Paul Schlyter:
It's an interesting fact that modern professional astronomers rarely
know the constellations. They don't need to since they just dial in
the coordinates of the object they want to observe with their big
GOTO telescopes. Or they may not even observe themselves,
professional observers observe for them. That's rational for
optimizing the use of available observing time of course, but it
certainly make you lose contact with the skies.

Right. But contact with the skies is a luxury that amateurs can enjoy.
The professional has work to do. Except that in my club we have a
number of professionals who are also amateur astronomers (STSCI, APL,
Goddard are all nearby). For the most part they don't get anywhere near
a telescope in the professional lives, but they do commune with the
skies at our star parties.

It's like if a
professional geographer didn't know where Switzerland or China or USA
were situated without looking them up on a map, and if he wanted to
go there, he just dialed in the geographical coordinates on the GPS
of his self-driving car or self-flying plane and then let it take him
there.

According to a friend of mine who is a military pilot, what the
traveling geographer really does in the modern era is board a
commercial flight where a trained pilot dials in the geographical
coordinates on the GPS of his (largely) self-flying airliner and let it
take him where he wants to go. Barring a Lion Air-type incident, that
is.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm