One amateur-astronomy organization has helped professionals by observing stars since 1911. The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) monitors variable stars, which vary due to explosions, eclipses, pulsation and rotation. By supplying data for light curves -- graphs that plot brightness changes over time -- amateurs have allowed professional astronomers to test their models of how variable stars work.

Traditional variable-star research by amateurs can be casual. With families and regular jobs commanding their attention, most amateurs get out to their home-based observatories only when time allows.

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But high-energy astrophysics is changing that. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), for instance, are brief flashes of gamma radiation, the most energetic component of the electromagnetic spectrum. They originate in galaxies stretching to the edge of the universe and release energy equivalent to that released by 1 trillion supernovae. Although astronomers discovered GRBs in 1967, they still do not know what causes them. To solve the mystery, astronomers must study light curves of the optical afterglow that follows a GRB.

That is not an easy task. After just six hours, the afterglow can fade to below 20th magnitude, too dim for most amateurs to observe with their telescopes. To make valuable observations, then, amateurs must get out to their telescopes with great haste.

Dr. Gerald J. Fishman, Chief Scientist for Gamma-Ray Astronomy at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama marveled at the opportunity for amateur astronomers.

"When AAVSO formed, who would have dreamed there would be observations requiring response times in minutes or hours? This has never happened before in astronomy," said Dr. Fishman.

Fishman was the principal organizer for a historic workshop last April in Huntsville -- the first High-Energy Astrophysics Workshop for Amateur Astronomers. Amateurs came from around the world to learn how they can contribute to high-energy astrophysical research by observing the light from gamma-ray bursts, stellar novae, and other high-energy phenomena.

Magnitude Primer

Astronomers use a magnitude system to measure a star's apparent brightness. Lower magnitudes represent brighter stars, and each step on the scale represents a two-and-a-half-fold change in brightness.

A 1st magnitude star, for example, appears two-and-a-half times brighter than one at 2nd magnitude. Earth's sun, the brightest star in the sky, shinesat -26.5. Stars in the night sky shine between 0 and 6th magnitude, the limit of visibility for the naked eye. Astronomers need telescopes to see GRB afterglows, which so far have appeared from 9th to beyond 20th magnitude.

"Our equipment is old and needs a lot of fine-tuning," said Aquino, "so we were not sure what we would get." After collecting data for two hours and processing the images, however, Aquinos group saw the magnitude-20 afterglow next to a magnitude-17 foreground star. A press report claimed it was the first time amateurs had captured a GRB afterglow.

Amateur astronomer Warren Offutt begged to differ. Dr. Offutt and his wife, Beverly, operate W&B Observatory in Cloudcroft, New Mexico where they usually study faint, comet-like objects that orbit the sun in the Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptunes orbit. In January 1999, Offutt got a call from John W. Briggs, a friend who worked with Apache Point Observatory nearby in New Mexico. Briggs asked if Offutt wanted to try to image a GRB afterglow because Briggs did not have telescope time to do it. Offutt tried and succeeded.

"I took the images with my 24-inch (61-centimeter) telescope, reported the data to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and to Caltech astronomers and thought nothing more of it," said Offutt. "I assumed amateurs were doing it all the time."

They were not. When Offutt saw a report about the Buffalo groups accomplishment, he expressed congratulations while realizing he may have been the first.

Now even Offutts accomplishment is in dispute. Brian Crook and other amateurs with the Reynolds Amateur Photometry Team (RAPT) in Canberra, Australia, claim they captured a GRB afterglow in April 1998. RAPT, however, observed a supernova whose optical component remained visible for weeks instead of hours or days, like typical GRBs. While some astronomers think the supernova coincided with the GRB, others think the GRB came from a different source in the same field of view.

No matter which amateur was the first, these pioneers soon will be in good company. AAVSO has assembled a team of dedicated amateurs to form the Gamma-Ray Burst Network. The Network is going to receive GRB alerts from NASA, which notifies astronomers when orbiting satellites detect a GRB. Amateur observations will allow professional astronomers to construct the first optical light curves for GRBs, helping to solve the mystery of what causes these tremendous explosions.