But it’s not real astronomy...

[tooth_dr]

...astro imaging that is. I was told this tonight at an astronomy club meeting by one of the members after a couple of my images were used in a presentation.  The basis for this comment - I have a warm room in my shed and he doesn’t, therefore he can see the sky at all times and I can’t.  Guess that saves me sending any more images in. Hopefully he’s more welcoming to other newer members. 

[John]

Pretty poor reaction

So many branches to this hobby - tons of ways of enjoying it and all worthwhile IMHO

[DRT]

I suppose every walk of life has such blinkered people. I'd suggest you ignore him

 

[N3ptune]

Maybe it's not the end of the world, you have the people doing AP and the people doing Visual.  Try to get some dob mobsters with some 102mm quality refractor user in the same room, then, ask which telescope is better on planets.

Or start a discussion on the price of Televues eyepiece, you will see the social dynamics 

It's the same has talking politics.

 

 

[tooth_dr]

Ironically he hasn’t had the telescope out this year at all 

Indeed ignorance would be the best way forward I feel, no point arguing with some folk. 

[astronymonkey]

Well done on having your photos used in a presentation ..... mine are never worth sharing !

Its your hobby so enjoy it however you wish,  and dont worry about what he thinks 

[michael8554]

If you agree that professional astronomers carry out "real" astronomy, then they haven't eyeballed the sky in years.

If your images were used in a presentation then there are other members there who don't share his views - ignore him.

Michael

[chiltonstar]

I had someone recently comment "you actually still do visual astronomy?" 

Such remarks may of course just have been attempts at humour.

Chris

[N3ptune]

AP is real astronomy, I read many discoveries were made with the use of the photography, superior photons collection to see faint objects, which is far superior then the human eye.  Visual is awesome too, very nice hobby.

[Charic]

Eye or sensor, does it matter, each to their own.  
I would love to try astro-imaging one day controlled away from a freezing scope! 

However, with the weather  I'm having, neither method is any good, 

[triton1]

Just shrug it off and yawn.

[tooth_dr]

I never really understood people like this, but thanks for the advice to ignore which is sound advice. 

[PembrokeSteve]

After every session of Astro Imaging that I do (ie) Jupiter, I get my eyepieces out and do some visual , this is always an enjoyable experience for me, because by then, my telescope has well and truly cooled down.
Doing a bit of visual also gets me an idea as to how good "the seeing" has been for the images that I have previously taken.
Even just getting out with your telescope on a cold night, whether imaging or doing visual is "Real Astronomy" for me. 
Regards,
Steve

[geordie85]

If you want a bit of fun tell him what a friend of mine believes. That the earth is flat and the stars are just a hologram on a canopy designed to deceive us.

[Davesellars]

Rather a closed-minded response!  Pro astronomers certainly don't do their work outside looking through an eyepiece...

I had an AP rig for a while before the arrival of our second daughter which for a year and a half sat permanently by a large (open) bedroom window and allowed me to do AP imaging and learn the dark art helped me a whole bunch.  I had it set up just to switch on the mount and the PC with the software and I was imaging within 5 mins tops with an even quicker shut-down time of approximately 30 seconds.   I was able to take advantage of any window of clear sky at any time of night without lugging stuff about and if I fancied doing some visual observations I was able to easily.  Without that, I think an entire year or more would have been pretty much lost for astronomy.  However, towards the end I felt a little disconnected with sitting at a computer while retrieving images and processing so I sold up and an now purely visual - it's what I much prefer although the arrival of our 3rd daughter though is making getting out a touch difficult at the moment although the other two sleep through the night easily...  so not so bad.  Cloudy rubbish weather is stopping me from getting out more than anything at the moment!

So, for me astronomy is what you make of it and your limitations.  Kudos to the astronomers that make the effort to lug their equipment, setup with polar alignment and electronic gubbings etc etc to grab some images here in the UK as it's rare to get long enough time when it's clear without having a permanent setup imho.  For me, if I was going to do imaging again it would be with an observatory.

