Abstract
Practical amateur astronomy has changed markedly over the past few decades, from the isolated amateur telescope maker pursuing a lonely visual hobby with relatively basic kit, to today’s ready availability of a huge range of equipment and astronomical information, plus the means to easily capture and share digital images. This evolution is described from a personal point of view, the core of the discussion being the constant desire to record observations for posterity and the changing methods being used to enable this, from traditional sketching through to afocal smartphone photography, and the DWARF II smart telescope.
Speaker bio
Sally Russell is an avid amateur astronomer and artist who has developed a particular passion for lunar and solar observing and sketching. She also likes to observe and capture rare and fleeting astronomical events such as planetary transits, solar outbursts, and those uncommon visitors to our skies, observable comets. Her contributions to the field of practical amateur astronomy include creating and presenting talks and workshops on astronomical sketching, co-authoring “Sketching the Moon” and “Solar Sketching” for the Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series, and having numerous sketches published in various astronomy books and magazines.