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.
John Russell Hind FRS FRSE LLD was an English astronomer.
Since its founding in 1911, the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) has coordinated, collected, evaluated, analyzed, published, and archived variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers and makes the records available to professional astronomers, researchers, and educators. These records establish light curves depicting the variation in brightness of a star over time.
Alan William James Cousins FRAS was a South African astronomer. His career spanned 70 years during which time he concentrated on the measurement of variable stars, including the measurement of the two sinusoidal periods of Gamma Doradus. The UBV photometric system for measuring stellar fluxes he devised in his 1990s became a standard known as the "Cousins system".
Krisztián Sárneczky is a Hungarian teacher of geography and prolific discoverer of minor planets and supernovae, researching at Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary. He is a board member of the Hungarian Astronomical Association (HAA) and member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, leader of the Comet Section of the HAA, and is a contributor in the editorial work of Hungarian Astronomical Almanach.
Green Point Observatory is a private observatory in Oyster Bay, Sydney, Australia, and is the home of the Sutherland Astronomical Society. It is located at the corner of Green Point and Caravan Head Roads. It consists of a dome, library, 41 centimetres (16 in) Newtonian telescope, a meeting hall seating 100 people, and a roll-off roof observatory with a 35 centimetres (14 in) Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope. The observatory is used by members of the society for observing stars and eclipses, research, astro imaging as well as hosting public education courses and monthly open nights.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) is a national, non-profit, charitable organization devoted to the advancement of astronomy and related sciences. At present, there are 28 local branches of the Society, called Centres, in towns and cities across the country from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, and as far north as Whitehorse, Yukon. There are about 5100 members from coast to coast to coast, and internationally. The membership is composed primarily of amateur astronomers and also includes numerous professional astronomers and astronomy educators. The RASC is the Canadian equivalent of the British Astronomical Association.
The National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers (NACAA) is a biennial national forum for amateur astronomy in Australia.
Frank Maine Bateson was a New Zealand astronomer who specialised in the study of variable stars.
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.
Richard D. Lines was an American amateur astronomer. He started as a deep-sky observer and photographer, but later specialized in photometry of variable stars. He was a member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers and International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry (I.A.P.P.P.). Together with his wife Helen Chambliss Lines, also a keen astronomer, he built a small observatory in Mayer, Arizona. In 1962 he co-discovered the comet Seki-Lines. In 1992 he and his wife won the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for their work in the field of photoelectric photometry of variable stars. Short time after he was awarded, Richard Lines died. In 1994 the I.A.P.P.P. announced that its annual Special Award in Astronomy would carry his name as the Richard D. Lines Special Award in Astronomy.
Kamil Hornoch is a Czech astronomer who discovered dozens of novae in nearby galaxies. The main belt asteroid 14124 Kamil is named in his honour.
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.
Radhagobinda Chandra OARF FAAVSO, FBBA, AFOEV was an Indian 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.
William Ashley Bradfield was a New Zealand-born Australian amateur astronomer, notable as a prolific amateur discoverer of comets. He gained a world record by discovering 18 comets, all of which bear his name as the sole discoverer.
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.
The Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSA) was founded in 1892 and is the oldest society of its kind in Australia. It is the only representative body for amateur astronomy in the state of South Australia. It holds regular general monthly meetings, frequent meetings for members of specialised groups and has available two observatories, one with a 300mm telescope at The Heights School within easy reach of Adelaide and used primarily for public viewing, and a second at Stockport with 500mm and 450mm telescopes presently in service and a larger 36-inch instrument currently being considered.
The Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1954 and it has over 400 members.
The Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1922, making it one of the oldest such clubs in the country, and with some 1500 members it claims to be one of the largest amateur astronomy organisations in the southern hemisphere. Membership is open to all with an interest in astronomy, and the society caters for people with a wide range of ages, backgrounds, abilities and interests.
