Dr Andy McCrea from Bangor in County Down has received the Opik award from the Irish Astronomical Association for services to astronomy. He is the third person to receive this award in the association's 50-year history. The previous recipient received it 21 years ago.

Dr McCrea has been a member of the Irish Astronomical Association for over 60 years. He first joined as a schoolboy. He served as president eight times and vice-president 10 times.

He edits the association's quarterly magazine Stardust since 2004. He wrote a history of the association's 50 years with contributions from other authors.

Dr McCrea leads the North Down and Ards University of the Third Age group. The group holds monthly meetings in the Hub in Bangor. They observe from an observatory in Clandeboye estate.

The award is named after Ernst Opik. Opik was an Estonian astronomer who worked at Armagh Observatory from 1948 to 1981. He studied at the Universities of Moscow and Tartu. In 1916 he developed a method to measure the density of binary stars using Omega 2 Eridani as an example.

Opik predicted craters on solar system bodies including Mars. In 1922 he calculated the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy. In 1932 he proposed the existence of the Oort cloud. His son Uuno and grandson Lembit Opik lived in Bangor for a period. Lembit Opik presented the award to previous winners.