis. God bless you Les.