Hi all, some great news to share that’s very recent.
At 50 “stay steady at the crease”. Nervous 90s “keep yer bat straight” and “go for the ton”... well now he has done it!
As at today, we the BOSS team are proud to announce that Stu Parker (Oxford, New Zealand)
http://www.bosssupernova.com/ has become only the 6th amateur astronomer to discover 100 or more Supernova.
A great achievement in a long history of accomplished amateur astronomers. And it's been a journey, a journey that I, the BOSS team and many here at Ice In Space have followed and looked forward to.
The other 5 amateur astronomers who have also achieved this milestone need to be noted here, it shows just what fine company Stu has now joined.
Tim Pucket (USA)
http://www.cometwatch.com/
Jack Newton (USA)
http://www.jacknewton.com/sn.htm
Berto Monard (South Africa)
http://assa.saao.ac.za/about/awards/...04-gill-medal/
Tom Boles (UK)
http://www.coddenhamobservatories.org/
Koichi Itagaki (Japan)
http://www.k-itagaki.jp/
While the BOSS team have been prolific in discovering (to date) 119 supernova in just on 6 years, Stu has clearly led the way with 100 of them! Many of Stu’s discoveries have been followed up by professional astronomers who have in turn produced some amazing data that has led to scientific papers being written and advancing our knowledge of Supernova. Some have been imaged by The Hubble Space Telescope and several other orbiting observatories. Some will be studied for many more years to come. Some also make beautiful images like Stu’s very first Supernova in NGC134
http://www.bosssupernova.com/-%20New...r/SN2009gj.jpg
The commitment and dedication required to discover just one supernova is enormous, 100 on the other hand is literally astronomical! The images taken to find these are up in the hundreds of thousands, followed by many hundreds of hours of sore eyes from blinking the images to the thorough checking for known/unknown asteroids and variable stars and finally the confirmation images all done before a reliable report can be posted.
Please join me and the rest of the BOSS team in congratulating Stu Parker for his amazing achievement that without a doubt shows that amateur astronomers can and are contributing to the science of Astronomy.
Ya dun good, nah ya dun great Stu! You should be very proud, we certainly are.
The galaxy that hosts Stu’s 100th is PGC48876 in Hydra. The Supernova is at mag15.8
No doubt Stu will post an image here soon but you can find more information at the site below.
http://www.supernova.thistlethwaites.com/snimages/