Back-Yard Astronomy Field

[Prospector1950]

Back a few years ago around 2003 and before, there were not many commercially made observatory domes and their supporting buildings being manufactured by commercial manufacturer's, which could be purchased by the public. So, the majority of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomer's would sit down in their spare time, either as an individual, or in a lot of cases together as a group, and spend some time to work out the calculations to build a home-made observatory dome and it's supporting building structure. and then help others by sharing that information. Yes back then, the majority of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomer's were a wonderful group of people. They had some wonderful traits.

 

• They were very proud of their "DIY" skills,

   

• They loved to show off those "DIY" skills.

   

• They loved to share their skills, the building procedures, and their calculations with other Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomer's.

   

• They loved the hobby of Amateur Astronomy and enjoyed sharing that enjoyment with others.
• So, in most cases, they went out of their way in helping to promote the Amateur Astronomy field for any newcomers and wannabe's, by sharing all of that information, so that those newcomer's and wannabe's could build their own observatories if they desired to do so, and were handy enough to use a set of simple tools.

   

Yes. The majority of  the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers would freely share all the measurement calculations publicly with others. either by passing those measurements along to others personally, or on the internet, when that option became available. The reason is quite obviously stated above.

 

Now-a-days, even though there are quite a few commercial manufacturer's that manufacture pre-made ready to assemble observatories and support building structures for those Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomer's that want to purchase them. Yes, they are pre-made, and available, for purchase by anyone if they so desire. However there are major drawbacks to that.

 

• Those Pre-made observatories (even just the observatory dome alone) is, in most cases, above and beyond the low affordable price that newcomer's and wannabe's can afford.

   

• Now-a-days most Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomer's are no longer freely and publicly willing to share all their calculation measurements with others. Yes in a lot of cases, they will make a You-Tube Video in a fast video of the different stages of building the dome and/or supporting structure.

   

• But there are only a very limited few who even take the time to you-tube video film the building procedure from beginning to end,

   

• Even fewer, who are even willing to provide their measurement calculations for others to be able to use.

   

• But even then, most who are willing to give up their measurement calculations, insist upon charging for those measurements.

   

The bad side of that, is that, even though the prices of most telescopes have fallen to where most people can now afford to purchase and own one, the new generation of  Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers are now, no longer willing to help promote the Back-yard Astronomy field by freely and publicly sharing all their information as the older, earlier, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomer generations were so willing to do.

 

In my opinion, the wonderful field of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers and Back-Yard Astronomy which once was so great and wonderful has now fallen by the way-side, and into a sad state of affairs.

 

As to whether they would, or even attempt, to return to the older generation way of freely and publicly sharing all their measurements, and other information for others to use, and in promoting the Back-Yard Astronomy field by helping others, would be a horse of another color to ride. But, I'm betting that particular horse is now dead, and gone with the wind, because the newer generations of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers, couldn't care less, and no longer have the sense of pride that the older generations once did. It now seems to be the attitude of; "Me", "Me", "Me", and the Devil with all others.

 

A lot of the new generations of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers, would more than likely in "knee-jerk" reactions, refute this to be true, and insist it is otherwise. However if they actually took the time to sit down, do some research, and really think about it, rather than slamming it to be false, in "knee-jerk" reactions, they would come to the same conclusion themselves.

 

My hat comes off, and I wish to give many compliments to "Joe Garlitz" who is one those older generation Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers, who is still willing to go that extra mile in promoting the Back-Yard Astronomy field for others, by freely sharing all his information for others to use. May his legend, and name live on, maybe, just maybe, others of the new generations of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers can swallow their false pride, and take the time, and the effort, in following his fine example.

[Stu]

Prospector1950, I think if you take the time to look through the DIY astronomer section on SGL you will find a wealth of shared experience, so I disagree with your statements. There is also no need to repeat the same phrase over and over again, we understand!

[steppenwolf]

Prospector1950, you clearly haven't been a member here for long enough to experience the generosity of our members when it comes to freely imparting their amazing knowledge both in the DIY sections and within the more general astronomy sections. Less time repeating yourself and more time reading our content will give you a much better feel for what Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers on SGL are really like.

