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"Can Amateurs ever know more than some Professionals?"
by the sounds of it
ummm YES
From what I have read/seen in this forum and some magazines, the plain answer to your question is yes.
I dont know much bout binary asteroids, computations et al ( still trying to get a good image of m42 and the usual's as a beginner) but Amateur Astronomers ( we) contribute a bucket load of data and obs that can/ could be considered as "professional" data....I think.
Case in point....August - Sky at Night magazine has a 'news in brief' article about our own Anthony Weslely's Jupiter Impact - and all the other publications he has had in other media. ( dont know if he is professional?.... doesn't matter.....I'm sure it helped the astronomy community in general)
I realise David my answer is not what you were pining at.......
but hey I thought I'd put my two pixels in!
Bartman
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