|
Getting
Started with Outreach:Download these tips (pdf, 694 KB)
The Main Ideas:
-
Many amateur astronomers find doing astronomy public outreach to be one of the most rewarding ways they can spend their volunteer time.
-
You can get started doing outreach just by attending one of your club's events to see what goes on
What is outreach?
-
Anytime you share some aspect of astronomy or observing the sky with friends, families, students, or the general public, you are doing astronomy outreach.
Simple ways to get started with Outreach if you don't belong to a club
- Join a club. Visit the Night Sky Network to find the club nearest you
- Start a club. If there aren't many clubs near you, you can always start one
- Set up a telescope or binoculars in front of your house on Halloween, 4th of July, or other occasions when neighbors might be outside.
- Offer to give a short demonstration or talk at the elementary school, middle school, or high school that your child/grandchild/niece/nephew goes to.
- Offer to do presentations or volunteer at libraries and local science/nature centers.
Easy Ways to Get Involved at your Club's Public Astronomy Events
- Greet/direct visitors -- where are the bathrooms? Where can they park? Etc.
- Hand out star maps.
- Set up a telescope.
- Set up a pair of binoculars.
- Do a twilight activity before it is dark enough for people to use the telescopes.
- Display an astronomy poster.
- Point out constellations.
- Take photos of your club's events.
- Find the longest telescope line and talk with the people standing in it.
- Answer questions about your club to people who are interested in joining.
- Show your collection of spacecraft models.
- Show your collection of astrophotos.
Final Note:
-
Explore ideas for activities to do or topics to discuss:
-
The Night Sky Network offers a variety of resources tailored for amateur astronomy outreach. Some great ones to get started with can be found under the Astronomy Activities section of this video's webpage
Sharing
the Universe is based upon work supported by the Informal Education
Division of the National
Science Foundation under Grant no DRL-0638873. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the National Science Foundation.