Re: Minimum amount of money to be a happy astronomer?

From: Bill Meyers (wiiliam.meyers_at_uc.edu)
Date: 08/21/04 

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:32:10 -0400

Hello, all,
        An interesting and valuable thread. Several suggestions:
        Distinguish between a newcomer, who can enter the hobby for a few
hundred dollars, with an inexpensive dob, and the long term amateur.
        Remember to divide by the number of years you have been in the hobby.
Figure out a yearly and weekly cost.
        Decide how much each observing session, which is free, has lessened the
expenditures of your entertainment budget.
        Remember that the equipment does not depreciate much, and some actually
increases in value. You can sell it, or your estate can, or you can make
it a gift. It is not a wasting asset in economic terms.
        If you are near retirement, and work an extra months or two, that will
buy a lot of equipment.
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers
        

Brian Tung wrote:
> John Bortle wrote:
>
>>Being realistic an reasonable but not taking the time to list the various
>>_necessary_ equipment, I can truthfully say that _any_ serious amateur
>>astronomer is going to require an absolute minimum of $25,000 to set himself
>>up fully.
>
>
> This is either bluster, or a definition of "serious amateur astronomer."
>
>
>>I've probably expended at least twice that amount over my own career
>>as an observer.
>
>
> Good for you. I'm sure you're a serious amateur (in your mind and in
> mine), but I'll thank you not to define "serious" for me.
>
> Brian Tung <brian@isi.edu>
> The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
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