In 2003, I was the recipient of the Bryce Heartwell Memorial Award for Excellence in Astroimaging from the Edmonton RASC. This was the same year I had this photo published as Astronomy Picture Of The Day - which was taken with an "old school" film camera (remember those?).

Aurora Over Edmonton
APOD: November 4. 2003 by Lance Taylor
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031104.html

RASCals who are using the Personal Astronomy Blog features on the National Website will now find that there is a new option under the "My Account" settings where you can give your Blog a name and also a description of your particular take on the universe. Note that Blogs are combined with your photo so to have a complete "profile" you should update all of the settings under "My Account" that you can.

Enjoy and do provide feedback at rasc.ca/contact

Choosing my top astronomical experience for 2011 is easy for me, as my wife and I spent 5 weeks in New Zealand, travelling all over, often staying in places away from large cities. The view we had of the far-southern skies almost defies description.

(Posted by MMcBride)

Asking an amateur astronomer to express in words their top astronomical event is akin to pointing out the astronomical singularity of the big bang, where and precisely when did it occur across this immensely beautiful universe? Really does it matter – isn’t it just important to know that it did? I had a year full of top astronomical events, firsts and bests moments ever; is that not the beauty of our hobby, one that is full of challenges, opportunities, personal discoveries and triumphs? The awesomeness of our universe begs us not to expect anything less from this living, breathing and ever changing soup of creation than the awe and wonder we find just simply being out amongst the stars. Still, I must choose between the moments but how, but, what? Glad the year was already picked for us, as I would be stuck in an endless loop of emotional wonder and amazement with no escape.