[tooth_dr]

The thing I regularly observe with naked eye and binos, and I bought a Dob not that long ago.  I'm not very good at observing but I do enjoy it and lalways drag the kids or wife out to see stuff.  EG this morning at 6:50am I handed my wife some 15x70s and showed her Venus and Mars beside each other.  I even found M42 at 7:20am too.  Howver I didnt feel like justifying myself to anyone.

[billyharris72]

25 minutes ago, Davesellars said:

Rather a closed-minded response!  Pro astronomers certainly don't do their work outside looking through an eyepiece...

This was my first thought. How many "real astronomers" (whatever that means) have ever looked through an eyepiece? Maybe at university, or for a bit of a jolly, but that's not their job.

Tell him you're delighted to meet a "real astronomer" and ask him about his recent publications.

[tooth_dr]

11 minutes ago, billyharris72 said:

This was my first thought. How many "real astronomers" (whatever that means) have ever looked through an eyepiece? Maybe at university, or for a bit of a jolly, but that's not their job.

Tell him you're delighted to meet a "real astronomer" and ask him about his recent publications.

Unfortunately I lack the gift of being able to think of an immediate witty responses like the ones here!

[Macavity]

Ah, the old "You are not a REAL Astronomer"... if you do/don't (whatever) thing?  

But such things do HURT people. A friend of mine stopped going to local Astro Soc.
meetings because of this! I never spoke to the advocate(s) of the idea, but thought
them as the "Howard and Hilda" of Astronomy! But best ignored, if you can tho? 

Hey, I'm a sometime "Pro" Physicist. Some of my annoying neighbours *assume* I
cannot possibly do DIY... I never did any "hard" work... Not a real man etc. etc. 

For me Amateur Astronomy is not as competition. Relax and do what you want?

[Trikeflyer]

Agree with all the comments, this guy is obviously closed minded.  I only do visual and I don't think I am astronomer, I call myself an observer.  I suppose the word astronomer and astronomy can mean all sorts of things. Either way you look at it, if you enjoy what you do and get satisfaction from it, then it's worth spending time on.

[RayD]

He is very narrow minded.  I suffer really badly with floaters (big blocky ones), so struggle so much to do visual that it really isn't enjoyable, other than wide field through fairly low powered bino's.  For this reason alone I tend to do almost exclusively AP.  I could gain no benefit from freezing my cods off in the middle of winter instead of having, like you, a lovely warm room or, as I do mostly, image remotely from indoors where I can spend that time with my beloved Mrs (that's actually just in case she reads this, but you get my drift).

I absolutely love AP as it lets me see things in a clarity that I couldn't hope to get using an eyepiece, even on planetary targets.

He's clearly upset that your images were used, and is having a little strop.  Ignoring him is the idea, or pointing out to him that he should consider people who's eyesight isn't conducive to enjoying the hobby as much as they do by doing AP in a nice comfortable environment.

Well done also for having your images used.

[iPeace]

He has a point, this man-without-a-warm-room. He's freezing his globulars off and you're not. Surely that makes him 'real', while you're no more than engaged, dedicated, successful and...warm.

P.S. I say he's talking out of the wrong orifice.

[newbie alert]

5 hours ago, geordie85 said:

If you want a bit of fun tell him what a friend of mine believes. That the earth is flat and the stars are just a hologram on a canopy designed to deceive us.

Your friend spends too much time on u tube..

Does he also believe in niburu that's going to impact the earth every year and it's proof is lense flares from camera's?

[tooth_dr]

Thanks for all the input.  Perhaps he was upset about my images being displayed?  Felt like being back at school again

[geordie85]

58 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Your friend spends too much time on u tube..

Yes he does.

I also had someone else  from work claim (thanks to youtube) that an invisible planet, that's hiding behind the moon, will hit us on the 23Rd of September. But once I explained that due to the orbit of earth plus the orbit of the moon that there's no way anything could hide behind the moon for more than 1 day maximum he felt rather stupid.