Reshaping Our Conception of the Amateur Astronomer Essay -- Explorator

Reshaping Our Conception of the Amateur AstronomerUntil recently, if you had asked me to describe what I would produce envisioned an astronomer to look manage, I probably would have wedded you two alternate pictures the first would be the academic or maestro astronomer-aided by grants, funding agencies, university budgets, and access to the latest technology in the field. The some other astronomer, then, would be the incompetent astronomer the wide-eyed observer whose sole exasperation in life is to design, build, and use telescopes of their own creation. While I am certain that both of these stereotypes exist, I was surprised to discover that there is then a third type of astronomer, namely the serious critic. The serious amateur falls somewhere in surrounded by my two previous categories piece the professional/academic astronomer would classify an amateur as anyone who has non earned a graduate degree in astronomy..., the serious amateur would more likely view his or he r non-professional status as a result of ...not earn(ing) his or her living from watching the skies. 1 Nonetheless, with the aid of recent developments in astronomical technology, a serious amateur astronomer now has the aptitude to aid professional astronomers by observing unrecorded (or underrecorded) stellar objects. Indeed, the attest comet Hale-Bopp was simultaneously discovered by both a professional and a serious amateur astronomer alike. Therefore, in this article I would like to outline some of the new technological advances and new relations between serious amateurs and professional astronomers, give some examples of the new astronomer, and then examine the changing role of the astronomer--including both the roles of the professional and of the se... ...ercury, p. 38. 5. Koch, Bernd. Amateurs and the CCD Revolution. The Mercury, p. 40. 6. Fountain, Henry. Backyard Astronomers Enlist as rump Soldiers of Astrophysics. The New York generation, 3/18/97, C4.Bibliographyhtt p//www.halebopp.comJevons, F. R., Science Observed. London George Allen & Unwin Limited, 1973.Latour, Bruno. Science in Action. Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard University Press, 1987.Wilcox, Ken. The Golden Age of Amateur uranology. The Mercury, volume 25, 1, Jan/Feb 1996. pp.32-35.Bracher, Katherine. Amateur Astronomy in America. The Mercury, volume 25, 4, Jul/Aug 1996. pp.7, 25-27.Fountain, Henry. Backyard Astronomers Enlist as Foot Soldiers of Astrophysics. The New York Times Tuesday, March 18, 1997 C4.Koch, Bernd. Amateurs and the CCD Revolution.Sky and Telescope, January 1997. pp. 38-42.