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Magill’s Literary Annual 2003

Seeing in the Dark

by Marc Rothenberg

First published: 2002

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (New York). 379 pp. $26.00

Type of work: Science

A celebration of the accomplishments of amateur astronomers and an effort to inspire readers to do their own stargazing

Through most of the twentieth century, there have been clear qualitative differences between the research of professional astronomers, who pursued the study of the planets, stars, and galaxies for a living, and that of amateur astronomers, for whom such study was an avocation—even though in some cases it was an all-consuming avocation. Professional research became increasingly dependent upon expensive telescopes, laboratory equipment, sophisticated mathematical skills, and knowledge of auxiliary disciplines such as physics and chemistry. The symbol of professional astronomical research was the massive dome, containing a huge telescope, sitting on top of a remote mountain. In contrast, the typical amateur was hunched over a small telescope in the backyard, or observing with binoculars or even with the naked eye.

A change occurred toward the end of the century. Sophisticated research equipment and moderately sized telescopes became relatively inexpensive and easy to acquire. Not only did the research of these amateurs begin to more closely resemble that of their professional counterparts, but some have become unpaid research scientists. Ferris calls this a “revolution,” but historians of American astronomy might identify it as a return to a nineteenth century model, to the world of astronomy before academic credentials and paychecks defined an astronomer. Back in the 1850’s, as at the turn of the twenty-first century, the distinctions between the paid and the unpaid researcher did not necessarily translate into qualitative differences in research.

This book tells the story of those men and women, often lacking formal training in astronomy, often highly successful in their day work, who dedicate significant portions of their waking hours to the increase of astronomical knowledge without any thought of monetary reward. These schoolteachers and business executives, housewives and journalists, physicians and artists observe simply because they love to do it.

Ferris, an experienced journalist and science writer, is a master of the brief interview and the word picture. In these pages he presents the famous and not-so-famous figures in amateur astronomy. Among these are Patrick Moore, the British “patriarch of astronomy popularizers,” who has authored more than sixty books and is the best known amateur astronomer in the English-speaking world, and David Levy, almost equally well known to his contemporaries, who was a respected but obscure searcher for comets until he codiscovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy in 1993. When that comet crashed spectacularly into Jupiter’s atmosphere in 1994, the images on television made an indelible impression on audiences about the potential threat from the sky. Famous in another way is Brian May, one of the founders of the British rock group Queen. Unlike many of his fellow amateurs, May was trained in astronomy and actually worked as a professional astronomer, doing research in infrared astronomy, especially interplanetary dust. Driven by two passions—music and astronomy—he chose the former to earn his living but has continued to observe for his personal pleasure. However, most of the men and women Ferris spotlights are known only within the circles of amateur observers.

According to Ferris, three technological breakthroughs have driven the revolution in amateur astronomy. The first was the Dobsonian reflecting telescope, invented by John Dobson, a San Francisco monk. By using inexpensive materials and a simple design, including mounting the telescope in a box, Dobson made it possible for amateurs to construct relatively large but inexpensive telescopes, capable of deep-sky observing. Second was the inexpensive charge-coupled device, or CCD. These light- sensitive chips had quickly become the mainstay of professional astronomers. As prices plummeted, it was possible for someone of moderate means to place a CCD at the end of a Dobsonian telescope and have “light gathering capacities comparable to that of the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar” a generation earlier. Finally, there was the Internet, which has greatly improved both communication among amateurs and between professionals and amateurs. Discoveries can be shared and research coordinated on a new scale.

What are these amateurs observing? Judging by Ferris’s interviews, they observe the moon, the planets, comets, variable stars, novae, nebulae, and galaxies—whatever strikes their fancy—like their counterparts for the past two centuries. As amateurs, they have the luxury of observing what they want, not what the funding agencies think is desirable. To a certain extent, the subtitle of the book is misleading. Only a small fraction of the amateurs discussed in the book are studying galactic clusters, which is a good working definition of “probing deep space,” or guarding the earth from interplanetary threats by scanning the skies for Near Earth Objects, asteroids and comets that will come within at least 28 million miles of the earth. The important point, however, especially in regard to Near Earth Objects, is that even this fraction of the amateur observers is an important supplement to the small core group of professional observers. For example, relatively moderately sized telescopes of 12 and 14 inches, in the hands of skilled and dedicated amateurs, were used to discover two potentially dangerous near-earth asteroids.

The story of the revolution in amateur astronomy is only one, however, of three interwoven subjects in Seeing in the Dark. A second subject, very much related to the first, is the author’s personal journey as an amateur astronomer. He provides an account of his boyhood in post-World War II Florida. Ferris was poor, although better off than many of his neighbors, and “alienated from school since the middle of the fourth grade.” Yet he grew up to be one of the most famous science writers of his age. He was able to overcome the educational poverty of his childhood (his family’s economic status improved greatly during his school years) because of parents who surrounded him with books and helped inculcate an intense love of nature and a curiosity about the world.

