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I, like others, am very sad to see the demise of all the older land based observatories and the equipment and infrastructure they supported.
Regards amateurs...well I'd love to agree 200% that there will be a resurgence of amateur capablities ( reminiscences of the Victorian Gentlemen astronomers) but.......
From what I've seen in the past few years, schools, colleges and universities have lost the capablity to train students. And many of the current X-Y-Z generation unfortunately don't have the rigor and dedication needed to apply themselves to serious amateur astronomy.
Sure, there will always be a small minority of amateurs who will do the extra mile....but there's not that many even on a global scale.
I struggle to get amateurs interested and develop a capability in spectroscopy.
This branch of astronomy has contributed more than 80% of all the knowledge we have of the universe, yet we ignore it!
I've been chastised by professional spectroscopists for even trying to consider amateur contributions to the "science" - I should not be encouraging them to start in an area where the "minimum" level of education would/should be a first or second degree in mathematics/ physics.
I disagree.
Onwards and Upwards.
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