Astronomy is too important to leave to the professionals. Much more important than expensive equipment is a keen eye, a clear night, and a lot of patience.

1. John Dobson- Telescopes for Everyone- 1950s and on

John Dobson is one of the reasons modern amateur astronomy is still viable. While conventional wisdom held that even small telescopes needed tubes of aluminum or fiberglass, he began building telescopes from thick paper, the same kind used in concrete forms. Unfortunately, the Buddhist monastery he was a member of at the time disapproved of his hobby and kicked him out. Since then, Dobson and his telescopes have helped popularize astronomy for amateurs all over the world, including so-called “sidewalk astronomy,” setting up telescopes in cities for people walking by to look through.

2. Anthony Wesley- The Jovian Scar- 2009

At 1:30 in the morning of July 19, computer programmer Anthony Wesley was looking through his telescope outside Murrumbatemen, in New South Wales, Australia. Looking closely at Jupiter, Wesley noticed a dark mark disfiguring an area in the southern hemisphere. After taking some pictures, Wesley reported what he had seen, and the story was quickly picked up, both by scientists and media. The conclusion eventually reached was that a comet or asteroid a little less than a kilometer in diameter had recently collided with Jupiter, warming over 190 million square kilometers of the gaseous Jovian atmosphere. The impact itself went totally unnoticed on Earth, and without Wesley’s observation, the entire event might have been missed as the mark made by the impact rapidly dissipated.

3. Thomas Bopp- Hale-Bopp Comet- 1995

Thomas Bopp was out with friends in the Arizona desert on July 23, 1995, when he saw something bright through his friend’s telescope. Checking a star map, he realized that what he had seen was something new. Coincidentally, professional astronomer Alan Hale discovered the comet the same night, so the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams named the comet Hale-Bopp

4. Robert Evans- Supernova Spotter- 1981 and on

image credit: ESO

Robert Evans is a minister and author in Australia, but what makes him famous is his uncanny ability to spot supernovae, stars dying in enormous explosions. Rare as supernovae are, Evans has discovered 42, including a variety that had never been seen before. He holds the all-time record for visual discovery of supernovae.

5. Percival Lowell- Enthusiastic Errors- 1893-1916

Percival Lowell, scion of the wealthy Lowells of Boston became interested in astronomy after a career traveling as a diplomat and writing about Asia. He famously became enamored by the idea of intelligent life on Mars, writing in great detail about the canals and agriculture on the planet and the other non-natural features he claimed to observe. Astronomers even then were skeptical of his ideas. Nonetheless Lowell’s enthusiasm and money helped create the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, the first astronomical observatory deliberately built in a remote, high place. Astronomers at the Lowell Observatory were the first to see Pluto and the rings around Uranus. Percival Lowell may not have been the best amateur astronomer, but his boundless, if clumsy interest in space puts him squarely on the list of important amateur astronomers.