As a child I was fascinated by the Mount Palomar telescope, then the largest in the world. I never grew up to be the scientist I wanted to be, but I kept my interest in science, as have many others, I am sure. And the world demands credentials -- can't fly a helicopter without pilot's license, can't do brain surgery without med school diploma, etc. etc.
One science is still open to amateurs however, and that is astronomy. Aside from the general thrill of observing things in space -- I remember being thrilled to see Jupiter's moons through a telescope -- significant scientific discoveries have been made by amateur astronomers, see for example here and here.
Image 1: Backyard observatory. Attribution: Adam Evans
One of the dreams of the amateur is to have one's own observatory, although I can't claim to own one myself ("too many obsessions" quoth Mrs. Peril). There are several types of such observatories. A relatively simple type is a shed with a roof that rolls off on a track, like my old college had in a wheatfield in the middle of the
the Palouse. This type of observatory is rather easy to build, and leaves more money for a nicer telescope.
For astrophotography, even the simplest observatory requires that a telescope post be set firmly and precisely in the ground, ideally in concrete, and separate from the floor of the observatory. The post cannot simply sit on the observatory floor, as the vibrations transmitted from the floor to the telescope from human movement would ruin any photographs. Also, to permit precise observation, the precise longitude and latitude of the telescope on the surface of the earth must be known. Setting the telescope mounting in concrete facilitates this. Power supply, internet access (after all, the Internet was designed for science) and red night lighting are also important.
Image 1 shows a DIY observatory built circa 2008 by Mr. Adam Evans, a Toronto astronomer, whose webpage (Sky Candy) is here, showing some of his wonderful astrophotography. (Amateur astronomers tend to use their own names on their blogs and images so I will follow that custom in this post.) And here's a video collection of roll-off shed observatories.
Image 2: Upton Farm Observatory (UFO). Attrib: David Illig
Other amateur astronomers prefer an actual observatory dome, and there are dome manufacturers whose product will meet this desire. (No, I am not a shill for them!). Anyway, it
seems like an observatory should be round, no?
Image 3: Upton Farm Obs. (UFO), interior. Attrib: David Illig
Image 2 shows an observatory built by Mr. David Illig in his backyard in Maryland. You can see some of the construction process on Mr. Illig's blog
here. Note the heavy duty bolts and support for the large telescope.
One of the things about having your own observatory is that you can give it a name of your choice. In Mr. Illig's case, he chose to name it after his late father-in-law, giving it he name Upton Farm Observatory, or (just coincidentally, I'm sure!) UFO for short.
Of course a telescope and a dedicated home observatory are expensive, but if you unplugged your cable TV (heaven forfend!), you'd have them both paid for in a few years. But one doesn't need any of this to enjoy amateur astronomy. There are numerous community observatories around the country, such as the one founded by the Rotary Club in Placerville, CA, or the Haggert Observatory at Clackamas County Community College, in Oregon City, Oregon. (BTW, can I make an aside here about how important community colleges are? They are and they deserve our support.)
Image 4: L'Osservatorio ORSA di Ventimiglia di Sicila.
Attribution: Gerlos
One of the most remarkable persons in modern science was
John Dobson (1915-2014). A genuinely original thinker, Dobson popularized a
low-cost but scientifically advanced telescope design which was intended primarily for viewing, rather than photography.
The amateur astronomer might seem like an updated version of Froederick Frankenstein ("That's FRONK-en-steen"), working his creation in a lab in a castle on a mountain-top. Attractive as that option may sound, there are many other avenues. I mentioned the community observatories, there is also the possibility of pooling resources by forming a good old-fashioned club.
Image 4 shows some happy Italians from an astronomy club in Ventimiglia, Sicily, shown on 3 Jan 2012 with their homebuilt observatory and (very large) homebuilt telescope. This is an impressive achievement for an amateur club. (See their very cool website here
And now for the audio-visual portion of our presentation. (Did I mention how I never got to operate the film projector in third grade? Well, here's my revenge.
Here's a backyard dome built, apparently with a larger neighbouring dome, in the UK. Obviously a fair amount of $ (or is that £ ?) went into this, but see my observation above about the relative cost of cable TV, etc.
And here are some Greeks testing a frame for a home dome.
A big problem with DIY astronomy is light pollution. But who can afford to have a house out in Harney County, Oregon, (pop. 3 jackrabbits) 350 miles away from your job? The solution of course is the mobile observatory.
Astronomy used to be the realm solely of the rich. But all the explosion of technology brings it within the reach of pretty much everyone. We are right to recognize the dangers of information technology, for example, NSA and the turn-key dictatorship it's created. But the same technology liberates almost everyone to become at least in some way an explorer or a scientist.