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Toronto on October 14 th , 2000, severalmembers of the RASC received theirMessier & NGC Certificates. Recipientsof the Messier Certificates were ArnoldL. Rivera (Edmonton), Paul Ellard(Okanagan), Lawrence J. Burgess (Windsor),and David Marchand (Windsor). Recipientsof the NGC Certificates were Arnold L.Rivera (Edmonton), Guy Mackie(Okanagan), and Ron Scherer (Okanagan).Congratulations to everyone on completingthe requirements for the certificates, andmay your next venture take you to thenext level.Paul Boltwood (Ottawa Centre), ofStittsville, Ontario has been honouredwith an asteroid named after him. Thisis the citation, forwarded from Brian G.Marsden of the IAU Minor Planet Centre:(8785) Boltwood — A series of stacked imagestaken on October 25 th , 2000 with a totalexposure of 76 minutes (image by Paul Boltwoodwith his 16-inch Newtonian telescope andhomebuilt CCD camera).From MPC 41384 on Oct. 13: (8785)Boltwood = 1978 RR1, discovered 1978Sept. 5 by N. S. Chernykh at the CrimeanAstrophysical Observatory. Paul Boltwood(b. 1943) is a Canadian specialist incomputer systems and outstanding amateurastronomer. He monitored the peculiarobject OJ 287 for some two years. He alsoobtained deep-sky CCD images with limitingmagnitude 24.5 using a home-built 0.4-m reflector. Congratulations, Paul, for agreat personal accomplishment and forall of us in Astronomy.David Levy, at the fall meeting of theAmerican Association of Variable StarObservers (AAVSO), was awarded theWilliam Tyler Olcott Award. This newaward of the AAVSO is intended to honourindividuals who have had an impact inincreasing the public awareness ofastronomy and variable stars.Astronomical Society of the Pacific Awards 1Two Canadian astronomers, one professional (PeterStetson, Victoria Centre) and one amateur (PaulBoltwood, Ottawa Centre), receive awards from theAstronomical Society of the Pacific.Maria and Eric Muhlmann AwardPeter B. Stetson of the Dominion AstrophysicalObservatory is this year’s recipient of theMaria and Eric Muhlmann Award, givenannually for recent, significant observationalresults made possible by innovative advancesin astronomical instrumentation, software,or observational infrastructure. He is theauthor of one of the most widely used (andpraised) data-reduction packages inastronomy — his DAOPHOT was firstdescribed in the astronomical literature in1987. The program, which can preciselydetermine the brightness of point sourcesimaged with area detectors, was specificallydesigned for measuring stars in very crowdedglobular cluster fields. DAOPHOT allowsfor the two-dimensional characterizationof the brightness distribution of a pointsourceand then applies this “point-spreadfunction”to all objects in a CCD image.Overlapping stellar profiles can be accuratelydeconvolved by fitting the point-spreadfunctionsimultaneously to many objectsin an image. The development of DAOPHOTwas as significant to the advances in thestudy of globular clusters as was the availablityof CCDs. DAOPHOT has been steadilyimproved in the decade since its introductionwith its latest incarnation named ALLFRAME.Stetson has put his code to good use andhas been one of the leaders in the broadfield of globular cluster studies. He has alsoplayed a major role in the steady refinementof our knowledge of the absolute age of theGalaxy and the distribution of ages in thehalo of the Galaxy — this latter work is keyto understanding the early epoch in theformation of the Galaxy.Steven VogtAmateur Achievement AwardPaul Boltwood has been an amateurastronomer for forty years. He is this year’srecipient of the Society’s AmateurAchievement Award in recognition of hisindividual accomplishments in thedevelopment of hardware and software forprecise deep-sky imaging, his research onbrightness variations in active galactic nuclei,and his studies of near-nucleus activity inComet Hyakutake. In May 1998 Boltwood1Reprinted with permission from Mercury and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.obtained the deepest image ever obtainedwith amateur equipment — a V magnitudeof 24.1 collected over a twenty-hour period.Prior to the invention of CCD imaging, eventhe 200-inch Palomar telescope could onlyachieve a limiting magnitude of 23. Boltwood,however, used a 40-cm, homebuilt telescopeand CCD camera located in his backyardobservatory in suburban Ottawa, Ontario,Canada. What is notable about hisaccomplishments is the care and attentionto detail he applies to his research. He strivesfor the best possible standard of care andachieves professional-quality results. Hisnomination included letters ofrecommendation from astronomers at YaleUniversity, the University of Colorado, theUniversity of Toronto, and the RoyalAstronomical Society of Canada. He haspublished numerous scientific papers andhas collaborated with researchers at a numberof institutions throughout the world. Theaward committee was particularly impressedwith the breadth and sustained nature ofPaul Boltwood’s contribution to astronomy.He is a model of how amateurs can makeunique and valuable contributions to science.Wayne Rosing256JRASC December / décembre 2000