astronomy

Paul Boltwood

Paul Boltwood is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paul Boltwood rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Boltwood (1943 – September 25, 2017) was a Canadian amateur astronomer. He was engaged in developing hardware and software for deep sky imaging and in research of brightness variations in active galactic nuclei.

Key takeaways

Paul Boltwood belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Paul Boltwood to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul Boltwood from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul Boltwood (1943 – September 25, 2017) was a Canadian amateur astronomer. He was engaged in developing hardware and software for deep sky imaging and in research of brightness variations in active galactic nuclei. He was also acknowledged for his studies of near-nucleus activity in Comet Hyakutake.

Early life, personal life and education Paul Boltwood was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1943. He first became interested in astronomy around age 12 and had built his own telescope by age 15. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 1966. He pursued a career in computer software and systems design, with an emphasis on signal and image processing. Boltwood died on September 25, 2017, aged 73 or 74, in Stittsville, Ontario.

Astronomy Paul Boltwood founded Boltwood Systems Corporation in 1980, which manufactured cloud sensors for amateur astronomers. In the early 1990s, he constructed an observatory in his backyard near Ottawa, Ontario, with a CCD camera of his own design. He used the observatory to perform long-term monitoring of several blazars (active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets), including the objects OJ 287 and 3C 66A. His observations were used professional astronomers and he is listed as the co-author of several scientific journal articles. He made a series of images of the nucleus of the comet Hyakutake, which were released as part of the short film Comet Odyssey. In 1998, Boltwood won the Sky & Telescope magazine Deep Field Challenge. The contest, proposed by professional astronomer Bradley Schaefer, challenged amateur astronomers to take the deepest image of a designed patch of the sky in the constellation Serpens. Using 20 hours of exposure time on his 16-inch telescope and custom software to add the resulting 767 images together, Boltwood achieved a limiting magnitude of 24.1, a result comparable with those seen in professional observatories. His photo was featured as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on April 14, 1999.

Awards and recognition In 1995, he was awarded the Chant Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. This medal is awarded, not more than once a year, to an amateur astronomer resident in Canada on the basis of the value of the work carried out in astronomy and closely allied fields of the original investigation. In 2000, he was awarded with the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Asteroid 8785 Boltwood was named in his honour.

Selected publications Boltwood, Paul (2000). "An Amateur Astronomer's Experiences with Amateur-Professional Relations". Amateur - Professional Partnerships in Astronomy. 220: 188. Bibcode:2000ASPC..220..188B. ISSN 1050-3390. Sillanpaa, A.; Takalo, L.O.; Pursimo, T.; Lehto, H.J.; Nilsson, K.; Teerikorpi, P.; Heinaemaeki, P.; Kidger, M.; de Diego, J.A. (1996). "Confirmation of the 12-year optical outburst cycle in blazar OJ 287". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 305: L17. Bibcode:1996A&A...305L..17S. ISSN 0004-6361. Wehrle, A. E.; Pian, E.; Urry, C. M.; Maraschi, L.; McHardy, I. M.; Lawson, A. J.; Ghisellini, G.; Hartman, R. C.; Madejski, G. M. (1998-04-10). "Multiwavelength Observations of a Dramatic High‐Energy Flare in the Blazar 3C 279". The Astrophysical Journal. 497 (1): 178–187. arXiv:astro-ph/9711243. Bibcode:1998ApJ...497..178W. doi:10.1086/305461. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 53537826. Hartman, R. C.; Bottcher, M.; Aldering, G.; Aller, H.; Aller, M.; Backman, D. E.; Balonek, T. J.; Bertsch, D. L.; Bloom, S. D. (2001). "Multiepoch Multiwavelength Spectra and Models for Blazar 3C 279". The Astrophysical Journal. 553 (2): 683–694. arXiv:astro-ph/0102127. Bibcode:2001ApJ...553..683H. doi:10.1086/320970. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 5473528. Krawczynski, H.; Hughes, S. B.; Horan, D.; Aharonian, F.; Aller, M. F.; Aller, H.; Boltwood, P.; Buckley, J.; Coppi, P. (2004-01-20). "Multiwavelength Observations of Strong Flares from the TeV Blazar 1ES 1959+650". The Astrophysical Journal. 601 (1): 151–164. arXiv:astro-ph/0310158. Bibcode:2004ApJ...601..151K. doi:10.1086/380393. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 18924157. Błażejowski, M.; Blaylock, G.; Bond, I. H.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Carter‐Lewis, D. A.; Celik, O.; Cogan, P.; Cui, W. (2005). "A Multiwavelength View of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421: Correlated Variability, Flaring, and Spectral Evolution". The Astrophysical Journal. 630 (1): 130–141. arXiv:astro-ph/0505325. Bibcode:2005ApJ...630..130B. doi:10.1086/431925. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 27860117.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Boltwood

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Boltwood claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paul Boltwood before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paul Boltwood ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paul Boltwood

In research: Paul Boltwood appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paul Boltwood in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paul Boltwood is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, 2017 deaths, 20th-century Canadian astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Boltwood outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Paul Boltwood” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Paul Boltwood in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul Boltwood means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Paul Boltwood out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Boltwood in simple terms?

Why does Paul Boltwood matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paul Boltwood?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paul Boltwood.