That's what science is mostly about. Observation. And lots of it. Btw, that how an Australian amateur astronomer using his backyard telescope discovered that a large comet or asteroid has crashed into Jupiter, creating a hole the size of the Earth in the planet's atmosphere. I understand he left the scope one night, went inside as he wanted to watch some golf game on TV. But he left his camera on and running which was mounted to the scope. He came back to the scope later only to find what the camera had captured.
I believe they saw the comet/asteroid BEFORE it hit Jupiter. It was named after them. And then EVERYONE got to watch it slam into Jupiter. (Well, all of the pieces of it).
Oh - found it. And it sounds like they were more than just casual observers - but not full-fledged “scientists” either.
“Shoemaker-Levy 9 was first spotted in March 1993 by three veteran comet discoverers: Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker, and David Levy. The group had collaborated several times before and discovered several other comets before this one, which is why this comet was called Shoemaker-Levy 9.”