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Astronomer Photographs Meteor Through Telescope
Matt Rogers writes "Amateur astronomer Mike Hankey may be the first person on earth to take a picture of a fireball meteor through a telescope. The picture has been confirmed authentic by numerous professional astronomers and asteroid hunters. This picture could possibly be the first of its kind. Taking a picture of a meteor is a very difficult thing to do, taking a picture of a meteor through a telescope is near impossible. The hunt is on in southern PA for the meteorites that broke away from this space rock. Using Hankey's picture, as well as security tape, meteorite hunters have been able to narrow down the crash site to a smaller area. Even with the trajectory roughly determined, professional meteorite hunters think finding these meteorites may be near impossible. However if they are found they will be immensely valuable and could be very large."
'thru'? O'rly?
This has to be the most pointless post I have ever read. Everyone knows what amateur astronomer means. What the hell are you complaining about? What do you suggest we call him? An amateur telescope user?
Seriously now...
Taking a picture of a meteor is a very difficult thing to do, taking a picture of a meteor thru a telescope is near impossible.
Have we fallen so far?
I think, given the first post to this story, he should be entitled to it.
"The hunt is on in southern PA"
Where on earth is that? Port Arthur? Burkina Faso? :-)
It it hard enough to keep up with computer acronyms, so I don't really want to learn all the world's postcodes.
Please use English translation in the summary where possible. That also applies to "thru"(sic)
Calling a person an "amateur astronomer" truly minimizes the effort and dedication that "professional astronomers" put into learning their craft. Sometimes PhDs seem a little bit arrogant when they demand to be called "Doctor" rather than "Mister", but if you think about how much of their life they dedicated to studying and becoming a true expert in a field, it is quite reasonable to treat them with deference.
Today's "amateurs" are mostly hobbyists, and shouldn't be conflated with actual professionals. Amateur means someone who does something without pay, but it also implies a certain level of skill on par or slightly below professionals. Once upon a time Olympic athletes were all amateurs, but they were setting world records and competing at the very top tier. Nowadays, anyone with a 50 dollar telescope from Tasco can call themselves an "amateur astronomer" without any training whatsoever.
Are you an idiot or just a troll? Amateur does not imply a certain level of skill... in fact, it implies a certain LACK of skill. How the hell you can conflate the definition "amateur" with someone who is "on par or slight below professionals" is mind boggling. That word you're looking for to describe that already exists, and it's not "amateur." It's "Journeyman" or perhaps another word... but "amateur" is exactly the descriptive word to use for someone who does it as a "hobby." Lets take you for example... you are an amateur troll and/or internet user. You have no idea what you're doing, you're just here for fun and lulz. You are not a professional nor a journeyman. You are an AMATEUR.
You're overlooking the fact that there is no reason an amateur can't be more skilled than a professional. While the average amateur is less skilled, there certainly are amateurs in nearly every field that put most professionals to shame.
... and it's thirteen dollars. Plus, the whole thing is non-profit.
https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/
But, it seems, exclusive to the US. Know of anything similar in Europe and the rest of the world?
My UID is prime. Hah!
What rubbish. A good chuck of amateur astronomers are very "professional" in both training and practice. The professionals, ie the ones that get paid to do it full time, also work with the amateurs (often university graduate level education, its just not their day job) and do not feel minimized in any way.
The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
"amateurs" are mostly hobbyists
Yes
Amateur implies a certain level of skill on par or slightly below professionals
It implies, depending on field, a lack of resources and tools that professionals may have available. It does not imply a lack of skill or effort.