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How a Guy Found 4 New Planets Without a Telescope
An anonymous reader writes "Peter Jalowiczor is a gas worker from South Yorkshire, England. He's also the discoverer of four giant exoplanets, according to the University of California's Lick-Carnegie Planet Search Team. But he's not an astronomer and he doesn't even have a telescope. '...in 2005, astronomers at the university released millions of space measurements collected over several decades and asked enthusiasts to make of them what they would. ... From March 2007 Peter, 45, spent entire nights reading the data, working the figures, creating graphs. ... He then sent discrepancies he discovered back to the scientists in California where they were further analyzed to see if the quirks were caused by the existence of an exoplanet.'"
As an amateur astronomer I think the general mindset is that one cannot make a discovery of any significance without owning cutting edge hardware. Telescopes produce such mind-bending quantities of data that there is much opportunity for someone with some patience and an inquiring mind to add to the knowledge-base.
Surely also a brilliant argument of the power of publicly available data.
Um no. Typically the guys up in the middle of the night taking a series of long exposures are NOT the multiple PHD astronomers. It's college kids working on their Masters or Phd. Running a telescope is actually quite easy, you do what the Researcher asks, and then deliver the data. It's been this way for a while now. you dont have the old guy spending all night looking through an eyepiece with the guide motor controller in hand. In fact a friend of mine that works at UofM astronomy was making observations during the daytime by using a scope in Australia and had the data and images sent to him, he then did the processing.
The only telescope that requires rocket scientists to operate it is Hubble.
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
You may find this link useful.
Zooniverse has recently launched a new project using data from Kepler. You can create a profile at Planet Hunters and look for planet transits. IMO it's the most exciting project they've launched. Sure you're not naming the planets, but you are aiding the search.