2019 Sir Arthur Clarke Awards
Members of the Astrophysics Research Centre have been honoured with the 2019 Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Academic Study/Research, in recognition of their work on the first Interstellar Object discovered in our Solar system. In a series of three papers on this alien visitor published in 2017/18, the QUB ‘Oumuamua team led by Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons, Dr. Michele Bannister and Dr. Wes Fraser presented observations and analysis that still form the basis of our knowledge of the nature of this object. Other members of the QUB team were Dr. Tom Seccull and Dr. Meabh Hyland (then PhD students) and Dr. Pedro Lacerda. Dr. Meg Schwamb was then an astronomer in Hawai’i, but has since joined ARC as a member of faculty. Just two years later, the team members at QUB are busy analysing the second Interstellar Object found in September this year.