Seeing in the Dark: How backyard stargazers are probing deep space and guarding Earth from interplanetary peril by Timothy Ferris, Simon & Schuster, $26, ISBN 0684865793
ASTRONOMY is one of the few sciences that embraces the amateur as well as the professional. The reason is historical. In the mid-19th century the amateur was at the forefront. We鈥檙e not talking here of dabblers or hobbyists: these were people of independent means, glad to use their personal fortunes and time to advance knowledge.
There were no pleas for taxpayers鈥� money. Amateurs simply got on with it, and leapt into telescopic spectroscopy, double-star astronomy and galactic cosmology, as well as the study and mapping of solar, lunar and planetary surfaces. They responded swiftly to new opportunities, unfettered by grants committees and peer reviews. Amateurs designed and provided their own instrumentation and chose their own area of interest. Theirs was a labour of scientific love.
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Amateurs led the way at the time, with the professionals plodding along behind, but only after new research topics were shown to be worth pursuing and worthy of the support of public funding.
Then two things changed. First, astronomy became more theoretical and mathematical. The amateur tended to leave these aspects to the university fellow. Then telescopes started to get bigger. The desire to image ever fainter and ever more distant objects led to very expensive, giant instruments perched on distant mountain tops, beyond the reach of the amateur.
But amateur astronomy came out of the doldrums in the late 1950s, spurred on by the burgeoning space race, publicity about Comet Arend-Roland, and the appearance on television of infectious enthusiasts such as Patrick Moore and, later, Carl Sagan.
Then equipment such as cheap, high-speed film and personal computers linked to electronic imaging devices started to appear, allowing the amateurs to catch up on the technical side. Before long, they were monitoring auroral activity, meteor showers, variable star brightness and planetary weather. They discovered asteroids, comets, novae and supernovae. They had time and enthusiasm in abundance, and by now there are about 10 times as many experienced amateur astronomers as professionals.
In Seeing in the Dark, Timothy Ferris has written a book about amateur astronomers for amateur astronomers. He mixes interviews with some of the world鈥檚 most successful amateurs with general descriptions of the characteristics and relevance of the objects they observe.
Ferris has an enviable talent for explaining the magnificence of the night sky, and you feel drawn to go outdoors, look up and wonder. As a well-known Californian amateur astronomer and science writer, he brings out the best from the people he has interviewed. Their skill and dedication is obvious. I was also fascinated by how these amateurs continually push their instruments and techniques to the limit.
Rightly, Ferris pats the amateurs on the back, lauds their status and praises their work. But he also introduces a subliminal undertone of inverted snobbery. I often felt transported into an astronomers鈥� version of Orwell鈥檚 Animal Farm, being encouraged, sheep-like, to bleat not 鈥渇our legs good, two legs bad鈥�, but 鈥渁mateurs good, professionals bad鈥�.
This is a shame, as there is plenty of room in astronomy for both. Symbiosis, not rivalry, should be encouraged. We have a lot to learn from each other.
Ferris clearly understands what makes the amateur tick, and explains it. But I wish that he had spent more time with the professionals. Concentrating on our narrow specialities may not allow us to know every intricacy of the celestial constellations, but there is a deep satisfaction in knowing that your work in astronomy is of such a standard that people are willing to pay you to do it.