IN AN age of professionals, the ability of amateur scientists to make meaningful contributions has almost vanished. Al-most, but not quite. The internet allows professionals to make their data available for analysis by anyone, and some are hap-py to take advantage of the free labour this promises. This approach has proved par-ticularly fruitful in astronomy, a science with a long history of amateur contribu-tions. Armchair astronomers have already helped classify galaxies seen by Hubble, the main orbiting telescope of America's space agency, nasa. They have also looked for interesting asteroids, and kept an eye out for solar storms.
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