I'm probably one of the (at least "formerly") frustrated scientists at heart (FSAH's). As a kid I wanted to be an astrophysict or radio astronomer - but, family & school decisions, lack of funds and "just plain lack of enough smarts" landed me in the software engineering field instead. There were times that I wished I had done some things differently but then I realized a few things. Most of the "professionally trained" astronomers end up chasing grants researching the things that OTHER people are willing to pay them for and some even end up as software engineers. <g> My stuff is certainly not on-par with their level. But, I just take my time and within my budget I pursue the things that I AM INTERESTED IN. Times are certainly changing but like Chuck mentioned Dobs & big binos are still finding a fair number of comets. I know that several amateurs search for Sun grazing comets in SOHO images. For dedicated FSAH's I think there are still a lot of exciting things to do. Kim's double star stuff sounds pretty interesting. The Pro/Am collaboration session at last years ALCON makes me think that the areas to contribute are actually growing. I'm still hoping to do asteroid and supernovae observing once I get things set up right. The beauty for us FSAH's is that there is no publish or perish. Clear skies, Dale.

-----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 10:37 AM To: Visit http://www.utahastronomy.com for the photo gallery. Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] I'd be happy with just ONE!

Remember that these people are frustrated scientists at heart. The science is more important than actual observing-in other words, their motivations diverge from most of ours. Most amateurs are "nature lovers", and enjoy the hobby for the views & social aspects. I think though, that some of us hope to conduct some type of patrol work at some point in our lives, when the kids are grown and scattered, and we can retire from the rat-race.

But take heart, most of the BIG, once-in-a-decade bright comets are still discovered visually by amateurs with small telescopes and large binoculars! Thomas Bopp was using a borrowed Dobsonian when he discovered H-B.

--- Kim Hyatt <khyatt@smithlayton.com> wrote:

...

Thanks for sharing that article Dale. I don't mean to be a complainer, but it seems the days for visual discoveries of virtually anything are almost gone. Amateurs with the means to acquire automated equipment, CCD imagers and even remotely controlled observatories are making the discoveries. However, the rest of us should never give up!