Filipp Romanov, an amateur astronomer, recently discovered a pair of asteroids. This discovery highlights the trend of amateur astronomers moving their efforts online. Remote telescopes are now available worldwide, offering observing time.
Amateur astronomers have discovered NEOs and extended the arcs of known asteroids many years into the past. They have also improved the orbit calculations.
Other discoveries made by amateur astronomers include:
- 300 asteroids
- A galaxy with a small-aperture amateur telescope
- An F-type star with unusual dimming events
- A debris disk around a star with a companion white dwarf
- Comets
- Supernovae
Remote telescopes offering observing time worldwide are now becoming available. A pair of recent asteroid discoveries made by amateur astronomer Filipp Romanov highlights this trend. Universe Today caught up with Filipp recently, to find just how he did it.
Amateur astronomers enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. They may study the Moon, the Sun, or other solar system objects. They may also enjoy timing occultations, observing variable stars, or finding faint deep-sky objects, like nebulae and galaxies.
Amateur astronomers can help a great deal by observing the sky and watching out for anything unusual. They have been the first to spot new comets, asteroids, supernova, and even impacts on Jupiter.
Stargazing is a hobby that can be enjoyed by all ages and experience levels. It’s an activity that requires minimal equipment and can be done in any location with clear skies away from light pollution.
Astronomers make discoveries by observing celestial objects and collecting data on them. They use ground-based equipment, such as optical telescopes, and space-based equipment, such as the Hubble Space Telescope.
Telescopes detect radiation from celestial objects such as stars, galaxies, and planets. By collecting this radiation, astronomers can make important discoveries about the properties and behavior of these objects.
Research techniques include:
Observations, Theory, Numerical simulation, Advanced data analysis, Laboratory astrophysics, Detector development.
Astronomers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to analyze the data. They are also using neural networks to dig deeper into the universe than ever before.
Becoming a professional astronomer is considered difficult. Some say the field is competitive, demanding, and highly educated. There are only about 6,000 professional astronomers in the world.
Astronomy is considered a challenging science. It covers a wide range of advanced physics concepts, such as gravity, relativity, quantum mechanics, astrochemistry, and cosmology. These concepts can take time and effort to fully grasp.
Astronomy also requires advanced knowledge of technical and mathematical processes. Many employers prefer astronomers to hold advanced degrees, such as a PhD in Astrophysics.
Other challenges of being an astronomer include:
- The nature of scientific progress means that failure will feature just as frequently as success
- The working hours can be long when trying to complete an extensive data project or work through complicated algorithms
- Distances within the universe are extremely vast and hard for the human mind to comprehend
However, a career as an astronomer is considered highly prestigious and rewarding. As of November 5, 2023, the average monthly pay for an astronomer in the United States is $4,565.( source google)
Amateur astronomers do not use the field of astronomy as their primary source of income or support, and usually have no professional degree in astrophysics or advanced academic training in the subject. Most amateurs are hobbyists, while others have a high degree of experience in astronomy and may often assist and work alongside professional astronomers.Many astronomers have studied the sky throughout history in an amateur framework; however, since the beginning of the twentieth century, professional astronomy has become an activity clearly distinguished from amateur astronomy and associated activities.
Amateur astronomers typically view the sky at night, when most celestial objects and astronomical events are visible, but others observe during the daytime by viewing the Sunand solar eclipses. Some just look at the sky using nothing more than their eyes or binoculars, but more dedicated amateurs often use portable telescopes or telescopes situated in their private or club observatories. Amateurs can also join as members of amateur astronomical societies, which can advise, educate or guide them towards ways of finding and observing celestial objects. They can also promote the science of astronomy among the general public.
Collectively, amateur astronomers observe a variety of celestial objects and phenomena. Common targets of amateur astronomers include the Sun, the Moon, planets, stars, comets, meteor showers, and a variety of deep sky objects such as star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. Many amateurs like to specialise in observing particular objects, types of objects, or types of events which interest them. One branch of amateur astronomy, amateur astrophotography, involves the taking of photos of the night sky. Astrophotography has become more popular with the introduction of far easier to use equipment including, digital cameras, DSLR cameras and relatively sophisticated purpose built high quality CCD cameras.
The majority of scientific contributions by amateur astronomers are in the area of data collection. In particular, this applies where large numbers of amateur astronomers with small telescopes are more effective than the relatively small number of large telescopes that are available to professional astronomers. Several organizations, such as the American Association of Variable Star Observers and the British Astronomical Association, exist to help coordinate these contributions.
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