Richard Huziak (born March 18, 1957 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian amateur astronomer for whom the International Astronomical Union named main-belt asteroid 4143 Huziak. A former president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Saskatoon Centre for six years and a prominent member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, Huziak has over 165,000 observations of variable stars to his credit. He received the Chant Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2001,[1] the Service Medal from the same organization in 2009,[2] and Janet Mattei presented Huziak with the AAVSO's Director's Award in 2003.[3]
Huziak is also an environmentalist addressing light pollution concerns in Saskatchewan.[4] His work here prompted the Saskatchewan Eco-Network (SEN) to name Huziak a Saskatchewan Environmental Champion.[5] That organization awarded him the Environmental Activist Individual Award in 2007. He was instrumental in the designation of the Cypress Hills Dark Sky Preserve in September 2004, then Canada's largest dark-sky preserve. His work with Parks Canada led to the designation of Grasslands National Park as a dark-sky preserve in October 2009, overtaking Cypress Hills as Canada's largest dark-sky preserve. Huziak continues to advise various levels of government as well as individuals on light pollution abatement in order to reduce light trespass, energy waste, and environmental degradation.
Huziak was also intimately involved in the discovery of 185P/Comet Petriew in August 2001,[6] namesake of Vance Petriew of the Regina Centre, RASC.