Something a little sad for astronomers :(

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Originally Posted by brian nordstrom

One good thing is that the Meade 16inch is set up robotically so schools around the world can book scope time and still do real world astronomy .

Its cool to watch this scope doing it's thing knowing it is being controlled by a student in France or somewhere , cool cookies .

Brian..

Hi Brian - the 16" is only a visual scope. You're thinking of the Meade 12 mounted on the PME in the roll-off roof shed.
Cheers,
Andrew.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

OOPS , yes you are right there , I know what you mean about finding time , with me its work , it always needs me at the wrong times .
Brian.

Originally Posted by alocky

Hi Brian - the 16" is only a visual scope. You're thinking of the Meade 12 mounted on the PME in the roll-off roof shed.
Cheers,
Andrew.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by raymo

I think there is a drop off in interest in technical/scientific hobbies, brought
about by the very significant increase in the number of students that are
dropping maths and the sciences in their later secondary school years so
that they can graduate more easily by doing the "easier subjects".
It follows that if you are not up to speed with maths/science, you're
unlikely to get into a hobby that requires at least a modicum of knowledge
of those two subjects.
raymo

Follow the money. Entry wages for an applied science degree (math/physics) $58k per annum if you're lucky enough to get a job. Middle management (marketing/evangelist/bullsh|t/<place your career of choice here>) $130k min. Kids are not stupid. Why try harder? That's the sad truth of economics to the delight of pollies. Nobody likes smart voters.

[grimsay (Iain)]

Originally Posted by Lognic04

so i was on google trends and i decided to search astronomy. these were the results
https://www.google.com.au/trends/explore#q=astronomy

Google Trends should be taken with a grain of salt. Remember the data is relative to all searches.

I'm not saying that interest is not falling (I read somewhere it was increasing). I don't know, but looking at the graph it seems to have plateaued since 2010ish roughly.

Check out the attached which compares related phrases (this is where GT comes into its own). Colour codes: Yellow=Astronomy, Green=Jupiter, Red=Telescope and Blue=Celestron.

I'd say that a certain amount of the fall in the "Astronomy" searches is down to 2 factors:

1. Astronomy may have been more interest to the average user in the early 2000's. The internet was far less accessible... greater ratio of professional users.
2. Search terms, website content and Google becoming broader, more advanced, stable. The term "Astronomy" may have been superseded by more specific searches.

Who knows.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Universe as celestial object showed a huge spike upwards in the trends, I'd say the trends depend on the search parameters and the level of interest during that year.

[Atmos (Colin)]

I cannot post images at the moment so...

https://www.google.com.au/trends/exp...tz=Etc%2FGMT-7

Mars hasn't moved much but is definitely searched a lot with all of the media that goes with it.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Yep, Kiwi's certainly have a strong interest in Astronomy, I get a lot coming through my store in Cairns as tourists & have had a few go home with some Astro goodies :-)

Originally Posted by ZeroID

So there might be some second hand gear going cheap eh ... ? Well, you gotta look on the bright side..
Auckland Astronomical Society has well over 700 members and is growing at the rate of about 70 per year. A very publicly active group ( they run Aucklands Stardome Observatory ), meetings are held every week and usually attract 30-50 attendees. Some nights are two sessions, an earlier photog group, then a lecture\film\Planetarium session after. Very diverse age group and plenty of ladies active as well.
Seems to be growing over here with the interest in current space developments.

[dimithri86 (Dimithri)]

And at the same time interest in the Kardashians has increased by 100 times the decline in astronomy.

https://www.google.com.au/trends/exp...z=Etc%2FGMT-10

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

I would have thought with the new push for the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) subjects there would be a growing interest ?
I find both in my store and with mobile planetarium shows I do to schools, there is a strong interest. People still enjoy and will seek out the face to face and hands on experience. Online there is I guess just so much to distract people.

[bugeater (Marty)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Follow the money. Entry wages for an applied science degree (math/physics) $58k per annum if you're lucky enough to get a job. Middle management (marketing/evangelist/bullsh|t/<place your career of choice here>) $130k min. Kids are not stupid. Why try harder? That's the sad truth of economics to the delight of pollies. Nobody likes smart voters.

Exactly. Pay is rubbish, job security is rubbish, you typically need a PhD (more years of lost earnings)... plus a whole lot of other stuff I won't go into.

[Atmos (Colin)]

In astronomy you pretty much cannot get a job without having a PhD, even then there isn't a lot of job going around unless you're in radio astronomy of which Australia is one of the world leaders.

With the way it currently is in Australia, scientists spend a good portion of their time just writing grant applications (every 1-3 years) so that they can continue their research. It is a really inefficient way of running the scientific community, tens of thousands of hours are wasted every year just in red tape so that research and continue.

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by dimithri86

And at the same time interest in the Kardashians has increased by 100 times the decline in astronomy.

https://www.google.com.au/trends/exp...z=Etc%2FGMT-10

Perhaps the best thing the astronomical community could do then, is find a well targeted NEO, and then not tell anybody.