Amateurs doing Real Astronomy

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB’s) are now being detected by a couple of satellites orbiting the earth. They are mysterious objects that seem to be very far away, and if so then they must be extremely energetic. They appear to be point sources that give off as much energy in seconds as all the stars in our entire galaxy emit in 100 years. There has been a campaign in recent times to try and visually detect these objects , using very large telescopes. The problem is that the GRB’s are so short lived that by the time you find out that one has occurred, then it has already faded. And then, while you are detecting the event you have to try and get as accurate a position as possible so that follow-up observations know where to look.

The Variable Star Network (VSN) is now sending out notices of these events within hours of their occurrence and invite interested parties to look for the optical remnants, and a number of astronomers are doing this on a regular basis, using telescopes of about 1 metre upwards.

However a group of four amateurs in the USA have just released CCD images of the afterglow of a GRB (GRB0301), which they detected with a 12-inch home-made telescope at their club in Buffalo. The object was about mag 20 at the time and they managed this by "stacking" 12 5-minute exposures together. This appears to be the first amateur observation of a GRB and it was made with a backyard telescope. It is a good example of what can be done by amateurs with just a little serious effort.

The AAVSO and Sky&Telescope will be carrying coverage of this remarkable achievement in the forthcoming months and will be encouraging other amateurs who may be interested in attempting similar observations.

Brian Fraser