The pursuit of astronomy requires that astronomers measure the position, intensity, wavelength, polarization state, and time variability of the electromagnetic radiation coming from astronomical sources. The difficulty that we face is that the amount of energy coming from stars is microscopically small. ... By lifting this book [granted, a heavy encyclopedia] from the desk, you use more energy than astronomers have measured since the invention of the telescope.
Amateur astronomers usually know the position of their object of interest in advance; they read it out from a catalog. They know the intensity, by looking up the magnitude of the object. They know the wavelength of the radiation, which for stars determines the spectral class. The spectral class for most stars is available in the same catalog they found its predicted position and magnitude. Polarization state and time variability are also often cataloged.
So what do amateur astronomers contribute to the pursuit of astronomy?
Well, if they are dedicated, they can help refine the time variability curves, and the wavelength curves for variable stars. They can refine the positions and separations of double stars. These tasks call for nothing more than patience and diligence, once the necessary materials (accurately aligned mount, and equipment for photometry, or, barring this, a good visual sense of magnitude) have been built, borrowed, or bought.
But what amateurs are best equipped to contribute to the pursuit of astronomy is enthusiasm. By definition they are involved in astronomy because they love it (amateur, L. amator, "lover"). This page is dedicated to the hobby of amateur astronomy, rather than the science of astronomy. I don't yet have the technical expertise to measure double star positions and separations; I can't tell a 3rd magnitude star from a 4th magnitude star without looking the values up to be sure I'm right. But I do love the splendors of the night sky, and the calm of a still night out under the stars.
| My Astro Equipment | My Astro Books | My Astro Links | |||||
| My 6-inch f8 Cave-Astrola, built in 1976, bought 9/2000. Recently (April 2001) converted to a Dobson-inspired mount. |
My brand-new, ordered-special,just-for-me, took five months to get Stellarvue 80mm f6.Stellarvue 1010 |
Minolta Activa 7x50 Binoculars with homemade parallelogram mount
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My CG-5 w/goto
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Stellar/Deep Sky |
Solar System |
Observing Guides |
Other |
| Burnham, Celestial Handbook | Hill, A Portfolio of Lunar Drawings | Audubon Society Guide to the Night Sky | Allen, Star Names |
| Consolmagno, Turn Left at Orion | North, Observing the Moon | Burnham et al., Advanced Skywatching | Ferris, Seeing in the Dark |
| Dibon-Smith, Starlist 2000 | Phillips, Guide to the Sun | Garfinkle, Starhopping | Harrington, Star Ware |
| Jones, Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters | Price, Planet Observer's Handbook | Levy, Skywatching | Osterbrock, Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei |
| Kepple & Sommer, Night Sky Oberver's Guide | Rukl, Atlas of the Moon | Luginbuhl & Skiff, Observing Handbook & Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects | Pannekoek, A History of Astronomy |
| Tirion, Sky Atlas 2000.0 | Taylor, Observing the Sun | ||
| Tirion, Cambridge Star Atlas | Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon | ||
| Astronomy Corner | SEDS Messier Database | Eric Greene's Unofficial C8 Home Page | My Next Project |
| Astronomical Society of the Palm Beaches |
Ben's Messier List | C8 History | A Chair to make |
| Astronomical Seeing | Deep-Sky Object Common Names | A C8 site (in German) | A very nice Alt-Az mount |
| Our Moon | ARVAL's Bright Galaxy list | The Telescope Bluebook | A camlock tripod |
| The constellations | ARVAL's Bright Globulars | History of the Telescope | Folding Observing Lamp |
| Regulus | Double Star projects | Autumn Double Star Tour | |
| USNO's Data Services | |||
| Celestial Atlases | |||
Page URL: http://www.kolstad.com/ben//astro/astro.html
Copyright 2002, 2004, Ben Kolstad
Webmaster: Ben Kolstad