A Name Among the Minor Planets

Astronomy has a way of giving us moments that stop us in our tracks — a perfect opposition, a night under Bortle‑2 skies, a comet that arrives unannounced. This summer brought one of those moments for me, though of a very different kind: at the behest of my friend Rik Hill, the International Astronomical Union officially named minor planet (45639) Tomney in my honor.

It’s difficult to write about something like this without feeling self‑conscious. The night sky has always been the real reward – from that 60mm Monolux that first showed me the Moon’s craters, to the RV‑6 that carried me through my early planetary adventures, to the more recent years of imaging the planets with modern tools. My journey has never been about recognition; it has been about curiosity, community, and the quiet satisfaction of contributing something useful to a hobby that has given me so much.

Still, when I learned of the naming, I felt a deep and genuine gratitude. The citation in a way validates my work modernizing ALPO’s digital presence and preserving tens of thousands of observations – efforts that began in earnest over six years ago during the pandemic years, when the silver lining of remote work gave me the ability to take the reins of the ALPO gallery to transform it into a repository rather than a scrapbook of interesting photos. And given my nature that then grew into a much needed full redesign of the ALPO website which today has advanced search functionality of more than 45,000 observations. Like pulling a thread this has subsequently led to championing an ALPO SPLICE training initiative to help our members increase the quality of their images and thereby the value of the repository. All represent labors of love, shaped by decades of learning, tinkering, and a passion born in a young grade-school boy all the way back in the 60's under those early Towson’s skies.

The naming of a minor planet is not a finish line. It’s a reminder – that amateur astronomy thrives when people choose to show up, to share, to teach, to preserve, and to build. I’ve been fortunate to do those things alongside generous friends, dedicated observers, and welcoming organizations like HAL and ALPO. If my name now circles the Sun, it does so as a symbol of that shared effort.

As for me, I’ll hopefully keep doing what I’ve always done: chasing the planets from the driveway, coaxing deep sky images from the Vixen, helping new observers find their footing, and working to ensure that what I've helped build today will still be useful and maintainable for tomorrow’s amateurs and researchers.

Carpe Noctem!