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Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers make contributions in doing citizen science, such as by monitoring variable stars, double stars, sunspots, or occultations of stars by the Moon or asteroids, or by discovering transient astronomical events, such as comets, galactic novae or supernovae in other galaxies.
Lynx is a constellation named after the animal, usually observed in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere. The constellation was introduced in the late 17th century by Johannes Hevelius. It is a faint constellation, with its brightest stars forming a zigzag line. The orange giant Alpha Lyncis is the brightest star in the constellation, and the semiregular variable star Y Lyncis is a target for amateur astronomers. Six star systems have been found to contain planets. Those of 6 Lyncis and HD 75898 were discovered by the Doppler method; those of XO-2, XO-4, XO-5 and WASP-13 were observed as they passed in front of the host star.
Centaurus A is a galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. There is considerable debate in the literature regarding the galaxy's fundamental properties such as its Hubble type and distance. It is the closest radio galaxy to Earth, as well as the closest BL Lac object, so its active galactic nucleus has been extensively studied by professional astronomers. The galaxy is also the fifth-brightest in the sky, making it an ideal amateur astronomy target. It is only visible from the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes.
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of 29.44 kiloparsecs (96,000 light-years). Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M☉ supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers. In late February 2022, astronomers reported that M81 may be the source of FRB 20200120E, a repeating fast radio burst.
A deep-sky object (DSO) is any astronomical object that is not an individual star or Solar System object. The classification is used for the most part by amateur astronomers to denote visually observed faint naked eye and telescopic objects such as star clusters, nebulae and galaxies. This distinction is practical and technical, implying a variety of instruments and techniques appropriate to observation, and does not distinguish the nature of the object itself.
SN 2005cs was a supernova in the spiral galaxy M51, known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. It was a type II-P core-collapse supernova, discovered June 28, 2005 by Wolfgang Kloehr, a German amateur astronomer. The event was positioned at an offset of 15″ west and 78″ south of the galactic nucleus of M51. Based on the data, the explosion was inferred to occur 2.8 days before discovery. It was considered under-luminous for a supernova of its type, releasing an estimated 3×1050 erg in energy.
Robert Owen Evans, OAM was an Australian minister of the Uniting Church in Hazelbrook, New South Wales, and an amateur astronomer who holds the record for visual discoveries of supernovae (42).
The known history of supernova observation goes back to 1006 AD. All earlier proposals for supernova observations are speculations with many alternatives.
Peter Francis Williams is an amateur astronomer from New South Wales, Australia. He specializes in early detection of declines in R Coronae Borealis-type stars and the long-term monitoring of several southern Mira variables and eclipsing binary stars. He was the first person who detected the naked-eye Nova known as V382 Velorum in 1999 and seven years later he discovered the Nova Ophiuchi 2006. Both discoveries brought him the Nova/Supernova Award of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. In 2007 he received the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He is a life member of the Sutherland Astronomical Society.
Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones was a New Zealand amateur astronomer, and a prolific variable star and comet observer, a member of the Variable Star Section and the Comet Section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand.
Michiel Daniel Overbeek, also known as Danie Overbeek, was a South African amateur astronomer and one of the most prolific variable star observers.
Thomas Boles is a Scottish amateur astronomer, discoverer of astronomical objects, author, broadcaster and former communications and computer engineer, who observes from his private "Coddenham Observatory" in Coddenham, Suffolk, United Kingdom. He is known for having discovered a record number of supernovae. The main-belt asteroid 7648 Tomboles is named in his honor.
Puckett Observatory is a private astronomical observatory located in the state of Georgia. It is owned and operated by Tim Puckett. Its primary observation goals are the study of comets and the discovery of supernovae. To facilitate the latter goal it sponsors the Puckett Observatory World Supernova Search whose astronomers have discovered 369 supernovae.
Sutherland Astronomical Society Incorporated (SASI) is an amateur astronomical society based in the Sutherland Shire, in the southern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It operates the Green Point Observatory, it is one of the two founding organizations of the National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers, and its members have discovered two comets and two novae.
SN 2010lt is a supernova located in the galaxy UGC 3378 in Camelopardalis. It was discovered by amateur astronomers Kathryn Aurora Gray, her father Paul Gray, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and David J. Lane of Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. Upon discovery, Kathryn Aurora Gray became the youngest person to ever discover a supernova, being 10 years old when she did so. The previous record was held by the 14-year-old Caroline Moore.
SN 2014J was a type-Ia supernova in Messier 82 discovered in mid-January 2014. It was the closest type-Ia supernova discovered for 42 years, and no subsequent supernova has been closer as of 2023. The supernova was discovered by chance during an undergraduate teaching session at the University of London Observatory. It peaked on 31 January 2014, reaching an apparent magnitude of 10.5. SN 2014J was the subject of an intense observing campaign by professional astronomers and was bright enough to be seen by amateur astronomers.
The Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of New South Wales, Australia, founded in 1954.
NGC 6753 is a massive unbarred spiral galaxy, seen almost exactly face-on, in the southern constellation of Pavo. It was discovered by the English astronomer John Herschel on July 5, 1836. The galaxy is located at a distance of 142 million light years from the Milky Way, and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 3,140 km/s. It does not display any indications of a recent interaction with another galaxy or cluster.
NGC 4753 is a lenticular galaxy located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. NGC 4753 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on February 22, 1784. It is notable for having distinct dust lanes that surround its nucleus. It is a member of the NGC 4753 Group of galaxies, which is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster.
John Caister "Jack" Bennett, was a South African civil servant and amateur astronomer. His mother was British and his father was from Tasmania. He attended school in Ficksburg and began to work in public service after graduating in 1934, initially in the forestry administration in Elgin before moving to the administration of Transvaal Province in Pretoria. During World War II he served as a soldier in South Africa, Egypt and Italy. In 1974 he retired from the public service. From 1985 he began to suffer from arthritis and soon afterwards his health deteriorated so much that he had to sell his house in Pretoria's Riviera neighborhood and move into a nursing home. He died on 30 May 1990 at the age of 76.
References
- ↑ "The Southern Astronomical Society Celebrates its 20th Anniversary". Astronomical Events. Southern Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 3 September 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
- 1 2 Evans, Robert (1993). Supernova Search Manual. Cambridge, USA: American Association of Variable Star Observers. ISBN 1-878174-11-8.
- ↑ "Past Amateur Achievement Winners". Astronomical Society of the Pacific . Retrieved 15 September 2007.
- ↑ Evans, Robert. "Searching for Supernovae: A More Personal Story". Research in Evangelical Revivals. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
- ↑ Supernova Search Charts and Handbook, Pack/set ICL - Abstract. The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System. 1990. Bibcode:1990ssch.book.....T.
- ↑ "Supernova Search Observing Program". American Association of Variable Star Observers. Archived from the original on 4 April 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
- ↑ Wheeler, Chris. "SAS Library". Southern Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
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