Ms Pamela Kilmartin, of Lake Tekapo, MNZM for services to astronomy
Pamela Kilmartin and her husband, Mr Alan Gilmore, became Observer/Technicians at Mt John Observatory for the University of Canterbury in 1980. They hosted thousands of schoolchildren and other visitors to Mt John as part of their public outreach and education. They undertook a voluntary research programme on astronomy during their employment and have co-discovered 41 asteroids and a comet. They continue their voluntary research in retirement, making observations and sending data to the Minor Planet Center funded by NASA. Ms Kilmartin was elected to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and is part of its Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature, responsible for naming small bodies in our solar system.