Nicholas Szymanek, better known as Nik Szymanek, is a British

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

and prolific astrophotographer, based in

Essex, England Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. Originally a train driver in the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

, he began his interest in astronomical

CCD CCD may refer to: Science and technology * Charge-coupled device, an electronic light sensor used in various devices including digital cameras * .ccd, the filename extension for CloneCD's CD image file * Carbonate compensation depth, a property ...

imaging shortly before 1991. His interest in this kind of observational astronomy rose in 1991, after he met Ian King, another amateur astronomer and a fellow from the local Havering Astronomical Society. Szymanek is most known for his

deep sky A deep-sky object (DSO) is any astronomical object that is not an individual star or Solar System object (such as Sun, Moon, planet, comet, etc.). The classification is used for the most part by amateur astronomers to denote visually observed fa ...

CCD images, and his contributions to education and public outreach surrounding amateur astronomy. He collaborates with professional

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

s and works with research-grade

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

s located at

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, and at

Mauna Kea Observatories The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii (island), Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located i ...

at the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

. He publishes his pictures in astronomical magazines and has written a book on astrophotography called ''Infinity Rising''. Due to his imaging and image-processing accomplishments, Szymanek was awarded the Amateur Achievement Award of the

Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is an American scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889, immediately following the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on ...

in 2004. Szymanek is also the drummer for UK Neo-Progressive band Trilogy.

Gallery

File:M92 arp 750pix.jpg,

Messier 92 Messier 92 (also known as M92, M 92, or NGC 6341) is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Hercules. Discovery It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode on December 27, 1777, then published in the ''Berliner Astronomisches J ...

File:NGC7331Visible.jpg,

NGC 7331 NGC 7331, also known as Caldwell 30, is an unbarred spiral galaxy about away in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 6 September 1784. The galaxy appears similar in size and structure to the Milky Way, and is som ...

References

External links

* – Nik Szymanek's web page * 20th-century British astronomers Amateur astronomers Astrophotographers 21st-century British astronomers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-astronomer-stub