Astro. Societies

[manny]

Hi all

I would like to know what activities your society arranges for it's members eg. Guest speakers,workshops etc. and do you have public viewing nights.

The reason I ask is I have joined an Astro Society and our meeting night is also public viewing night so we don,t get to use the telescopes till late if at all . Common sense tells you move the members night but unfortunately I have been told that it is not possible.
Cheers
Manny

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

manny - ours , Macarthur Astronomical Society (in Sydney's south west) holds its monthly general member meetings indoors at the University of western Sydney. They go from 7:30 until 10:30-ish when we have to leave. We have a guest speaker pretty-well every month. We just had Mark Suchting from Deep Sky optics give a talk on bino construction this month, and last month we hosted Fred watson for a chat on the future of telescopes. Soon we have Don Whiteman from Bintel coming - and maybe he'll play us his banjo! If we don't have a guest speaker (rare) then we'll put on a workshop such as collimation or drift alignment how-to's.

We have separate viewing nights (all tabled in advance) for members at our two dark sky viewing sites. These (depending on the moon and weather) occur every couple of weeks or more often if members are keen to do a bit.

We also have "public" nights every few months where the general public are invited (by ads in the local newspapers) to come and have a gander though members' telescopes. They are also sometimes able to look though the UWS's 16" SCT (housed in the Domes at UWS) when available.

Twice a year we also have remote trips put on. Usually we go to Magellan observatory near Goulburn.


Cheers
Chris

[Ric]

Hi Manny, we usually have our general meetings during the week and then on weekends at the right times of the month we have a dark sky night outside of Canberra and a observing night at the society observatory on top of Mt Stromlo using the 14".

We also hold observing night for the public and goto Schools during certain times of the year.

Cheers

[DobDobDob (Ron)]

I'm sure you will find that most societies are structured along similar lines to what Chris described below. My society, WSAAG is structured to use each month efficiently and takes into account all the variations, levels and activities, see our site for a typical example: http://www.wsaag.org/

Best of luck, I am sure you will eventually develop a good working structure that suits the majority of your members and the general public in your area.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by manny

Hi all

I would like to know what activities your society arranges for it's members eg. Guest speakers,workshops etc. and do you have public viewing nights.

The reason I ask is I have joined an Astro Society and our meeting night is also public viewing night so we don,t get to use the telescopes till late if at all . Common sense tells you move the members night but unfortunately I have been told that it is not possible.
Cheers
Manny

Of course it is possible... all groups of humans seek structure and resist change... be the agent of change if common sense is your principal...agent ...principal..law and real estate joke..pun..

One person will be ruling the roost but that does not mean they can not be thrown by logic... and numbers.

I dont like societies or clubs finally because there is always someone who has not the enjoyment of others at heart but are driven by their ego and the power of control.

Please dont accept the insurance wont cover it either..rebel.
The world gets out of the way for a man who knows where he is going.

alex

[astroron (Ron)]

Manny, you do not mention which club you belong, Bundy Sky Watchers, or Bundaburg astronomical Society, Club?,but you will find that it is members who decide these rules, my experiance of this is that people dont wont to be involved with two nights a month with the club and so the two things,Observing and club meeting are emalgamated.
Sometimes this is the only way that the membership come together
I know this to be fact as I was the president in two clubs and member of another club for very many years
I suggest you get together with other members and arraing a get together in your own time, also try to bring your complaint up at the AGM and see if you have any like minded people who dont like the current arraingments.
Best of luck in your observing
Ron

[manny]

Thank you all for your replies . The society is Bundaberg astronomical society.I, as a newcomer don't want to bee seen as a troublemaker andupset the core group but as a member I feel we should at least trial some new ideas for the benefit of all member and the public.
cheers
Manny

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hi Manny,

This won't help in your situation, but our Club is run entirely different to the 'norm'.
Ours is a relaxed 'non-formal' observing group. We don't hold the standard meetings usually associated with clubs and organisations. We have chats about ideas, etc ('meeting' stuff) as casual conversation out on the viewing field whilst going about our observing.

