The programs are on the Internet, and resulting distribution maps are updated hourly. The data collected by amateurs even make it into scientific journals. The results have also been used to help shape conservation decisions, an issue that Bonney and his leagues of citizen scientists really care about. Then the astronomers weighed in. Richard Tresch Fienberg, head of Sky Publishing Corporation, made a case that amateurs are vital in making many important astronomical observations and even new discoveries.
Amateurs swell the ranks of people watching the night sky.
There are only 10,000 professional astronomers in the world, but hundreds of thousands of amateur astronomers. Because amateurs are so important to all three disciplines, scientists actively court them. Professional paleontology and astronomy meetings often invite amateurs to attend, even helping defray the costs. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology programs educate and recruit new citizen scientists, and get involved with schools, clubs, and other organizations. Paleontology, ornithology, and astronomy are particularly open to the contribution of amateurs since, rocks, birds and the stars are accessible to most everyone.