Quote:
Originally Posted by higginsdj
There are 2 things that separate the amateur from the professional. First is that an amateur does not get paid for doing it. Second is that the amateur does not have the relevant scientific background/qualifications.
|
That's not necessarily the case. Sure, many observers may lack the background and quals, but not all of them.
Quote:
|
As an observer, I am likely far more experienced that many professionals and this is perhaps one of the qualities that makes me desirable to various professional programs - reliability.
|
Define that experience. Professionals reduce data. Those data may be collected by amateurs such as yourself, or just as likely - if not more so - by highly-reliable automated instruments owned and operated by professionals and professional institutions. It's true that very few pros have ever spent much time at an eyepiece (i.e. as amateur astronomers), but there aren't too many professional astronomers who didn't do the hard yards in other ways when they were coming up. Like most people, they have to start at the bottom.
BTW, I'm not for a moment suggesting you don't make important and valuable contributions, but we need to be clear and specific here.