Amatör Gökbilimcilerin Değişen Yıldız Araştırmalarına ve Genelde Gökbilime Katkıları

Abstract

Contributions of Amateur Astronomers to Variable Star Research and Astronomy in General : It might be surprising to many people that astronomy is unique among the sciences in which amateurs can and do play an important role. Amateur astronomers frequently and increasingly make vaaluable contributions to astronomical research, amateurs can go for time-consuming activities such as comet and asteroid hunting, variablestar observing, novae and supernovae searching, making lunar and planetary observations and more ! In addition to that, observing time at the major observatories is limited and it is not that easy to come by. This leaves open areas in which a dedicated amateur can make a significant sontribution. Some of the tasks only Professional astronomers were able to perform in most of the 20th century, are being done by amateurs today almost to the same degree as professionals. Commercially avaiable affordable equipments, not having observing time restriction as in Professional observatories and being scattered around the globe geographically are some of the factors that are making the amateur contributions soar. It is what we call “Backyard Astronomy” after all.