Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis

It is a pleasure and an honor to offer a few words of forward to Brian Warner's guide to photometry. In his preface, he makes a considerable point about amateurs and professionals, and those who dare or deign to step across the line supposedly dividing the two. Here I would like to make a few observations about the two monikers, and suggest that there is not, or at least should not be, a distinction - tween "e;amateur"e; and "e;professional. "e; In preparing these remarks I referred to W- ster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1960 edition; not so new anymore, but that was when my collegiate experience began): am'a*teur, n. [F. , fr. L. amator lover, fr. amare to love. ] 1. One who cultivates a particular pursuit, study, or science, from taste, without pursuing it professionally; also, a dabbler. 2. In sports and esp. athletics, one who is not rated as a professional. Well. . . a "e;dabbler"e; eh? "e;not rated as a professional"e;? No wonder we have an identity problem here. Somehow in my youth as an amateur astronomer I missed this connotation of the term. To me, the meaning of the term amateur was do- nated by its root, "e;to love,"e; that is, one who does what he does out of love of the subject, not for remuneration (to the extent one can get away with that).