Paul Boltwood

Paul Boltwood was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1943. He first became interested in astronomy around age 12 and had built his own telescope by age 15.[3]

He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 1966.[3] He pursued a career in computer software and systems design, with an emphasis on signal and image processing.[4]

Paul Boltwood founded Boltwood Systems Corporation in 1980, which manufactured cloud sensors for amateur astronomers.[3]

In the early 1990s, he constructed an observatory in his backyard near Ottawa, Ontario, with a CCD camera of his own design.[2] He used the observatory to perform long-term monitoring of several blazars (active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets), including the objects OJ 287 and 3C 66A.[3][5] His observations were used professional astronomers and he is listed as the co-author of several scientific journal articles.[4]

He made a series of images of the nucleus of the comet Hyakutake, which were released as part of the short film Comet Odyssey.[2][3]

In 1998, Boltwood won the Sky & Telescope magazine Deep Field Challenge. The contest, proposed by professional astronomer Bradley Schaefer, challenged amateur astronomers to take the deepest image of a designed patch of the sky in the constellation Serpens.[6] Using 20 hours of exposure time on his 16-inch telescope and custom software to add the resulting 767 images together, Boltwood achieved a limiting magnitude of 24.1, a result comparable with those seen in professional observatories.[3][7][8] His photo was featured as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on April 14, 1999.[9]

In 1995 he was awarded the Chant Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. This medal is awarded, not more than once a year, to an amateur astronomer resident in Canada on the basis of the value of the work carried out in astronomy and closely allied fields of the original investigation.[10]

In 2000 he was awarded with the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.[11]

Asteroid 8785 Boltwood was named in his honour.[12]

• Paul, Boltwood (2000). "An Amateur Astronomer's Experiences with Amateur-Professional Relations". Amateur - Professional Partnerships in Astronomy. 220: 188. Bibcode:2000ASPC..220..188B. ISSN 1050-3390.
• A., Sillanpaa; O., Takalo, L.; T., Pursimo; J., Lehto, H.; K., Nilsson; P., Teerikorpi; P., Heinaemaeki; M., Kidger; A., de Diego, J. (1996). "Confirmation of the 12-year optical outburst cycle in blazar OJ 287". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 305: L17. Bibcode:1996A&A...305L..17S. ISSN 0004-6361.
• Wehrle, A. E.; Pian, E.; Urry, C. M.; Maraschi, L.; McHardy, I. M.; Lawson, A. J.; Ghisellini, G.; Hartman, R. C.; Madejski, G. M. (1998-04-10). "Multiwavelength Observations of a Dramatic High‐Energy Flare in the Blazar 3C 279". The Astrophysical Journal. 497 (1): 178–187. arXiv:astro-ph/9711243. Bibcode:1998ApJ...497..178W. doi:10.1086/305461. ISSN 0004-637X.
• Hartman, R. C.; Bottcher, M.; Aldering, G.; Aller, H.; Aller, M.; Backman, D. E.; Balonek, T. J.; Bertsch, D. L.; Bloom, S. D. (2001). "Multiepoch Multiwavelength Spectra and Models for Blazar 3C 279". The Astrophysical Journal. 553 (2): 683–694. arXiv:astro-ph/0102127. Bibcode:2001ApJ...553..683H. doi:10.1086/320970. ISSN 0004-637X.
• Krawczynski, H.; Hughes, S. B.; Horan, D.; Aharonian, F.; Aller, M. F.; Aller, H.; Boltwood, P.; Buckley, J.; Coppi, P. (2004-01-20). "Multiwavelength Observations of Strong Flares from the TeV Blazar 1ES 1959+650". The Astrophysical Journal. 601 (1): 151–164. arXiv:astro-ph/0310158. Bibcode:2004ApJ...601..151K. doi:10.1086/380393. ISSN 0004-637X.
• Błażejowski, M.; Blaylock, G.; Bond, I. H.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Carter‐Lewis, D. A.; Celik, O.; Cogan, P.; Cui, W. (2005). "A Multiwavelength View of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421: Correlated Variability, Flaring, and Spectral Evolution". The Astrophysical Journal. 630 (1): 130–141. arXiv:astro-ph/0505325. Bibcode:2005ApJ...630..130B. doi:10.1086/431925. ISSN 0004-637X.