---
title: "Amateur astronomy"
chunk: 4/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_astronomy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:13:07.303431+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

There have been many significant scientific, technological, and cultural contributions made by amateur astronomers:

George Alcock, one of the most successful visual discoverers of comets and novae.
John E. Bortle,  authored '"Comet Digest" in Sky and Telescope magazine and the monthly AAVSO circular for the American Association of Variable Star Observers.  Created the Bortle scale to quantify the darkness of the night sky.
Robert Burnham Jr. (1931–1993), author of the Celestial Handbook.
Andrew Ainslie Common (1841–1903), built his own very large reflecting telescopes and demonstrated that photography could record astronomical features invisible to the human eye.
Robert E. Cox (1917–1989) who conducted the "Gleanings for ATMs" column in Sky & Telescope magazine for 21 years.
John Dobson (1915–2014), promoter of astronomy whose name is associated with the Dobsonian telescope.
Robert Owen Evans (1937–2022) was an amateur astronomer who currently holds the all-time record for visual discoveries of supernovae.
Giuseppe Donatiello, discovered twelve nearby dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume including the first galaxy to be named after its non-professional discoverer and three ultrafaint dwarf galaxies in the Local Group (Pisces VII, Pegasus V/Andromeda XXXIV and Andromeda XXXVI).
Will Hay, comedian and actor, who discovered a white spot on Saturn.
Walter Scott Houston (1912–1993) who wrote the "Deep-Sky Wonders" column in Sky & Telescope magazine for almost 50 years.
Albert G. Ingalls (1888–1958), editor of Amateur Telescope Making, Vols. 1–3 and "The Amateur Scientist".
David H. Levy discovered or co-discovered 22 comets including Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, the most for any individual.
Sir Patrick Moore (1923–2012), presenter of the BBC's long-running The Sky at Night and author of many books on astronomy.
Jack Newton (1942-2025), Canadian developer of cold camera astrophotography; founder of the dark sky Arizona Sky Village.
Russell W. Porter (1871–1949) founded Stellafane and has been referred to as a "founder" of amateur telescope making.
Grote Reber (1911–2002), pioneer of radio astronomy constructing the first purpose-built radio telescope and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequency.

=== Citizen science projects ===
Amateur astronomers and other non-professionals make contributions through ongoing citizen science projects:

XO Project, an international team of amateur and professional astronomers tasked with identifying extrasolar planets.
Many amateur astronomers contribute to scientific discoveries as part of the citizen science Zooniverse project.

== Prizes recognizing amateur astronomers ==
Amateur Achievement Award of Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Chambliss Amateur Achievement Award

== See also ==

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Timothy Ferris (2002). Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-86579-9.
P. Clay Sherrod; Thomas L. Koed (2003). A Complete Manual of Amateur Astronomy: Tools and Techniques for Astronomical Observations. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-42820-8.
Mousis, O.; et al. (November 2014). "Instrumental methods for professional and amateur collaborations in planetary astronomy". Experimental Astronomy. 38 (1–2): 91–191. arXiv:1305.3647. Bibcode:2014ExA....38...91M. doi:10.1007/s10686-014-9379-0.

== External links ==

Amateur Astronomy Magazine