The good part is that meetings don't interupt our observing time, everyone is involved (even visitors get to throw suggestions in), and it is much more relaxed.

If it is cloudy, then we sit inside with a cuppa and talk about club stuff in amongst gereneral conversation.

We don't have guest speakers. We save all that side of things for our 2 Astronomy Camps each year.
What we do, is have a teaching talk whilst observing. Pre-selected objects are looked at while the objects are talked about. Everyone points their scopes to the object and the speaker points out detail, size, distance etc.

So far I have been doing the talking/observing tours but anyone is welcome to do it.

As for 'Public', we don't have a seperate agenda for visitors. They just join in and look thru the scopes with us, and are welcome on any club night. Members are happy to let visitors look thru their scopes, plus we set up the club scope for visitors to use.

We find that this casual relaxed style of Club works well, and visitors and new members feel involved, and not left out or made to feel like a visitor or new member.

It also does away with the old fears of being in a 'Club' with its arguments, dictatorships, quibbles etc.

It works for us, but it may not work for every club. Every group is different.

[leon]

Manny, I once joined a club, quite some time ago and although they had a large number of instruments, all we got was the minutes of the last meeting and stuff like that, whilst the scope s sat idle, I left after two weeks.

I have been told nothing has changed to date, as Alex said speak up if you can see change for the better.

leon

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by leon

Manny, I once joined a club, quite some time ago and although they had a large number of instruments, all we got was the minutes of the last meeting and stuff like that, whilst the scope s sat idle, I left after two weeks.

I have been told nothing has changed to date, as Alex said speak up if you can see change for the better.

leon

Hmmmm, I wonder if that is the same one 32 of us walked out of many years ago! Sounds the same.

[manny]

Thanks for all the replies
Ken your club is what I was looking for a group of similar minded people sharing their time and knowledge and generally enjoying the night sky.
IIS has spoiled me in the time that I have been a member my knowledge has grown tenfold thanks to the unselfish nature of the members your patience,humour, knowledge& images go to make an fun and educational
site that is second to none.It was in this hope that I joined an astro society as i figured it would be the next logical step to further my enjoyment of this wonderful pastimeand learn something to boot.
So my next step is to talk to the president and see if he will listen to some ideas.I'll try here first and see what you think .
1: Hold monthly public nights.
2: arrange for new and younger members welcome
3: have star parties
4: workshops every so often,
I think that's a start don't want to scare them

Thanks Manny

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Hello Manny,

Every club will be different, as Ken pointed out, and should be based around what local members need or want.
Here's what we do at ASWA:

*Monthly general meeting with guest speaker and formal aspects, preceded by an hourly lesson for beginners. The beginners class works on a rolling schedule so that you can join in at any time and eventually you get the whole lot! Minutes of the general meeting are published in the bimonthly newsletter, committee minutes are only usually read by the committee!

*monthly moon watching night known as 'lunatiks' for observing and drawing the moon - usually includes planet watching and what ever else is of interest.

*monthly deep sky night at a darkish location. Two camps away each year.

*monthly 'workshop' night to focus on practical and technical aspects such as scope use and astrophotography.

*club night where we just sit around a table and talk!

Telescopes get used at lunatiks, deep sky and workshop nights. Other nights are generally just talk nights. Plenty of opportunity to meet and talk to other members at all sessions as well as use scopes if members bother to get off their backsides and travel about a bit.

For public nights since we dont have a permanent observatory site it tends to be us going out to schools on request and the odd big public night on an oval somewhere.

We have had a few issues in the past with visitors and since I'm usually not afraid to speak up when I don't like it we try to keep visitor numbers small eg there should only be the persons immediately interested there and if possible accompanied by the member they are a friend of if that is the case. Bigger groups should be booking us for our services.

