Discoveries By Amateur Astronomers
While most amateur astronomers practice the hobby purely for pleasure, there is no denying the fact that amateurs have made some very important astronomical discoveries.
In fact, legions of amateur astronomers are involved in cutting edge research in almost all aspects of astronomy, and in many cases, the work done by amateurs rival that done by professional astronomers in scope, complexity, and importance.
One good example of this is the contributions that amateur astronomers the world over are making to AAVSO, the American Association of Variable Star Observers, that has since it was founded in 1911, collected, coordinated, analysed, and published in excess of 20 million observations and light curves of variable stars. Although many observations are made by professional astronomers, by far the most are made by amateurs, and the 20 millionth observation – made by an amateur- was recorded in the database on February 19th, 2011, the 100th year of the organizations existence.
There are other examples of amateur astronomers making genuine, and valuable contributions to astronomical research, but in the case of AAVSO, the database is used by professional astronomers, and the work of amateurs is regularly cited in research papers that are published in science journals by professional astronomers.
However, since there are about 20 amateur astronomers for every professional in the world today, amateurs spend a lot more time watching the sky, which is why they make the kinds of discoveries they do. Professionals do not have the equipment, or observing time on large telescopes to spend days or even weeks looking for something out of the “ordinary”, and many collaborations between professionals, who have the training to analyse data, and amateurs, who have the time to collect data exist today.
What follows is a short list of important discoveries made by amateur astronomers- some of which have the professionals stumped.
When Robert Evans built his first refractor in high school using a cardboard tube, a spectacle lens and an old eyepiece, not even he thought he would one day hold the world record for visually spotting exploding stars Continue reading
In collaboration with a group of amateur astronomers, calling themselves the Center for Backyard Astrophysics (CBA), professional researchers have discovered a star that increased its luminosity by five orders of magnitude in one day. Continue reading
A new class of galaxies was recently discovered by a group of amateur astronomers. Through a project named Galaxy Zoo, which was launched by a group of professional astronomers from Britain, a group of about 230 000 volunteers from all around the world identified the new type of galaxies, called “Green Peas”, by scanning through about a million archived images Continue reading
It is highly unlikely that Edwin Hubble would have been able to prove that the Universe consisted of more than the Milky Way had it not been for Henrietta Swan Leavitt, one of many rank amateurs who was hired by the Director of Harvard College Observatory, Continue reading
William Herschel may be remembered as an outstanding observer and telescope maker, but it was not always so. While Herschel had always been interested in astronomy, he was a professional musician when he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781, which was what brought him to the notice of the professional astronomers Continue reading
Do some surface features on Enceladus roll like a conveyor belt? A leading interpretation of images taken of Saturn’s most explosive moon indicate that they do. This form of asymmetric tectonic activity, very unusual on Earth, likely holds clues to the internal structure of Enceladus, which may contain subsurface seas where life might be able to Continue reading
Although many strange happenings have been observed on Mars, the 120-mile high plume that was discovered by amateurs in 2012 was the strangest by far. Clouds and auroras previously observed only reached altitudes of about 80 miles, and this particular plume remains a mystery. Continue reading
