Very nice post and PP presentation. The mutual respect all hold for the majestic heavens is a powerful common denominator. As a true rookie and amateur joining this forum a few years ago, I have benefited greatly from the knowledge and encouragement of both the profesional and non-professional. There are a number of amateurs here that you can bet your boots are right on the money regarding what they say. They seem to have the same spirit of dedication that degreed individuals exhibit, yet are limited by work or other life circumstances. Respect is earned, and some amateurs can stand tall on their merits.
No doubt, there are many levels of expertise for both the professional and amateur. No one person can know it all. Yet, there is a place for each level, especially here at BAUT. Those who have been kind enough to put time into educating amateurs like myself have made astronomy so much more rewarding. Hopefully, the teacher grows stronger, too. If not, life is still about people and encouraging one another is added incentive to continue carrying the torch.
Amateurs also are very active in promoting astronomy. Recently I was able to join the local club's Girl Scout event where about 150 or more kids, some boys, were amazed by the club's presentation. Who knows what spark will have been triggered in their young hearts and minds by these fellow amateurs. These kids are quite intelligent, too. When they were asked how fast light travels, one quickly answered that "it travels at the speed of light"!
On the more professional level for an amateur, I vaguely recall a story from the BA that surface features on a Galilean satellite, Ganymede I think, was observable by an amateur in the Phillipines(?). I also want to say that NASA planned to fund him for future monitoring. This story, however, I could not find in the BA's blog.
Somewhere in between these two amateur levles, I suppose, comes heliochromology. [It seems to be missing in your Power Point Presentation.]
