spectrum

Amateurs New Era

ts rare to be present at a defining moment a time when things

change, a time when a paradigm shifts. Ive been lucky, attending
such events as the 1963 Texas symposium where gravitational physics
was reborn and the 1980 Tucson conference where ideas for todays
giant telescopes crystallized.
This June I may have attended another, at the summer meeting of
the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Its highlight was a full day
of presentations by amateurs and by professionals who work with them
the first such happening in
190 meetings of the society.
On stage, as you might expect, were overachievers like
Don Parker, who reinvented
planetary imaging. To me, Dons
legacy goes much farther. His
work signals an epiphany to
amateurs that technology allows them to produce professional-quality work.
Yet even more significant were
presentations by folks without
international reputations. I cochaired the session with Larry Marschall
of Gettysburg College, and we got a lot of instant feedback. All the
professionals buzzed that all the amateurs did first-class jobs. And they
meant it. Lets do this every year! echoed again and again. Reaffirmation? Reawakening? Reconnection?
Technology has made amateur astronomers invaluable in many arenas
of small science a term Ive understood only in the context of little
or no money. So its important to bring every serious enthusiast into
contact with professionals, so he or she can be guided toward promising
avenues and coached in the way science is done.
If the trend we see today is a guide, research-oriented amateurs will
tend to flourish as individuals, or in small, project-specific groups,
rather than as members of a collective with an omnibus program.
Given both the capability and freedom modern technology offers, why
shouldnt amateurs think and work independently? As Albert Van Helden
and Thomas Hankins wrote: Because instruments determine what can
be done, they also determine . . . what can be thought. Thoughts from
collectives usually bore me because they stress commonality rather
than individuality.
Where to go from here? Further sessions at AAS meetings seem obvious. I also think pro/am sessions at major amateur gatherings would
be extremely popular. Organizer Alert!

September 1997 Sky & Telescope

1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

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