G
George N
Guest
If you're a professional astronomer, do you still use a small telescope to observe the skies? What kind of work do they do?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
C
cOsmO
Guest
Professional astronomers do a wide variety of different projects, using different instruments. Some are small, and some are large.
The "work" consists of finding some aspect of astronomy that is unknown, and then trying to fill that gap in our knowledge. Many different techniques are used.
The "work" consists of finding some aspect of astronomy that is unknown, and then trying to fill that gap in our knowledge. Many different techniques are used.
G
Geoff G
Guest
I would say that most professional astronomers rarely use a small telescope, if they ever did. Most professional astronomers do not have roots in amateur astronomy, but came into astronomy through physics or mathematics. A notable exception is my friend Roberto Abraham, who is a distinguished astrophysicist and an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. While working atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, he often observes with his small refractor from the observatory floor!
The Lazy Astronomer
New member
I'm not a professional astronomer but I do work in Astronomical research and work with a great many professional astronomers. There are 2 categories of professionals - the theorists and the observers. The theorists, in general, have never and will never use a telescope of any kind. Most have no idea how to even operate a telescope (I kid you not).
Observational astronomers either use telescopes directly (ie hire out time on telescopes for programmed work) or form research groups where they directly rely on observational data from others (including amateurs). I am a member of 2 such groups (BINAST and MicroFUN) where I supply photometric data in the search for Binary Asteroids and photometric observation of Microlensing events in the search of Extra Solar Planets.
'Small' telescopes is a relative term. Amateus with scopes as small as 8" and CCD cameras are more than capable of assisting in research areas such as Supernovea, Cataclysmic Variable Stars, Binary Stars, all forms of Planetary Sciences and in particular Comet and Asteroid research and much, much more.
Why are 'amateur' scopes used? They are cheap to access (ie free) and the professionals can still control the quality of the data that they get.
Observational astronomers either use telescopes directly (ie hire out time on telescopes for programmed work) or form research groups where they directly rely on observational data from others (including amateurs). I am a member of 2 such groups (BINAST and MicroFUN) where I supply photometric data in the search for Binary Asteroids and photometric observation of Microlensing events in the search of Extra Solar Planets.
'Small' telescopes is a relative term. Amateus with scopes as small as 8" and CCD cameras are more than capable of assisting in research areas such as Supernovea, Cataclysmic Variable Stars, Binary Stars, all forms of Planetary Sciences and in particular Comet and Asteroid research and much, much more.
Why are 'amateur' scopes used? They are cheap to access (ie free) and the professionals can still control the quality of the data that they get.
F
fiona
Guest
No. It seems many people have a distorted idea of what an "astronomer" does. The job doesn't really exist, and it is certainly not simply sterring a telescope around and looking at whatever you fancy. You have astrophysicists and telescope operators. The operators are generally regarded as junior to the astrophysicists.
Most of my raw data comes in from research grade scopes that are not even in the country. I have only a limited say in what is imaged since telescope time is expensive and budgets are limited. That forms the bulk of your data.
The university does have a couple of 30" scopes for follow up and fast turnaround work. If I want to use one of those I don't drive out to it. I fill in a request form, get it countersigned if it involves a lot of work, and stick it in the operator's pigeon hole. It usually takes about a week before I am notified that the results are on the file server. I never actually operate a scope myself. An operator's time is cheaper than mine and they are more skilled at the job as well.
Most of my raw data comes in from research grade scopes that are not even in the country. I have only a limited say in what is imaged since telescope time is expensive and budgets are limited. That forms the bulk of your data.
The university does have a couple of 30" scopes for follow up and fast turnaround work. If I want to use one of those I don't drive out to it. I fill in a request form, get it countersigned if it involves a lot of work, and stick it in the operator's pigeon hole. It usually takes about a week before I am notified that the results are on the file server. I never actually operate a scope myself. An operator's time is cheaper than mine and they are more skilled at the job as well.
G
guderian93
Guest
If you a professional astronomer and you generally need good equipment, meaning larger more expensive telescopes (or even the largest if you work at an observatory). If your just plotting easily visible stars and stuff like that there's no point in using a large telescope, so I'm sure many astronomers have several smaller ones. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes - most spend a few weeks per year observing, and the rest of their time reducing the data (changing it from raw data to processed images) and analyzing it. Many astronomers work entirely from astronomical survey or space observatory data. Others work with radio telescopes like the Very Large Array, which is entirely automated, although it is maintained by telescope operators.
E
eri
Guest
The smallest telescope I use on a regular basis has a 0.6 meter primary mirror, used for following up on transient objects on short time scales. But most astronomers will use 4m class telescopes or larger for much of their work, if they do use telescopes for their work. Small telescopes can be useful for things that change on short time scales, bright objects, and survey work.