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Amateur science acknowledged

The Berenice and Arthur Page Medal is awarded usually every two years by the Astronomical

Society of Australia (ASA) to an amateur astronomer who has made scientific contributions

that have served to advance astronomy. The Berenice Page Medal was inaugurated in

1972 in memory of Berenice Page, an exceptional amateur and foundation member of the

Society. Although most ASA members are professional astronomers, Berenice and her

husband Arthur were readily accepted into the Society because of the indispensable part

they played in the International Astronomical Union’s Flare Star Programme in the 1960s. In

2011, following Arthur’s death, the award was renamed the Berenice and Arthur Page Medal.

You can see a full list of recipients at asa.astronomy.org.au/page.php

of observation,” said Roy. “I went
looking in the literature, and found
that there were quite a number
of so-called neglected Delta Scuti
stars in the Southern Hemisphere,
and started working through the
brighter ones of those.”
For the brighter stars, Roy
uses an 80-mm refractor. For
fainter stars down to about 10th
magnitude, he uses a 9¼-inch
Schmidt-Cassegrain. “For most
of my life I was used to looking
through high-quality optical
instruments, but when I came to
buy eyepieces I had to spend a lot
of money to get a similar quality, so
it wasn’t very good for my wallet,”
he said, laughing.
Roy’s DSLR images are
processed with AIP4Win software,
which calculates the magnitude of
the stars. “I take one image every
couple of minutes or so, and do the
measurements of the magnitude
of stars on each image — so I can
plot a light-curve over a few hours
with data points every couple of
minutes,” he said. “[Doing this,] one
can get a more-or-less precise time
of the peak of the light-curve, which
can be used to determine whether
or not the period of the star has
changed.”
Roy tries to get complete light-
curves for just a handful of stars
each year, taking into account the
fickle coastal weather. “So I might
get 6 to 8 nights observation of one

star,” he said. “With the weather on

the east coast of Australia, I end up

observing no more than 3 or 4 stars

per year.”

The importance of amateurs

Amateurs such as Roy have made,

and continue to make, valuable

contributions to the modern

science of astronomy, particularly

in the field of variable stars. All

around the world, hundreds (if not

thousands) of amateurs are outside

each night, making observations,

measurements and images, and

sending their data to organisations

such as the American Association

of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)

and Variable Stars South (VSS).

These bodies co-ordinate observing

programmes, collate the data and

make it available to the professional

astronomical community. Other

fields of amateur scientific

endeavour include stellar, planetary

and minor planet occultations;

planetary science; minor planet

observation; radio astronomy;

comet observation, and more.

And their efforts do not go

unnoticed. “All nominees for the

2016 Berenice and Arthur Page

Medal had demonstrated high

proficiency in observational data

acquisition and their work has been

published in academic journals,”

said Dr Tanya Hill, astronomer at

the Melbourne Planetarium and

the ASA’s Prizes and Awards Co-

Roy Axelsen,

recipient of the

Astronomical

Society of

Australia’s

Berenice and

Arthur Page Medal

for 2016.

ordinator. “It’s very impressive.”

Roy intends to continue his

work. “I’m still observing the Delta

Scuti stars,” he said. “They’re worth

monitoring over a period of time,

because their periods do change.”

“I’d like to acknowledge everyone

in the AAQ who puts up with me

talking about Delta Scuti during our

monthly meetings... and the ASA

for considering that what I did was

worthy [of such an award],” added

Roy. “And my wife, who puts up

with me in good grace, going outside

at night to commune with objects

which have strange names.” ✦