Professional and amateur astronomers join forces: Pro-Am Venture

Starting in the upper left and moving clockwise, the galaxies are M101 (the "Pinwheel Galaxy"), M81, Centaurus A, and M51 (the "Whirlpool Galaxy"). 

M101 is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way, but about 70% bigger. 

Credit: X-ray: NASA /CXC /SAO; Optical: Detlef Hartmann; Infrared: NASA /JPL-Caltech

Long before the term "citizen science" was coined, the field of astronomy has benefited from countless men and women who study the sky in their spare time.

These amateur astronomers devote hours exploring the cosmos through a variety of telescopes that they acquire, maintain, and improve on their own.

Some of these amateur astronomers specialise in capturing what is seen through their telescopes in images and are astrophotographers.

What happens when the work of amateur astronomers and astrophotographers is combined with the data from some of the world's most sophisticated space telescopes?

Collaborations between professional and amateur astronomers reveal the possibilities and are intended to raise interest and awareness among the community of the wealth of data publicly available in NASA's various mission archives.

This effort is particularly appropriate for this month because April marks Global Astronomy Month, the world's largest global celebration of astronomy.

The images in this quartet of galaxies represent a sample of composites created with X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and optical data collected by an amateur astronomer.

In these images, the X-rays from Chandra are shown in pink, infrared emission from Spitzer is red, and the optical data are in red, green, and blue.

The two astrophotographers who donated their images for these four images, Detlef Hartmann and Rolf Olsen, used their personal telescopes of 17.5 inches and 10 inches in diameter respectively.

More details on how these images were made can be found in this blog post.

However, the long exposures of these objects may help to reveal phenomena that may otherwise be missed in the relatively short snapshots taken by major telescopes, which are tightly scheduled and often oversubscribed by professional astronomers.

Therefore, projects like this Astro Pro-Am collaboration might prove useful not only for producing spectacular images, but also contributing to the knowledge of what is happening in each of these cosmic vistas.

Oxford University Astrophysics professor Steven Rawlings found dead

A man who was found dead in a bungalow was an Oxford University professor, police have revealed.

Steven Gregory Rawlings, 50, was found at the home in Oxfordshire on Wednesday night. He was Official Fellow and Tutor in Physics of St Peter's College.

A University of Oxford spokesman added: "He was one of the lead scientists in the international Square Kilometre Array project and also played a prominent role in the redevelopment of the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall as a radio astronomy facility.

In a further statement, the university said: "He was a much liked and admired tutor and colleague within the college and will be greatly missed."

A 49-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Thames Valley Police said Prof Rawlings and the arrested man had known each other.

The emergency services were called to Laurel Drive, Southmoor, at 23:20 GMT on Wednesday by a member of the public reporting that a man had been injured at the address.
'Students devastated'

Det Supt Rob Mason, from the Thames Valley Police major crime unit, said: "On attendance at the address CPR was administered by a member of the public, police officers and paramedics, but unfortunately the man had passed away.

The crime scene on Laurel Drive, Southmoor Police said Prof Rawlings and the suspect appeared to have known each other

"The investigation is still in the early stages and we are endeavouring to establish what has happened in the house and we are keeping an open mind until all our inquires are concluded.

"It is apparent that he was well respected and liked within the college and colleagues and students have been devastated by the news."

Prof Rawlings was elected to his fellowship in 1994.

He was head of the sub-department of astrophysics at the university from 2006 to 2010.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Linda."

A post-mortem examination was due to take place on Thursday evening.

Unemplyed? hundreds of professional positions available in the space industry

It has come to our attention that there are literally hundreds of professional positions available in the space industry that cannot be filled. At a time when there are millions of people out of work due to the worldwide recession the space industry seems to be booming with projects, contracts and a variety of other activities that require space professionals with some experience in all levels of organization. So, where are these very essential people?

This simple answer is that there are not enough space professionals who have the training and experience needed to do the required work. All of the qualified people that we know are working, and they are working very hard, putting in long hours and making sacrifices to try and get the many funded space projects completed.

What is wrong with this industry? During the 1960s and 70s aerospace companies were notoriously poor employers. One day, thousands of people would be laid off and the next day thousands would be hired. Space professionals had to be mobile and expect to change jobs every two or three years.

They could expect to make good incomes, but not salaries attractive enough to compensate for job insecurity. This was symptomatic of the industry in the early decades of the Space Age. Unfortunately, this image persists and the industry still experiences ups and downs. Other industries are considered to be much more stable.

Consider those professionals who went into the financial and housing industries. They felt very comfortable about job security and they had well-paying positions.

All that ended last year. today, there are fewer college students studying finance, business and marketing and fewer job opportunities for graduates in these fields. However, throughout the last five decades, the majority of space professionals have consistently had well-paying jobs and still have such jobs.

Now that there are high levels of unemployment, where are those young, well-trained engineers and scientists that are so badly needed to build new space systems? They don't exist and we will not be able to fill all of those key positions for several years to come. These people must be attracted to universities that can educate them.

Then they must spend at least four years before receiving their degrees. This is followed by on-the-job training, until each is experienced enough to assume positions of responsibility. Thus, it is easy to see that current positions will not be filled for another five to ten years.

The average age of current space industry professionals has risen steadily since the days of Apollo. today, it is not unusual to see many positions filled with post-65 year old grandparents who have the experience and knowledge needed to compete in a very-competitive international space environment.

Unfortunately, while this situation offers many benefits for those people, it is a make-shift and temporary fix for the industry. The real problem is that the pipeline of future space engineers and innovators is empty. In a few years this may well result in a loss of space leadership. Warning signs are already evident, but no solution is in sight.