popeye85 Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I have heard lots of scientists and professional astronomer's saying that the amateur field can still play a big part in pushing the boundary's of knowledge in astronomy and it understanding of the universe but what things are they talking about? Has anyone on here made any sort of contribution before and how do you go about helping the pros with their work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddoss Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 There are many different ways including variable star observations, nova and supernova discoveries, near earth objects, new comets and imaging large impacts on the gas giant planets but to name a few. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.h.f.wilkinson Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I have contributed data from my H-alpha captures to the F-Hunters project http://fchroma.astro.uni.wroc.pl/index.php/f-hunters.html Great fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtreemchaos Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 fun, science, mindblowing vistas and the spending of money "in any order". the second you post something you are contributing. charl. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putaendo Patrick Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 This link to the IAU might be interesting: http://www.iau.org/public/themes/citizen-science-projects/ Also Sky & Telescope have some resources and links on the Internet, but a little out of date: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/get-involved/pro-am-collaboration/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkis Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Many amateurs have discovered new comets, some by accident, others by dedicated observations. There's still lots amateurs can be involved in. The BAA have sections that amateurs partake in, for example Solar activity detection, which indicates the onset of Auroral activity. Meteors, etc.https://britastro.org/section_front/8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peco4321 Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Passing on enthusiasm and interest to the next generation of potential astronauts and scientists via outreach and just general discussion. All my kids friends know I'm into this, though I think I may have put my son off a bit with going on about it all the time. I guess the contribution to the pro's is a bit delayed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dokeeffe Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Amateurs contribute a lot of important data on variable stars. AAVSO publish a regular list of objects in need of observation https://www.aavso.org/program-stars-need-observation Also I know someone who contributes valuable astrometric data on near earth asteroids. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Drew Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Logically there's no more point in amateur astronomy than there is in, say, mountaineering, gardening or computer games but if either float your boat or tick all your boxes then the interest can be all consuming. The great thing about amateur astronomy is just that, it's not professional. Within reason you can do what you like when you like without the constraints of producing anything of value except enjoyment. For every beginner, each new object viewed is a discovery. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkSteele Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 My astrophysics masters project was photometric variations in T-Tauri stars. While it was conducted at the University physics building (observatory was on the roof) we were using amateur level equipment (LX200 and a SBIG CCD camera*) and we collected some very interesting data which was used in follow up research by both students and professionals. While perhaps we were able to analyse the data in more sophisticated ways than a typical amateur the raw data can be made available to those who have the techniques and knowledge if the data collector does not. I think this can be a very rewarding area of amateur astronomy for reasonably advanced amateurs. *BTW, to put into context, even with the f/6.3 focal reducer we were limited to a field of less than 10 arc minutes such was the size of the CCD chip. This was quite a few years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkSteele Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Oh and as a general point to the title of this thread... It should be fun! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uplooker Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 As I understand it, professional astronomers are limited in the time and FoV that they have on instruments, be it visual, X-ray, radio waves etc. They also collect a mass of data which they are unable to trawl through. Amateurs on the other hand have all the time in the world. This is part of the reason for Galaxy Zoo. https://www.galaxyzoo.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_h Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I upload radar meteor detection data every hour to the rmob.org site. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 The purpose of astronomy is to to determine the proper use of the Sun and planets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mak the Night Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I thought the whole point of amateur astronomy was that it had no point. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mak the Night Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 1 minute ago, Ruud said: The purpose of astronomy is to to determine the proper use of the Sun and planets. I'm always careful when I use the Sun and planets and leave them the way I found them for others to enjoy. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 For me the involvement is purely for pleasure and interest Hats off to anyone who does take a more systematic approach and manages to discover something though 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshane Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 For me it's pure enjoyment. Look at recent data trawling on Stargazing Live to see the value of amateurs en masse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodricke1 Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I consider myself a world expert on aliens because nobody knows any more than me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark at Beaufort Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 You only need to see the work that Chris Lintott has set up with the help of amateurs - The Galaxy Zoo being the best example. Thousands of images were analysed by the public and important discoveries made. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayD Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Build yourself an observatory, with a nice "quiet" warm room, about 50m away from your house then all your questions will be answered 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Lloyd Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I just love the heavens ( and nature in general ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeSkywatcher Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 (edited) 17 minutes ago, RayD said: Build yourself an observatory, with a nice "quiet" warm room, about 50m away from your house then all your questions will be answered Or.........do what real amateurs do and stand/sit out in the cold all night and stare at the night sky. Edited December 12, 2016 by LukeSkywatcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Fargaze Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I enjoy the relaxed pursuit of visual observing but I also submit data from occultations. This can either lunar or asteroidal. For example, Lunar occultations can reveal double stars or a change in the gap between them. Asteroidal occultations can reveal the shape of the asteroids and even reveal moons of asteroids. Recently, ground based observations of an occultation by Pluto produced useful data regarding its atmosphere, which the New Horizons team could combine with their own data gathered from the New Horizons flyby of Pluto. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Spock Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 The point of amateur astronomy is to get out there and see the universe for yourself If you want to contribute observations to science there are still many areas where the amateur rules. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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