Perhaps
one of the most interesting and useful pieces of astronomical work
which an amateur can perform will consist of a record of the
origin and changes of form of the solar spots and faculae. What
does a spot look like when it first comes into sight? Does it
immediately burst forth with considerable magnitude, or does it
begin as the smallest visible speck, and gradually grow? When
several spots coalesce into one, how do they do it? When a spot
breaks up into several pieces, what is the seeming nature of the
process? How do the groups of brilliant points called faculae
come, change, and grow? All these questions must no doubt be
answered in various ways, according to the behavior of the
particular spot, but the record is rather meagre, and the
conscientious and industrious amateur will be able to amuse
himself by adding to it, and possibly may make valuable
contributions to science in the same way.
Still another branch of astronomical observation, in which
industry and skill count for more than expensive instruments, is
the search for new comets. This requires a very practised eye, in
order that the comet may be caught among the crowd of stars which
flit across the field of view as the telescope is moved.
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