Feb 21/00
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Minor Planet Named for Sharbot Lake CoupleBy David Brison
Anybody can hang out a plaque with their name on it but how many people
can authentically claim on that plaque that they have has a minor
planet named after them. Leo Enright and Denise Sabatini, a Sharbot
Lake area couple, can.
They have had a minor planet named after them by the Nomenclature of
the Solar System Commission of the International Astronomical Union
(IAU). The IAU is an organization of professional astronomers. The
official name of the minor planet is (9070) Ensab = 1993 OZ (Ensab is a
combination of their last names) and it is the only name recognized by
astronomers worldwide.
The minor planet was discovered by David Levy, a friend and astronomy
acquaintance of Enright/Sabatini, and Carolyn Shoemaker on July 23,
1993 (coincidently, the 5th anniversary of the wedding of Leo and
Denise).
The inscription on the plaque presented by the IAU to Enright and Sabatini, reads:Leo
Enright (b. 1943) and Denise Sabatini (b. 1950) of Ontario are one of
the foremost couples in Canadian amateur astronomy. Leo is an
accomplished solar and aurora observer, and has written the Beginner's
Observing Guide. Denise's interests center on Archaeoastronomy and in
providing access to astronomy for the disabled.
Leo came to Sharbot Lake High School in 1967, taught Latin for five
years, and then English until he retired in the spring of 1998. His
interest in astronomy started at an early age and has been a constant
ever since. He remembers going to a one-room school (Grades 1-8) in
rural eastern Ontario and reading the Grade 8 science textbook when he
was in Grade 3. The astronomy portions caught his interest then and
that early interest was fuelled by discussions and lessons for the
older children that he was able to listen in on.
Leo's lifelong passion for astronomy has earned him many honours. Just recently, he was recognized by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for making 1800 observations of sun spots in the last 20 years - during which time he has observed nearly two complete cycles of the sun. These daytime observations have been supplemented by long and frequent nighttime observations from his unheated backyard observatory (cold in the winter and thick with mosquitoes in the summer). Some of his honours and related service to the field of astronomy are:
* In 1986, he received the Astronomical Society's National Service Award - the highest honour given for service as an amateur astronomer;
* He has received the Messier Award for observing a list of 110 galaxies - derived from a much larger list of galaxies by Charles Messier in 1880. He also received the NGC award for having observed an additional 110 galaxies or clusters. This list was created by the Canadian society as a supplement to the Messier compilation.
* In 1990, he was commissioned by the Royal Astronomical Society to write "The Beginner's Observing Guide ". This book, first published in 1991, has now gone through four editions (copies can be purchased at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy and at the Valley Book Store in Perth);
* An accomplished astrophotographer, his photos have appeared in a number of publications. Two of his pictures of comets (Hale/Bopp & Hyakutake) will soon appear in the NewsWeb. Denise Sabatini, Executive Director of Literacy Link of Eastern Ontario, moved to Sharbot Lake from Syracuse NY in 1988 when she married Leo. Her interest in astronomy also developed at an early age. She clearly remembers seeing an eclipse of the sun (and peeking when she was told not to) and also being dragged out in the backyard by her parents to see Sputnik. She read everything she encountered about astronomy, and in high school always did extremely well on the astronomy portions of science courses. However, until she was 30, she was what might be described as a closet astronomer. Denise says that, "Like many girls then, I was reluctant to admit to an interest in something that was considered unusual or out of the ordinary. I kept it to myself. My mother didn't even know I was interested until I received an award in a local contest." Denise is a frequent observer (she has her own backyard telescope). She has been recognized for her contributions to astronomy in several areas:
* For a number of years, she has written articles and given talks to interested groups on archaeoastronomy, the study of how astronomy influenced earlier civilizations. Her interest is in those civilizations, such as the Mayan, where it is known who the people are, and the part astronomy played in their culture.
* She has been an advocate for disabled access to astronomy. She started in this field when she was still in Syracuse and made her local astronomical society's observatory accessible to the disabled. Her interest in this area stems from an early biography she read about John Goodrich, a British astronomer who was totally deaf, didn't learn to read until he was 9, and died when he was 21. Nevertheless he made major contributions to the field.
* In education, she has developed teaching materials, for example, a dot-to-dot introduction to the night skies, which she has used with a number of groups.
Among her other contributions, she secured funding, and started a youth astronomy group in Sharbot Lake. This group has been functioning for several years. Paul Bowman, an Arden resident presently in Grade 12 at Sharbot Lake High School, was an early member of the group, and as a result has developed an active interest in astronomy. Leo and Denise met through their mutual interests in astronomy. Denise had decided when she reached 30, and was not entirely satisfied with her life, that her active but not very visible interest in astronomy was going to become a major focus. In short, she decided to come out of the closet. She became very active in her Syracuse society. At an astronomy conference in Hamilton, she met Leo. They corresponded about an article she had written and eventually got together and married. They are, as the IAU citation states, "... one of the foremost couples in Canadian amateur astronomy." As one could imagine, their married life in many ways revolves around their mutual interest in the field. One of their shared astronomical highlights was a cruise taken this summer in the waters off the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to observe the total eclipse of the Sun. This cruise, labelled the Ship of Fools because there was only a 30 percent chance of clear skies, yielded a magical, perfect view of the eclipse -- an event shared with their friend David Levy. Denise has agreed to describe this cruise for a future issue of the NewsWeb. Another highlight for Leo was observing Hale/Bopp from his Sharbot Lake dock with Tom Bopp (who the comet was co-named after) and David Levy in February 1997. Incidentally, don't expect to go out in your backyard on a clear night and see Ensab in the skies. Leo and Denise can't even observe it with their telescopes. The minor planet can be seen only with very high-powered telescopes. However, it is there and it is named after this Sharbot Lake area couple for their achievements in the field of astronomy.
Denise showing telescope to a visitor, Jule Koch
