[JA]

Originally Posted by JohnF

ThaNKS GUYS, BUT STILL HAVE NOT HAD MY QUESTION ANSWERED, sURELY SOMEWHERE SOMEONE HAS AN ESTIMATE ON THE NUMBERS OF AMATEUR aSTROMONMERS. http://https://www.google.com/search...GGBM8V8ISQBDmM

Hi John,

Sure.... Well at the very least it would be equal to the number of IIS members, Cloudy Nights, members and similar organisations etc, etc... and then perhaps scaled up to world population from their local member populations.

Simplifying somewhat and taking the proportion of Astronomers in the local population from only Australian numbers from IIS

If for a moment on something of a whim we take say IIS as representative of Astronomers in Australia ( I know it may not count specifically any Academics, won't count people off the grid, and may count some overseas members, etc, etc...) but at least it's some sort of number, then .....

IIS Members = 18,514 Members + 114 Guests as of right now 11:50am 10JUN2021
Australian Population = ~ 25.4 Million
World Population = ~7.8 Billion

By that the proportion of Astronomers in the Australian Population is (18,514 + 114) / 25,400,000 = ~0.073%

If the Australian proportion of Astronomers is representative of the rest of the world then we have something like 0.073% of 7.8 Billion Astronomers = ~ 5.7 Million Astronomers/Astro-photographers Worldwide. Call it 6 Million or NOT

Best
JA