Ferris’s journey, like that of many astronomers, began with the written word. He became interested in astronomy around the age of nine and devoured the great astronomical popularizations of the 1940’s and 1950’s. After a ridiculously ineffective, inexpensive first telescope, he graduated to a 2.4-inch refracting telescope. Casual observing gave way to an astronomical club and to observing logs. The mature, successful Ferris built his dream observatory, drawing upon advice from an architect and Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto.

One step, however, was never taken. Ferris, like thousands of other serious amateurs, apparently never contemplated a career in astronomy. Why not? In his case, his alienation from formal education, especially mathematics and science, and some poor advice from a school counselor no doubt played a large part. He provides another reason, one applicable more generally for amateurs, late in the book, when he reflects upon his efforts to search systematically for supernovae—something that could make a real contribution to astronomy. The most successful technique was to place a CCD at the end of the telescope and have a computer run the observing program and compare the data obtained. The computer observed and the computer made the discovery. As Ferris dismally concluded: “My presence was not required.” That, however, was the whole point of being an amateur astronomer—to participate, to observe. So he continued to stare at the stars, even if it served no useful scientific purpose.

One of Ferris’s interviewees makes the same point in another way. In contrasting himself with his fellow professionals, Brian May noted the loss of what he calls the “pure emotional enjoyment factor” among the professionals. “Once astronomers have set up their equipment, they don’t bother to look up and go ‘Oooo’ anymore.” May, in contrast, never lost the desire to look up at the sky, to respond instinctively rather than analytically to the heavens. Like Ferris, he has retained the “Oooo” factor. Professional researchers apparently lack an emotional component present among amateur astronomers.

The third subject of the book is the current state of astronomical knowledge. Ferris presents this material in the hope of getting readers excited about astronomy and joining the ranks of amateur observers themselves. To this end, he has included a number of appendices. These appendices cover basic observing techniques; potential objects to observe, such as meteor showers, bright stars, and Messier objects; suggestions for further reading; and a glossary.

One of the great strengths of the book is how well Ferris intertwines his three subjects. In each chapter—and he places each type of astronomical object in an individual chapter—his interviews with amateurs, his personal experiences, and the changing state of astronomical knowledge are interconnected. This reinforces the realization that scientific discovery has been and continues to be a human endeavor. Saturn does not simply have thirty moons. Observers have found thirty moons, and may find more. As long as humans continue to observe, their knowledge of the universe will change.

There are some errors in Seeing in the Dark. Some come from the difficulty of drawing a distinction between amateurs and professionals, especially historically. Ferris falls into the trap of using twentieth century criteria for eras in which they were not appropriate. For example, he characterizes Asaph Hall, the discoverer of the moons of Mars, as an amateur, apparently because Hall never received a college degree. However, a college degree was not a criterion for a professional scientist in nineteenth century America. Hall’s training at Harvard College Observatory made him one of the best astronomically educated Americans of his generation. There is no question that Hall, a government astronomer, was as professional an astronomer as there was in the United States when he discovered the Martian moons. In the context, however, to acknowledge Hall’s professionalism would have weakened Ferris’s argument about the importance of continuing amateur observation of Mars. Other errors are less easily explained. Why did Ferris think that there would be no opportunity to observe a transit of Mercury between 1960 and 1999? Was he really unaware of the 1970 transit, visible along the East Coast?

The flaws in the book do not, however, lessened the enjoyment of reading about these men and women who bring passion to their hobby and whose hobby enriches not only their own lives, but those of all of us.

Sources for Further Study

1 

Booklist 98 (July, 2002): 1805.

2 

Library Journal 127 (July, 2002): 113.

3 

The New York Times Book Review 107 (August 25, 2002): 7.

4 

Publishers Weekly 249 (May 20, 2002): 54.

5 

The Washington Post Book World, September 22, 2002, p. 3.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
Rothenberg, Marc. "Seeing In The Dark." Magill’s Literary Annual 2003, edited by John D. Wilson & Steven G. Kellman, Salem Press, 2003. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=MLA2003_11590300302012.
APA 7th
Rothenberg, M. (2003). Seeing in the Dark. In J. D. Wilson & S. G. Kellman (Eds.), Magill’s Literary Annual 2003. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Rothenberg, Marc. "Seeing In The Dark." Edited by John D. Wilson & Steven G. Kellman. Magill’s Literary Annual 2003. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2003. Accessed April 05, 2026. online.salempress.com.