(meteorobs) Why don't more amateurs get it? (Meteors, that is.)

[Thomas Dorman]

Lew
My feelings is that meteor observing is not seen as
being as exciting as looking at Planets  Comets and
the world of deep sky objects.Also most of the
pictures the beginner see are of the same objects
listed above with great resolution.Meteors to the
beginner are no more than a flash of light in the sky
with no detail.Also getting into meteor observing
seems much harder and to advance in field much more
work than simply pushing a telescope from one bright
object to another.For me just keeping up with the on
going active meteors showers and sitting out side
watching meteors shoot across the sky gives me the
most joy.
I think that we just have not shown the public as
general astronomy has done that there is a place for
all in meteor observing from the beginners to the
advanced.Also I think same of the more expert in the
field put off the beginners in joining in the fun at
times. Just my view.
Regards
Thomas Dorman
Horizon City,Texas  -- Lew.Gramer at noaa.gov wrote:

> I just finished watching Timothy Ferris' hour-long
> PBS (US publicly
> supported television) special, "Seeing in the Dark",
> based on his
> well known and beautifully written book of the same
> name.
> 
> I really enjoyed his view of amateur astronomy and
> it's many joys.
> I also enjoyed seeing Barbara Wilson, Steve O'Meara
> and others
> who I've met over the years, sharing their passion
> for the hobby.
> 
> Ferris spent considerable time talking about
> amateurs' increasing
> contributions to the SCIENCE of astronomy... He
> spent much of his
> one hour in fact presenting many tools - from
> computer-controlled
> scopes, to CCDs - that amateurs use to contribute to
> science. And
> he even filmed O'Meara describing his elation when
> he discovered
> the spokes of Saturn's rings many years ago,
> *visually*.
> 
> All of this... and Mr. Ferris did not once mention
> meteors... Not the
> profound, serene simplicity of basking in a
> beautiful night sky with
> the unaided eye. Nor any mention of the central,
> almost dominant
> role we amateurs have played in the science of
> meteors either!
> 
> Somehow, in this on-air paean to all things amateur
> astronomy,
> Mr. Ferris just did not GET IT. And thousands (maybe
> millions?)
> of other potential future amateurs who view this
> program won't
> probably ever "get it" either, as a result.
> 
> 
> During this relatively quiet period of
> mid-September, I wanted to
> put a question to our forum: why is it, that
> something so simple,
> so easy, so beautiful, so significant, and so FUN,
> simply fails to
> capture the imagination of most newcomers to
> astronomy? Why
> aren't ALL our fellow amateurs out there with lawn
> chairs, before
> they even pick up their first pair of binoculars?
> What is missing?
> 
> I look forward to hearing others' views...
> 
> Clear skies all,
> Lew Gramer
> 
> ---
> Mailing list meteorobs: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email: owner-meteorobs at meteorobs.org
>
http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs
>