Roselle teen wins astronomy award
Tyler Westering, 17, has won the Horkheimer/Smith Award, the highest youth service award given by the 18,500-member Astronomical League. The league, a 75-year-old national federation of more than 300 astronomy organizations, was co-founded by professional astronomer Dr. Harlow Shapley of Harvard University.
The award plaque will be presented during the league's 2021 virtual convention this August. The event is headlined by a star-studded cast of professional astronomers, including pulsar discoverer Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell of Oxford University.
Westering will also receive the award's cash prize of $1,700 and an all-expense paid trip to the league's 2022 national convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The award was founded in 1998 with financial backing from television's "Star Gazer" Jack Horkheimer, and receives ongoing support from the Horkheimer Charitable Fund, which was established in his memory.
Westering is a rising home-schooled senior from Roselle. He is vice president of Observing for the Northwest Suburban Astronomers and schedules and coordinates weekly observing events for the society's 150 members.
He writes the monthly observing articles for the society's Celestial Log newsletter and works with local libraries, schools and other venues to coordinate public observing events.
He also managed the club's COVID-19 restrictions policy governing the conduct of members and public events.
Westering created and staffed Deep Sky Objects and Telescopes exhibits during local Astronomy Day events in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, he hosted a virtual Astronomy Day event online.
He also manages the society's Twitter and Instagram social media accounts, an activity that resulted in a gain of 30 new club members during a recent six-month period.
Westering hosts his own YouTube channel called "Planets Videos." The channel features more than 23 astronomy-related videos, has attracted more than 300 subscribers, and has logged more than 22,000 views.
He has also conducted 10 livestream programs on astronomical topics, and his self-published "Planets Newsletter" reaches nearly 100 subscribers.
Tyler is the son of Bill and Jennifer Westering of Roselle.