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

I'm not a member of a club at the moment but when in WA I was member of the Astronomical Society of the Southwest. We had our club nights 2 or 3 times a month, public nights several times a year (usually over a long weekend, moon and weather permitting) and school/community groups by appointment. The society has its own observatory, but we did take the scopes out to remote schools. It was hard to get enough volunteers to do some of the activities sometimes.

Bill

[manny]

Blueskies that is what I personally would like to see your website is great
and ours hasn't been updated since 2000.I think it is time to put a hand up and help generate some enthusiasm.We do school nights and are proving to be very beneficial in monetary terms so the club should be able to produce a current webpage with current events the only thing I do not want is creating a them and us mentality I only want to see a club with enthusiasm and a joy for the majesty and beauty of our universe and a genuine desire to learn more.

thanks
Manny

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Getting people to help can be a problem - so can burnout when you do too much! You'll find things go up and down at times, but perhaps your arrival will signal a new upswing in your local club.

[Roger Davis]

The Astronomical Society of Victoria has its General Meeting nights and Members Observing nights completely separate. If an event occurs on a meeting night we all go out to observe it (say the ISS or an Iridium Flare). It can be quite amusing watching 130-150 people scramble out the front door!

[danielsun]

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

Hi Manny,

This won't help in your situation, but our Club is run entirely different to the 'norm'.
Ours is a relaxed 'non-formal' observing group. We don't hold the standard meetings usually associated with clubs and organisations. We have chats about ideas, etc ('meeting' stuff) as casual conversation out on the viewing field whilst going about our observing.

The good part is that meetings don't interupt our observing time, everyone is involved (even visitors get to throw suggestions in), and it is much more relaxed.

If it is cloudy, then we sit inside with a cuppa and talk about club stuff in amongst gereneral conversation.

We don't have guest speakers. We save all that side of things for our 2 Astronomy Camps each year.
What we do, is have a teaching talk whilst observing. Pre-selected objects are looked at while the objects are talked about. Everyone points their scopes to the object and the speaker points out detail, size, distance etc.

So far I have been doing the talking/observing tours but anyone is welcome to do it.

As for 'Public', we don't have a seperate agenda for visitors. They just join in and look thru the scopes with us, and are welcome on any club night. Members are happy to let visitors look thru their scopes, plus we set up the club scope for visitors to use.

We find that this casual relaxed style of Club works well, and visitors and new members feel involved, and not left out or made to feel like a visitor or new member.

It also does away with the old fears of being in a 'Club' with its arguments, dictatorships, quibbles etc.

It works for us, but it may not work for every club. Every group is different.

Yep, that pretty much says it, I really enjoy the Snake Valley nights, very relaxed and friendly sometimes some or all of us decide to take 5 for a coffee break and we have a bit of a chat in the club room then head back out.
With me working most Saturdays I can only get there once in a while but when i do i really enjoy it!
Earlier this year i went to the mornington peninsula astronomical society night and that night was pretty much the same, a very enjoyable night. The Snake valley camps are fantastic! I am almost counting the hours down to the November camp!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by danielsun

Yep, that pretty much says it, I really enjoy the Snake Valley nights, very relaxed and friendly sometimes some or all of us decide to take 5 for a coffee break and we have a bit of a chat in the club room then head back out.
With me working most Saturdays I can only get there once in a while but when i do i really enjoy it!
Earlier this year i went to the mornington peninsula astronomical society night and that night was pretty much the same, a very enjoyable night. The Snake valley camps are fantastic! I am almost counting the hours down to the November camp!

Thanks Daniel, kind words.

Yep, the sky is outside and up, not sitting on a table in a meeting room

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by danielsun

I am almost counting the hours down to the November camp!

Only sixteen more "sleeps" Daniel, but who's counting! I'm excited!

[Terry B]

I think it is related to the size of the club. We have a very little club with only about 15 active members. If someone wanted to use the scopes outside meeting times thay can just get the keys and do so. Much more relaxed than the sound of some other clubs.