Gippsland plumber recognised for services to astronomy

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A plumber from Gippsland who has spent 30 years stargazing from his backyard has been recognized for his services to astronomy. Rod Stubbings measures changes in the brightness of stars through the telescope in his homemade observatory, and his work has been relied upon by professionals from around the planet.

Transcript

00:00 The sky is darkening over this home at the base of the Strzelecki Ranges, and that means

00:08 it's time for Rod Stubbings to get to work.

00:11 An entirely self-taught astronomer, he can examine up to 300 stars each night from his

00:16 backyard observatory.

00:17 If it's a clear night, I'll go out all night because I've got to juggle around the clouds

00:22 as well.

00:23 But tracking the night sky can come at a cost.

00:25 I still get two or three hours sleep, but funnily enough your body adjusts to that little

00:30 pattern.

00:31 Rod has balanced astronomy with being a plumber for more than 30 years.

00:36 But now, this Gippsland tradie has been formally recognised by the Astronomical Society of

00:42 Australia for his contribution to studies of the stars.

00:45 It feels really nice to receive this award and get recognition for what I do.

00:51 For professional astronomers like Dr Tanya Hill, Rod's recordings are invaluable.

00:56 He knows these star fields so intricately.

01:01 He works from memory, looking through his telescope without any gadgets.

01:05 An unusual method for a modern astronomer.

01:08 I'm actually looking in real time and if something happens on the night, I just go and report

01:13 it straight away.

01:14 Rod has made more than 400,000 measurements of the brightness of variable stars and worked

01:21 with professional astronomers from around the globe who have sought his advice on the

01:26 movements of the night sky.

01:28 The sky is really big and there is so much out there to see and we just don't have enough

01:34 telescopes to be observing the sky all the time.

01:37 And he has no plans to stop stargazing any time soon.

01:41 There's lots of stars that I haven't seen yet and if I don't go out, I won't see it.

01:46 An astronomy superstar.

01:47 I'm Rodney Hull.

01:48 I'm a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington.

01:49 I'm a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington.

01:50 I'm a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington.

01:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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