A stellar opportunity for amateurs.A stellar opportunity for amateurs Attention amateur astronomers: Bring out your best ideas for stargazing star·gaze intr.v. star·gazed, star·gaz·ing, star·gaz·es 1. To gaze at the stars. 2. To daydream. Noun 1. , and you may get to try them on the space telescope. Riccardo Giacconi Riccardo Giacconi (born October 6,1931) is an Italian-born American Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist. Biography Born in Genoa, Italy, he received a degree from the University of Milan before moving to the US to pursue a career in astrophysics research. , director of NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST; in orbit since 1990) and for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST; scheduled to be launched in 2013). in Baltimore, is offering part of his time on the Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. (HST (1) See Hubble Space Telescope. (2) An earlier asymmetrical modem protocol from U.S. Robotics that included error control and compression and transmits from 4800 to 14400 bps in one direction and from 300 to 400 bps in the other. ) to a fea amateur astronomers. The idea, he says, is not only to reward amateurs for their contributions to astronomy, but also to allow the HST to benefit from good amateur ideas. "At long last, there seems to be recognition by the professional community of the contributions amateur astronomers are capable of," says George D. Ellis of Ft. Worth, Tex., president of the Astronomical League, the largest U.S. amateur astronomy association. At least since the late 18th century, when orchestra conductor William Herschel discovered URanus, amateurs have been making substantial contributions to astronomy. Today, thousands of amateuars around the world look for stars that vary in brightness, measure star sizes, observe asteroids This is a list of numbered minor planets, nearly all of them asteroids, in sequential order. As of late September 2007 there are 164,612 numbered minor planets, and many more not yet numbered. Most asteroids are ordinary and not particularly noteworthy. passing in front of stars and look for unknown stars, supernovas and other objects. The time Giacconi donates may be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the amateurs' ideas, according to Laura Fournier of the Space Telescope Science Institute. It will come from Giacconi's "discretionary time? (15 percent of the director's total allotment). Although the space telescope is unlikely to fly until at least mid-1988, Giacconi intends to select the winning amateurs by December of next year. He has called together a working group of representatives from seven amateur astronomy associations to solicit proposals and recommend the top five, from which he will chose up to three. "The exciting part of this project is that it really will stretch the creative thinking of the public at large," says Janet A. Mattei, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers Since its founding in 1911, the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) has coordinated, collected, evaluated, analyzed, published, and archived variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers and makes the records available to professional in Cambridge, MAss. Application kits are to be mailed out beginning in October. To request one, mail $1 to HST Amateur Astronomers Working Group, c/o American Association of Variable Star Observers, 25 Birch St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138. |
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