A Dictionary of Space Exploration

Stephen James O'Meara is an award-winning astronomer and author. Stephen is a monthly columnist and contributing editor for Astronomy magazine and an associate editor for GeminiFocus, the quarterly publication of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii. Stephen has received several awards including the Omega Centauri Award for 'advancing astronomy through observation, writing, and promotion, and for sharing his love of the sky.' He has also been awarded with the Caroline Herschel Award for his greatest visual achievements, including being the first person to sight Halley's Comet on its 1985 return, the discovery of dark 'spokes' in Saturn's B ring before the Voyager 1 spacecraft imaged them, and being the the first person to determine the visual rotation period of the distant planet Uranus. For these accomplishments, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 3637 O'Meara in his honour.