Erwin when he received his
Combined Societies 'Achievement Award' in May 2004 for all his wonderful work
in planetary imaging.
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Click here for Asteroid 14664 Vandervelden (1999 BY25)
In memoriam: Erwin van der Velden (1966-2005)
By Jan Koet and Bert van Dijk (translated by
Albert van Duin)
On September 30th we heard the terrible news
about our good astro-friend Erwins death at the age of 39. Disbelief was replaced by astonishment after we got
confirmation from several sources in Australia. How was this possible, one asks
oneself, because only a few days before we received an enthusiastic e-mail, and
the next weekend I (Jan) would phone him to get some advice on an article about
digital cameras (which should have been on this page). Erwin was found by a
friend, sitting behind his laptop, he died of heart failure. Undoubtedly he was
busy processing his latest images, and we are sure his last thoughts were about
getting the last bit of visible detail from the very last photons. That was
something that always set Erwin apart from the rest. Always busy pushing the
envelope, in his hobbies as well as in his sprightly personal life.
We got to know Erwin in 1998 while attending a
meeting in Haarlem, before that he already joined “Tweelingen Observatory” in
Spijkenisse. Immediately we noticed he seemed to be a bit ‘peculiar’, but very friendly and
dedicated. With an impossible standard C8 on a wobbly fork mount he very soon
presented us with very nice slides of several Messier objects. Technically
spoken it was very hard to do and his talent was soon noticed which lead to the
award of the ”J. der Kinderen Aanmoedigingsprijs” for promising new
astrophotographers. Surely Erwin was the fastest astrophotographer of us all,
with his superfast motorbike he raced with his C8, mount and accessories to the
darker Veluwe to make his astro photographs. His home town Voorburg was not an
option for this purpose. In 2000 our society was looking for a new president
and Erwin applied spontaneously for this position. He enthusiastically held
this position until his move to Australia in 2002.
Exploring the world, combined with his
passions, was his life. A selection of his astro-vacations: in 1999 he was all
alone with a homebrew barndoor drive in the Atacama desert near the
ESO-observatory in La Silla; in May 2000 he visited the Texas Starparty,
together with Mike Otting and me (Bert) See also AB23) and there, under a dark
sky, he was truly in his element; the year after that he joined an eclipse trip
to Zambia (AB25), where he witnessed his first total solar eclipse
(unfortunately he missed the total eclipse of 1999 due to clouds). He was
impressed so much by the Zambia-eclipse that for some time afterwards he was
completely dazed. These short photo sessions were planned meticulously way in
advance, and last September he told me he had already completely planned his
eclipse trip to Egypt in march 2006.
He was also enthusiastic about mountain
climbing. He travelled to all parts of the world to conquer the peaks with a
group of partners in distress. If you went to Puimichel in the south of France
with him, you could be sure to see him running around in his training suit
while you were enjoying the rest and spaciousness of the surroundings in the
afternoon. That way he was keeping his body in an athletic form. In the
evening, the C8 was pulled from the motorbike luggage cases again, something we
always were grumbling about, for these things didn’t stack as easily in the car
as wooden boxes! Imperturbably he set up his equipment, often muttering to
himself. During a nightly adventure in 2000 a spectacular display of Aurora
appeared, and Erwin spontaneously held a scientific lecture, whether you wanted
to hear it or not.
While Erwin was very obliging, helpful and
friendly during daytime, you would not
have the nerve to disturb him at night in his “astro concentration”, for
if things were not going as they should go, you could hear his constant
cursing. A perfectionist pur sang. As a true bachelor he thought his house was
for sleeping and eating only, nothing more. So if you visited him and had the
luck that there was some coffee (Erwin didn’t drink it, he only drank mineral
water and apple juice), you still had to be aware of the expiring date of the
coffee milk! His true friendship was straight from his heart though.
