But starting about a hundred years ago, science actually became a profession, with specific job titles, expectations of academic achievement and systems of organizing practitioners.

Nonprofessional astronomers are welcomed at conferences, are encouraged to publish in prestigious journals and are capable of making truly game-changing observations of their own.

Romanov had absolutely no formal training in astronomy, but that didn't stop him from combing through archival images taken with the Palomar Observatory in California.

It's like Easter egg hunting, but for nerds — and the reward is the chance to name an object if you discover it first, have the International Astronomical Union record your achievement for posterity, and possibly get your name on a paper describing the result.

With remarkable dedication, Romanov made many important observations: following the outbursts of several novas and supernovas, measuring the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst, monitoring the rotation of an asteroid, and capturing microlensing events.

But his work demonstrates that it's possible to participate in the great astronomical exploration of our universe — all it takes is a little patience and a willingness to dig deep into the sky.