Emcee: President Dan Posey
Organizers: Lauri Roche, David Lee, Marjie Welchframe, Brenda Sopow
Venue: Four Mile Pub in View Royal
Newton-Ball Award 2025 For Distinguished Service to RASC Victoria Centre
Randy Enkin for his tremendous ongoing support of Council and numerous RASC activities including Astro Cafes, Skynews, International Astronomy Day and Vancouver Island Star Party.
Ernie Pfannenschmidt Award for Telescope Making
Brock Johnston for his work at modernizing the Boller & Chivens 16” Cassegrain telescope at the Centre of the Universe.
Awards of Excellence in Astro-Imaging and Astro Sketching
The RASC Victoria Centre Selection Committee for top winner astro-photo taken in 2025 consisted of Kirsten Pedersen and Brock Johnston. Kirsten and Brock independently determined a short list of candidates and then met to discuss the determination of a winner, which was a very difficult task. As usual, there were an incredible number of deserving photographs submitted by many members of RASC Victoria Centre, highlighting the range of talent and knowledge within our community.
Winner – Orion and Running Man Nebula by Megan Meraz
The Selection Committee agreed that the top winner for astro-photo of 2025 was deserved by Megan Meraz for her photograph of the Orion and Running Man Nebula, taken in January 2025. This was a stunning photograph taken over a 2-hour period at Cattle Point, which ultimately showed a beautiful balance of colour, clarity, detail and contrast of light and dark within and around the nebula. This image of one of astronomy’s most favoured and familiar objects has exceptional impact. Brock also noted Megan’s composite photo of lunar eclipse phases taken on March 13 for its excellence and Kirsten recognized Megan’s photograph of the Lagoon Nebula, Trifid Nebula and the M21 Open Cluster taken in July for its content, colour and beauty.
Honourable Mention – Montage of the March 13, 2025 Lunar Eclipse by John McDonald
As noted in John’s description of the montage, the night of March 13 was a mix of partially clear and cloudy skies. Despite these challenging conditions, the montage shows a beautiful evolution of the eclipse that culminates in an incredible photograph of lunar eclipse totality, notable for its detail and spectacular colour combined.
The Selection Committee honours the many contributions of John McDonald throughout his many decades with RASC Victoria and is deeply saddened by his passing in early 2026. John will always be remembered as one of the most skilled astrophotographers to ever belong to RASC Victoria, and he will be deeply missed.
Honourable Mention – M106 (NGC 4258) Galaxy – Packing a Water Megamaser by David Payne
The Selection Committee agreed this was a truly exceptional image showing detail and clarity of several galaxies in one wide field image. Not only does the image contain an incredible array of beautifully framed detail and information, so does David’s summary write up. Combined, the image and description highlight an amazing story of an active black hole and a water megamaser (microwave laser)! More details are available on David’s Astrophotography and Interpretation website, APRealSpace.
Certificates of Appreciation
- Alex Schmid, Kevin Bertles and Chris Purse for their supporting efforts for the weekly Astro Café.
- Kathie Koziol and Elaine Dunbar for their refreshment work at Astro Café.
- Dave Payne for leading the Astro Photography Special Interest Group.
