Doing What You Can With What You’ve Got

Presenter(s): Robert Kaufman

Affiliation(s): Astronomical Society of Victoria; Bright Astronomy Club Inc

Session details: Posters

Abstract

The drive to produce high-quality amateur scientific data may involve the use of expensive hardware and the mastery of complex software. The pursuit of excellence can produce a tunnel-vision view of amateur participation in astronomy science, inhibiting wider engagement in this rewarding field and reducing the pool from which people who want to take it further would naturally arise. This poster presents a case-study of a whole variety of fields that amateurs can participate in with minimal equipment and basic software if any, and still produce data that is valuable in its own right.

Biography

Rob Kaufman is a Heritage Consultant who lives in North East Victoria and works throughout the state. A lifelong interest in astronomy and an obsessive personality disorder have wrecked his life. Sadly, he was forced to give up beer in order to fund the purchase of a telescope. Adding to the indignity, wild women were cut from his life when he needed a DSLR and all that went with it. Cigarettes are now teetering on a knife-edge as he contemplates his next purchase. Is there no end to his deprivations?