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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.
The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international nonprofit organization. Founded in 1911, the organization focuses on coordinating, analyzing, publishing, and archiving variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers. The AAVSO creates records that establish light curves depicting the variation in brightness of a star over time. The AAVSO makes these records available to professional astronomers, researchers, and educators.
University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory (UCMJO), previously known as Mt John University Observatory (MJUO), is New Zealand's premier astronomical research observatory. It is situated at 1,029 metres (3,376 ft) ASL atop Mount John at the northern end of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island, and was established in 1965. There are many telescopes on site including: one 0.4 metre, two 0.6 metre, one 1.0 metre, and a 1.8 metre MOA telescope. The nearest population centre is the resort town of Lake Tekapo (pop. >500). Approximately 20% of nights at UCMJO are photometric, with a larger number available for spectroscopic work and direct imaging photometry.
Leslie Copus Peltier was an American amateur astronomer and discoverer of several comets and novae, including Nova Herculis 1963. He was once described as "the world's greatest non-professional astronomer" by Harlow Shapley.
Janet Hanula Mattei was a Turkish-American astronomer who was the director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) from 1973 to 2004.
The Astronomical League is an umbrella organization of amateur astronomy societies. Currently their membership consists of over 330 organizations across the United States, along with a number of Members-at-Large, Patrons, and Supporting members.
Clinton Banker Ford was an American investor, musician and amateur astronomer specializing in the observation of variable stars.
Carolyn Hurless was an American astronomer and an American Association of Variable Star Observers merit award winner. She made an estimated 78,876 astronomical observations in her lifetime.
Richard Huziak is a Canadian amateur astronomer. The International Astronomical Union named main-belt asteroid 4143 Huziak after him. A former president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Saskatoon Centre for six years and a prominent member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, Huziak has over 181,000 observations of variable stars to his credit. He received the Chant Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2001, the Service Medal from the same organization in 2009, and Janet Mattei presented Huziak with the AAVSO's Director's Award in 2003.
Hubble search for transition comets was a study involving amateur astronomers and the use of the Hubble Space Telescope, one of only six studies involving amateur astronomers approved by NASA.
The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers is an international scientific and educational organization established in March 1947 in the United States by Walter H. Haas, and later incorporated in 1990. ALPO is an organization for advancing and conducting astronomical work by both professional and amateur astronomers who share an interest in Solar System observations. It is currently headquartered in Springfield, Illinois.
The Bortle dark-sky scale is a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's brightness of a particular location. It quantifies the astronomical observability of celestial objects and the interference caused by light pollution. John E. Bortle created the scale and published it in the February 2001 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine to help amateur astronomers evaluate the darkness of an observing site, and secondarily, to compare the darkness of observing sites.
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.
Edward A. Halbach was an American amateur astronomer and prolific variable star observer.
Radhagobinda Chandra OARF FAAVSO, FBBA, AFOEV was a Bengali astronomer. He was a pioneer of observational astronomy in the region of Bengal, comprising modern-day Bangladesh and West Bengal. He was born in Jessore, Undived Bengal, British India. Radha Gobinda is especially famous for his observation of variable stars. He observed more than 49,700 variable stars and became one of the first international members of American Association of Variable Star Observers.
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.
Walter Scott Houston was an American popularizer of amateur astronomy. He wrote the "Deep-Sky Wonders" column in Sky and Telescope magazine from 1946 to 1993.
The Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of New South Wales, Australia, founded in 1954.
BL Telescopii is a multiple star in the constellation Telescopium. An Algol-like eclipsing binary, the star system varies between apparent magnitudes 7.09 and 9.08 in just over 778 days, which is generally too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. This is mainly due to the system being an eclipsing binary. The eclipse itself dims the star by two magnitudes and lasts around 104 days.
Howard J. Brewington is an American comet discoverer and former professional telescope operator of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
References
- 1 2 3 "John E. Bortle - 2013 Leslie Peltier Award". Astronomical League. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- ↑ Bortle, John E. (February 2001). "The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale". Sky & Telescope . Sky Publishing Corporation. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
- ↑ Bortle, John E. (1998). "The Bright-Comet Chronicles".
- ↑ AAVSO Observer Records, 2016
- ↑ 1974 Comet Medalist, ASP Journal, 1974
- ↑ AAVSO Journal, Report on the 1983 Fall General Meeting
- ↑ N.E.R.A.L. website