Well here's one.. what's an amateur astronomer? My wife got me pondering with this question, after she read the Venus article in the latest AS&T by Steve Massey.. quoted as "an experienced amateur astronomer".
What's the difference between an amateur astronomer and a stargazer, or someone who just looks through a telescope or binoculars at the sky?
Is an amateur astronomer someone who does astronomy related things like an astronomer, but doesn't get paid for it as a full-time job? Like analysing red-shift, spectrometry, etc etc?
Or is an amateur astronomer anyone who has an interest in the skies above and hunts down objects in their telescopes?
Are there different levels of amateur astronomer? Like, there's the guys like Steve Massey or others who do comet hunting or NEO hunting.. they don't get paid for it (I assume), so they're an amateur astronomer..
And then there's guys like me, who have an interest in astronomy and am continuing to learn more, but really, I'm not much more than a guy who looks through a telescope when the clouds let me
But then sometimes i'm called an amateur astronomer.. or maybe's that just a "wannabe astronomer"
I dunno, I guess it's a bit of a philosophical question, I just wonder if there's a general definition or commonly held belief about what an amateur astronomer is..
I'm interested in your thoughts on the topic.. and look forward to hearing from guys like Dave Reneke to see what the professionals in the biz think about this..