Some years ago we manned a stand of our
association at the 100 year anniversary
of the KNVWS (Royal Dutch Society of Weather and Astronomy). Queen Beatrix
would visit and so we had to be prepared and got protocols we had to keep. The
visit would be informal, so it was not necessary to show up in a suit, this
lead to the fact that Erwin appeared
very festive in his old fleece sweater. So even Beatrix did not have the
pleasure to see Erwin in a suit.
Erwin was always himself and that made him
special and liked by other people. This independence made that he wanted to
make his dream come through: emigrating to Australia. With the newly acquired
knowledge about the webcam, he left in March 2002, after two years of
preparation, for ‘Down Under’ to start a new existence in Brisbane. At first
this was not that easy, as an ICT specialist he expected to get a job soon, but
recession had started over there too. After a year and a half of unemployment
he found a job in a telescope shop (!).
Steadily he built a circle of (astro) friends
around him and he was beloved by the ‘Aussies’, with the Queensland Astrofest,
which he helped to organize, as the culmination. Driven as no other, he made
photographs of the southern deep sky objects and after years of using Kodak
P1600X, he made the switch to the digital age with a modified Nikon D70 (see
AB31), with which he got even more astounding results that made it to several
magazines, all over the world. By sending his results to renown astronomical
institutes like ALPO and BAA, his Mercury pictures got scientific value.
You cannot open a single AstroBulletin from
after the year 1998 without finding a lecture, article or photograph from him.
In the fall of 2003 we visited our astro-friend and made photographs by his
side at Leyburn, his favourite site in the “outback’. An unforgettable trip.
Last year he visited the Netherlands again to watch the transit of Venus, and
together with Donald Parker he was the main guest at our meeting in June. Erwin
may have moved abroad, he always stayed close to us. Much too soon we had to
say goodbye to him for ever, but we will keep our beautiful memories alive. For
always. Erwin, we will miss you!
Footnote: AB is short for AstroBulletin, the
magazine of the Dutch Working Group Astrophotography Association (Vereniging
Werkgroep Astrofotografie).
www.vereniging-astrofotografie.nl
Dear members
It is with great pleasure,
that we can now inform you that we've received
notification from Mr Ikufumi Makino in Japan, that the official citation for
Minor Planet (14664) Vandervelden which was named in honour of our dear
member and friend Erwin Van der Velden has been announced.
And is as follows:
(14664) Erwin = 1999
BY25
Discovered 1999 January 25 by T. Urata at Oohira.
Erwin Van der Velden (1966-2005) was an active and valued member of the
Brisbane and Southern (Australian) Astronomical Societies. He developed
supreme imaging techniques for planetary and deep sky objects taken by a
Digital SLR camera and a Web-Cam.
I would very much like
to acknowledge the efforts of both our members Renato
Langersek and Peter Marples, who were asked by Ikufumi if they could put
together a citation for Erwin. This was in the exciting event that Ikufumi's
close friend, a minor planet discoverer Mr Urata would consider presenting
minor planet 1999 BY25 to be named in honour of Erwin. Which has now indeed
eventuated.
It is also wonderful
to see that Renato and Peter have acknowledged in the
citation that Erwin was a active member of both the Brisbane Astronomical
Society and SAS to which he also had many close friends.
Erwin's family have already
contacted us and are very honoured and proud
that his achievements have been recognized by the astronomical community,
and that he will be forever remembered among the stars which he so loved.
Now the excitement and
challenge for our club members is to keep track and
image this 17.6 magnitude object in the night sky. Peter Marples and Greg
Bock have already taken some great images which I'm sure we'll all be seeing
them at our next general meeting.
Please go to NASA's Near
Earth Objects web site at:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=14664
to find out where Asteroid
(14664) Vandervelden (1999 BY25) is in our Solar System.
The new link to Erwin's
web page can now be found at:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~gjif/planets.htm
Where you can see some of his most stunning planetary images of the night
sky.
Many kind regards
Noeleen Lowndes (President)
Southern Astronomical Society Inc.