the amateurs were great!

average standard of presentation approx. = to the professionals, with less spread about the mean but a smaller sample size.

also, some fab astrophotgraphy!

and one guy doing some neat detection of previously undiscovered variable stars.

GO! Amateurs!

it's always been a ripe field for amateurs, and it's a great tradition. Go them indeed.

when amateurs contribute to science and these days astronomy is one of the few fields where it's still feasible to do so without also being mega-rich.

Most excellent!