Astronomy, Telescopes

Amateur astronomy, often called back yard astronomy, is a hobby whose participants enjoy observing celestial objects. more...

It is usually associated with viewing the night sky when most celestial objects and events are visible, but sometimes amateur astronomers also operate during the day for events such as sunspots and solar eclipses.

Amateur astronomers often look at the sky using nothing more than their eyes, but common tools for amateur astronomy include portable telescopes and binoculars.

Amateur astronomy and scientific research

Unlike professional astronomy, scientific research is most often not the main goal for many amateur astronomers. Work of scientific merit is certainly possible, however, and many amateurs contribute to the knowledge base of professional astronomers very successfully. Astronomy is often promoted as one of the few remaining sciences for which amateurs can still contribute useful data.

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 organisations, such as the Center for Backyard Astrophysics , exist to help coordinate these contributions.

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