Dylan O'Donnell

Dylan O'Donnell is an Australian amateur photographer, whose astrophotography has been featured by the European Space Agency (ESA), and NASA. He was selected twice for NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day|Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).
== Early life and education ==
Dylan O'Donnell grew up in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. He currently lives in Byron Bay.
O'Donnell has a bachelor's and a master's in Information Technology from Charles Sturt University. As part of his second degree, he developed an iPhone piano tutorial application which came out in the App Store when it was first launched in 2008.
In 2019, O'Donnell graduated from Swinburne Astronomy Online (SAO).
He met his wife Anna at university; they have two children.
== Career ==
In 2013, he went on a field trip to California to visit Google in San Francisco. O'Donnell also had the opportunity to go to Florida and saw NASA. As a result of this trip, he pursued science, particularly astronomy. After buying his first telescope, he started learning about astrophotography. During his career, his photos have been published several times by NASA and ESA, two of the most important space organizations worldwide. The European Space Agency, after publishing one of his photos on its homepage, has also invited him to visit their facility in New Norcia and photograph its tracking station in outer space.
Since O'Donnell's engagement towards space and stargazing had intensified, he created his own personal observatory in the backyard of his house in Byron Bay.The images he took from there were posted on different online services, and some of them have been published by NASA, ESA, Time, and National Geographic.
O'Donnell took a picture of Comet 252P/LINEAR passing 'through' the LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud), and it was published on the front page of National Geographic's website on March 21, 2016.
In April 2019, he took part at the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) in New York as a featured speaker.
== Projects ==
=== Star Stuff ===
Dylan O'Donnell is the founder of the annual Star Stuff festival of Space, Science, and Astronomy festival, taking place in Byron Bay from 2017. The festival aims at preserving dark skies from light pollution and other electronic developments. It was conceived by O'Donnell when his astronomical observations from his home observatory were impacted by privately owned local streetlights. After trying a temporary solution using a laser beam, he made a proposal to the community via Byron's Mayor, the Elements resort, and a tourism symposium, which resulted in the idea for his Star Stuff.
In 2017, initial investment was provided by his digital agency, DNA Digital, as well as two telescope manufacturers, Celestron and Bintel. It also gained the participation of some of Australia's leading scientists, including astrophysics and astrophotographers. Speakers at the first festival included: Dr. Katie Mack, Mark Gee, Dr. Duane Hamacher (Monash), Dr. David Malin, and Dr. Fred Watson.
The science-themed weekend festival took place again in 2018, sponsors including Celestron, The European Space Agency, Bintel, Cosmos (Australian magazine)|Cosmos Magazine, and Sidereal Trading. International guests included: Amy Shira Teitel, space historian of the "Vintage Space" YouTube channel; Fraser Cain, the publisher of Universe Today; and Geoff Notkin, of the series Meteorite Men.
=== Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) ===
O'Donnell has been awarded with the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) twice. The first one was published on March 20, 2015, and it was entitled "Earth Shine". He took this picture using a Celestron 9.25" SCT with Focal Reducer (6.3) and a Canon 70D camera. The second one was published on July 31, 2015, and was titled "The ISS and a Colorful Moon". O'Donnell used a Canon 70D camera placed behind a 2300 mm / f10 telescope
"Earth Shine" is a picture of the moon 14 hours after the perigee, the point where is the moon closer to the orbit. He intended to capture the moment in which both day and night can be seen in a single picture. The image is a overlaying of two separate stacks, both of 20 exposures, showing the moon's crater details and dark side.
In the photo "The ISS and a Colorful Moon" O'Donnell captured the ISS (International Space Station) transiting across the moon, while the majority of astronomers were trying to view Venus and Jupiter in conjunction, located on the opposite part of the sky. It represents the second full moon of July 2015 and shows rare colors of the moon that emerge before it transforms into a full moon. The image has been slightly processed.
== Awards ==
* 2015: Member of the Year from the Southern Astronomical Society.
* 2016: Honorable Mention, David Malin Awards.
* 2017: Member of the Year from the Southern Astronomical Society.
* 2017: Achievement Award from the QLD Astronomical Societies.
* 2018: Editors Pick in the Solar System Category, David Malin Awards.
Category:Australian people
Category:Australian photographers