Show Originally Aired: 1/28/2003 CALL 1 800-423-TALK
Amateurs in Space
Ed Grafton, a Houston-based amateur astronomer, recorded this view of Saturn and its majestic rings on January 5, 2003. His telescope has a 14-inch-diameter mirror, and he used a digital camera designed especially for capturing celestial objects. Email to friend
It's January. Do you know where your telescope is? Many a shiny black star finder that showed up under a Christmas tree has already found its way to oblivion in the back of the closet.
But others, set up on their spindly legs, are introducing a new generation to the rings of Saturn, which, it turns out, happen to be at their jauntiest angle right now. And at this very moment, some of those people falling in love with the night sky will stay lovers, amateurs, all their lives.
In most disciplines, the pros and the amateurs keep their distance. But in astronomy, a partnership is emerging where amateurs are doing much of the hard work, watching for asteroids that could imperil our tiny blue planet and helping to map the universe.
