GInfo

Amateur astronomy is a leisure activity that consists of observing objects in the daytime and night sky located beyond the terrestrial globe. Like most leisure activities, it can be practiced alone, in an unorganized group or in an organized group (club, society).

Unlike the professional astronomer whose primary objective is to produce a scientific result, more precisely to deepen our knowledge of astrophysics, the amateur astronomer, for his part, rarely considers astronomical observation as a means but rather as a end.
Funded by scientific research, professional astronomy benefits from means of observation that are beyond comparison with those available to the amateur astronomer. Due, on the one hand, to the cost of the instruments and, on the other hand, to technological advances that are sometimes unavailable to the general public.
Some groups of amateur astronomers monitor specific stars which can alert professional astronomers. A professional astronomer is sometimes also “amateur”, professionalism being most often the result of an “amateurism” particularly interested in science.