[Dave Lloyd]

4 hours ago, Prospector1950 said:

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• They loved the hobby of Amateur Astronomy and enjoyed sharing that enjoyment with others.
• So, in most cases, they went out of their way in helping to promote the Amateur Astronomy field for any newcomers and wannabe's, by sharing all of that information, so that those newcomer's and wannabe's could build their own observatories if they desired to do so, and were handy enough to use a set of simple tools.

   

 

 

 

 

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Exactly like s.g.l today

[MarkyD]

Just wondering if you get paid on how many times you mention " Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Back-Yard Amateur Astronomers"

[Tzitzis]

I'm sorry but things aren't like that in SGL. As far as I have seen the one year I've been around, many DYI projects have been completed and there are pictures of the process, there are comments on how they did it AND the measurements (without them being asked about giving them) and there are even plans you could download in some of the posts!

Everyone here, in every single sector of the forum (Observing, Imaging, DIY, physics and stuff) are so so friendly. Let us not demolish everything with statements like these. I would recommend you hang around for a little bit, see what's what. Then post again.

Cheers

[AstroAdam]

Wow - okay.  That's either a troll of the century, or an honest misinterpretation of the facts.....

Lets just say it's the latter and give the benefit of the doubt.  It looks like this is just your second post ever anyway, your first being a sort of passive-aggressively-worded request for information on the method used to clad a dome on an obsy-build - in this thread here.... 

From this, I can only assume that you're sore about not getting a reply to your question that you posted on June 28th this year.

The thing to notice here, is that the previous post before yours was 2008.....  

That's a whole 8 years that that thread has been finished.  A site like this has a fairly dedicated core of users, but 8 years is a long time!   If you take a llook at the user's profile page - their last post was in 2013, so it looks like they're no longer active anyway.  

To come one an cast a wide net saying that effectively nobody ever helps anymore - with very bizarre reasoning that it's to do with the availability of commercially-bought domes, seems a very odd thing to do.   Probably 90% of the observatories I see are home-made, or adapted form standard sheds etc, and everyone I've ever spoken to about it are only too willing to help with info when asked...

 

[johnfosteruk]

Wise words gentlemen. All of your comments also hold true across the wider Astro community in general, not just SGL I've received generous assistance from the local society, retailers (who would be absolutely justified in declining - especially if one follows the OP's arguments) other forums and social media groups and not forgetting professionals too. 

If as Adam suggests this is the troll of the century it means nothing other than to encourage others to not be put off. If it's a misinterpretation and you really are seeking assistance I urge you to heed the comments here and put yourself out there. You will get the help you need. 

[Gina]

Have to say I was surprised, shocked and disgusted by the OPs comments and I felt slighted too!  We are just NOT like that - all astronomers I have encountered have always put themselves out to help others - indeed the complete opposite of the views expressed.

[Stub Mandrel]

I think this person is upset; their previous post asked about details of how someone created a curved PVC runner. Unfortunately the way the request was phrased made it look more like a complaint for not posting full details - it would have been better to have thanked the OP for sharing their idea and politely asking if they could share more detail.

Unsurprisingly the request went unanswered, and now we have this message, which looks like a diatribe, but I suspect it is just from someone whose is inexperienced in how forums like this work. They probably don't realise that thirty years ago people sharing ideas at clubs or in magazines were probably a very small subset, with most people quietly getting on with things on their own. Today the internet encourages, through forums like this, many more people to share their ideas and experiences. It is clearly (to me, at least) unreasonable to expect everyone to want or be able to pass on full details of everything. Any more than if I met a guy in the pub and he said he made his own motorbike, it would entitle me to request full plans and assembly details!

(FWIW, I have done some research out of curiosity, and lo and behold, there are detailed guides and even fully dimensioned plans for home-build observatories freely available on the net, not including many detail explanations of different aspects of the task here, so I can genuinely say the assertion such things don't exist is bunkum.)