The telescope is an interface to the stars that astronomers have used all through
their practice since the middle ages. In the 1960’s it went through an evolutionary
leap with amateur astronomer John Dobson’s innovative design (Dobson 1991).
Essentially his telescope design was nothing new, it was the combination of differ-
ent simple designs into an inexpensive, mobile, durable one that was easy to use.
The design demonstrated clearly how inexpensive did not mean inferior and his
design became the basic material component of the “open source” astronomy
movement.Dobson refused to profit from his invention, which he never patented. Soon many
companies were making Dobsonian telescopes. Observers armed with a mighty Dob-
sonian could invade the deep space that had previously been the preserve of the pro-
fessionals. (Leadbeater & Miller 2004: 14)Dobson also produced simple manuals and held yearly several workshops showing
of how to build the telescopes. Later, as highly light-sensitive CCD chips became
cheaper, it became easier for amateurs to photograph their observations. This im-
proved the interface between stars and observer and the astrophotography from
the hobbyist camp came closer to the quality of the professionals.
In 1968 Dobson became a co-founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers,
an amateur astronomy club with an approach to their hobby that was quite uncon-
ventional for the time. Instead of having regular meetings, they set up their tele-
scopes along the sidewalk on clear nights to let passers by observe the night sky and
discuss and explain the celestial phenomena. This did much to popularize the
movement and to emphasis the accessibility of astronomy for amateurs.
In his book Seeing in the Dark (2003), popular science writer Timothy Ferris docu-
ments how something that happened very far away, and very long ago, came to
change our present distinction between professionals and amateurs.On February 23, 1987, light reached Earth from a star that had exploded at the edge of
the Tarantula nebula, in the large Magellanic Cloud, 168,000 years ago. Bright enough
to be seen without a telescope, it was a historic event, the first naked-eye supernova
since Kepler’s in 1604. (Ferris 2003: 282)The observations of this explosion lead to the unlocking of the theory of “neutrino
cooling”. This night was to be crucial and it was with the help of three amateur
astronomers and the expert equipment of the observatories that it could be proved
that neutrinos of an exploding star reach us before the light does. With the careful
observations of the skilled amateurs the data from neutrino detectors could prove
the theory. According to Ferris, it was the Supernova 1987A that was the first real
bridge between the world of amateurs and professionals in the highly complex field
of astronomy.If one were to choose a date on which astronomy shifted from the old days of solitary
professionals at their telescopes to a worldwide web of professionals and amateurs
using a polyglot mix of instruments adding up to more than the sum of their parts, a
good candidate would be the night of February 23-24, 1987. (Ferris 2003: 283)In the 90’s amateur astronomy was making fast advances and it was with the help
of Internet that the community started to get really professionalized.
On the Internet, with its immediately updated forums the amateurs could share
findings and photographs, something that was done previously through zines,The Dobson telescope
is an extremely simple and
rugged large-aperture instrument
and popular among amateur
astronomers because of its low
cost and uncomplicated produc-
tion process.