Re: Amateur research?

I am afraid that real scientific contributions by amateur astronomical
researchers are waning. After many decades of such research I see now
that the space programs have taken a lot of the wind from our sails and
even with the modern electronic imaging, that came too late, all is
left for us is to have fun doing our research. I started in this to
have fun and ended up having fun, after many years of contributing to
science. However, don't let my words get in your way.


vic20owner wrote:
Hi, I've always been interested in amatuers who are actually doing some
form of research, whether it be measuring the magnitudes of variables,
comet hunting, spectroscopy, or studying the planets in our solar
system. Hoping to promote discussion of "serious work" which might
encourage amateurs to conduct or learn to conduct their own research
projects I've created a message forum devoted to such topics. My
question is, am I dreaming too large? Are there enough amateur
astronomers out there interested in discussing such topics to keep the
forum alive? There are many amateurs out there who only need a good
excuse to build that backyard observatory. Could a healthy discussion
spawn an interest which could fulfill that need? Maybe just a place to
upload their images and discuss their findings? For some people,
accomplishing a mission can really make things more fun . I know I am
one of those people. Could this help provide that mission? I have no
idea. While daydreaming of astronomy I came up with the idea for an
amateur discussion forum centered around data gathering rather than
just observing. This forum is the result.

The forum is www.urbanastronomer.com, and naturally it's free.

Flame away... I probably deserve it for dreaming out loud.

Thanks for listening.
Tom Stock
www.UrbanAstronomer.com

.

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