Astronomy & Space. How Important Is The Role Of Amateur Astronomers In These Days?

Astronomy Space : How Important Is The Role Of Amateur Astronomers In These Days

Is there room for the amateurs in 21st Century? Most of the research works are done by the great institutions that are well funded. How can a local amateur involve in today observations? Any examples? ~~~ K. M. ~~~

Best Answer To Astronomy Space Question

well let me tell you look up the shoemakers. they are a couple who are homebred amatures and sure they are a bit more into it then most but they have at least 3 comet names under their belt. they actually pulled a bunch of money together in their life and made thier own observatory (or bought a old used one) even though we have many satelites like hubble that patrol our skies but they only mechanically watch about 20% of total viewable sky surrounding earth. the shoemakers are still making discoveries and sightings and they get to put their name on whatever they spot as new not yet seen. this requires dedication and hard work not to mention a dedicated memorization of every fart of gas visible to the aided eye because they need to know that when they see that new bubble, fart, blinking light, or whatever that they have a potential lead to something new and not something that has been there billions of years!

All Answer To Astronomy Space Questions

Answer 1

well let me tell you look up the shoemakers. they are a couple who are homebred amatures and sure they are a bit more into it then most but they have at least 3 comet names under their belt. they actually pulled a bunch of money together in their life and made thier own observatory (or bought a old used one) even though we have many satelites like hubble that patrol our skies but they only mechanically watch about 20% of total viewable sky surrounding earth. the shoemakers are still making discoveries and sightings and they get to put their name on whatever they spot as new not yet seen. this requires dedication and hard work not to mention a dedicated memorization of every fart of gas visible to the aided eye because they need to know that when they see that new bubble, fart, blinking light, or whatever that they have a potential lead to something new and not something that has been there billions of years!

Answer 2

amateurs still discover supernovae and comets. all the observatories in the world cant watch all the sky all the time.

Answer 3

I still see a role for amateur astronomers. Most professional astronomy is focused on narrow areas of study. Observation time on the best telescopes is highly controlled, and research grants are given for specific work. The days of astronomers spending the night in the cage of the 200 inch telescope just observing the stars is long over (sadly). Sure professionals sometimes observe the stars just for fun, and there is work being done to map NEOs (near-earth objects), but most pure stargazing is done by amateurs, or professionals in their spare time. This is where the discovery of many comets and asteroids occur, just someone with a telescope in his backyard.

Answer 4

90 percent of asteroids are discovered by amatuers. A lot of the comets and other bodies are discovered by amateurs. The asteroid debris that his Jupiter so spectacularly was discovered by (very savvy) "; Modern telescopes add real power to what amateurs can do --especially if they pool their resources.

Answer 5

Amateur astronomers are involved in monitoring variable stars, finding supernovae, looking for comets, finding asteroids, and timing asteroid occultations. Variable stars frequently change their mode of vibration and monitoring that is time intensive and would be too expensive in the professional observatories. Supernovae occur randomly, so their discovery is also a time intensive thing. The search for comets and asteroids is slowly being taken over by automatic observatories, but there is still an important place for amateurs. The timing of asteroid occulatations allows us to determine the size and shape of asteroids. It takes a number of observers along different paths to get good results. Amateurs are ideal for such.