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To address my critics
Hello Amateur Astronomers,
In my most recent post regarding the seemingly intense growth in electronic knick-knacks at the expense and demise of observational astronomy, might I take this opportunity to address those who seemingly have misinterpreted my claims. One astronomer acerts he has been down the pencil sketching route and over the years has diversed into CCD astrophotography. I take my hat off to this gentleman who like myself served no doubt many years apprenticeship, honing his observational skills. My criticisms are more aimed at those who spend £3000 on a telescope today, £1000 on a CCD camera tomorrow, publish a picture of the Great Orion Nebula and call themselves expert astronomers. Firstly why publish yet another blurred picture? I can observe this much better first hand without requiring any electronic equipement? Indeed why bother at all? What do you hope togain of benefit in publishing pictures like this ad nauseum? Our libraries abound with books depicting better pictures of this nebula than can ever be taken using an amateur CCD. I would befit newcomers much more to learn how to properly use a telescope, and ones eyes before entering into this branch of our science. Where are all the observation logs from these great astronomers? Probably they don't exist, better to take one picture, publish it on the internet, call ourselves astronomers and pack up for another year, having gotten out name into the so called Amateur Astronomers Hall of Fame. Over the past months I have seen no observations worth reading.....sorry but the art is definately dead...replaced by Mr Bloggs with his £3000 telescope with which to impress his next door neighbours...pathetic really!!! Greg Dortmond |
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"Greg Dortmond" wrote in message om... Hello Amateur Astronomers, I'm sorry. It seems I've misjudged you. Now, Greg, where can we find your observation logs, sketches, tips for beginning amateurs, tips on making the most of limited equipment ? Why don't you post some here ? Jeroen. |
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Greg Dortmond wrote:
Indeed why bother at all? What do you hope togain of benefit in publishing pictures like this ad nauseum? Because we're doing this as a hobby, not a profession. As such we like to share our results, poor though they may sometimes be. That's not the point though, is it? It's better to keep trying than to give up the first time we get shot down by elitist idiots. Our libraries abound with books depicting better pictures of this nebula than can ever be taken using an amateur CCD. You could also argue against buying any optical equipment at all in that case - after all, even those £3000 'scopes aren't going to show you M42 in anything like as much detail as the Hubble Archive, are they? I'm not belittling your experience - far from it. However, the hobby will always use the latest technology. It moves on. I've yet to see any evidence that it loses anything by this. Jim -- AIM/iSight:JCAndrew2 - Log in and say 'hi' "We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons |
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"Pete Lawrence" wrote
I'll assume you're not trolling. I maybe wrong but you do have some substance in your posts... My criticisms are more aimed at those who spend £3000 on a telescope today, £1000 on a CCD camera tomorrow, publish a picture of the Great Orion Nebula and call themselves expert astronomers. Firstly why publish yet another blurred picture? Why not? It provides yet another benchmark for people looking to get into the hobby and what to know what their equipment is capable of. If these images didn't exist on the net then I for one would have been very happy with my blurred image of Mars earlier this year. Seeing other people's image made me go back and review my techniques, pushing my equipment's limits further and further. Absolutely. I don't even have a telescope. Yet I often enjoy looking at the pics other people here post links to, and I'm sometimes really impressed. Indeed why bother at all? What do you hope togain of benefit in publishing pictures like this ad nauseum? Refinement of technique. Pride in being able to capture the images that only large professional observatories were able to capture a few years ago. Again, yes. I always get impressed when I see pictures of nebulae showing real colours. I would befit newcomers much more to learn how to properly use a telescope, and ones eyes before entering into this branch of our science. It might be(ne)fit you (Mr. Dortmund) to learn how to use apostrophes, although I can't tell from your email address whether you're English. But I always rant about poor English, so don't worry too much! Over the past months I have seen no observations worth reading.....sorry but the art is definately dead...replaced by Mr Bloggs with his £3000 telescope with which to impress his next door neighbours...pathetic really!!! No, it's not pathetic, IMO. And John Doe next door is far too thick and into football to be impressed by a telescope anyway, so that argument falls at the first. If you have the money to do that, then good luck to you. I'm not gonna be overly jealous (and your post suggests a hint of jealousy). It may well be true that someone rich with a nice 'scope may not be as knowledgeable as a less-well-off, dedicated observer; nevertheless, IMO, that does not detract from the validity of the rich person's interest in her hobby. Also, as has been mentioned here numerous times, there exists software to stack, and otherwise enhance, CCD-captured images, which yields a definite benefit to that method of observation. Long may it continue that people post URLs to the images that they're proud of. I, for one, enjoy them. Martin -- M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890 Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk |
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"Fleetie" wrote
It might be(ne)fit you (Mr. Dortmund) to learn how to use apostrophes, And it might benefit me to get people's names right. Sorry. It's "Dortmond", of course. Martin -- M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890 Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk |
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In message , Greg
Dortmond wrote Rant snipped for brevity Hello Amateur Astronomers, One astronomer acerts he has been down the pencil sketching route and over the years has diversed into CCD astrophotography. I take my hat off to this gentleman who like myself served no doubt many years apprenticeship, honing his observational skills. My criticisms are more aimed at those who spend £3000 on a telescope today, £1000 on a CCD camera tomorrow, publish a picture of the Great Orion Nebula and call themselves expert astronomers. Where are all the observation logs from these great astronomers? Probably they don't exist, better to take one picture, publish it on the internet, call ourselves astronomers and pack up for another year, having gotten out name into the so called Amateur Astronomers Hall of Fame. Over the past months I have seen no observations worth reading.....sorry but the art is definately dead...replaced by Mr Bloggs with his £3000 telescope with which to impress his next door neighbours...pathetic really!!! So you are saying that I can only carry on with this hobby I have just started if I am able to produce a neatly written journal of what I have observed including clear accurate detailed sketches. Well excuse me but that attitude (as indicated in some of the books I looked at when young) is part of what kept me away for 30 odd years. I had then (as now) fairly poor hand writing and terrible drawing skills. The impression that you had to make your own telescope from scratch didn't help. -- Roger 52:54:41N 01:30:05W Orion 127mm Maksutov. |
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#10
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On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 18:36:52 -0700, Xemus younger brother
wrote: Ah - the classic troll pal follow up (or is it the same person?). Do they sit in their bedrooms thinking up ways that they think they can bait certain newsgroups? I wonder if they keep logs of how successful they have been? -- Pete Lawrence http://www.pbl33.co.uk Come and visit the "Lunar Parallax Demonstration Project" |
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