Single Purpose Astro Clubs

That long thread about "how many amateurs" brought up the point about why people do not join clubs--and somebody said that a focus on "outreach" drives some people away.

That did not make sense to me.....And not for the obvious reason that I assume that everybody liked outreach and took it as part of our responsibility as astro-hobbyists.

What struck me is that there might be clubs out there who focus only on outreach. And if you are not into reaching out to the public, there is not much for you to do.

The way I figure it, outreach is very important. But when I am out at the dark-sky site, nothing is more important than either my astro-imaging or my observing list (depending on my priority that weekend). And when it is full moon time, I have the formal club meeting, with the speaker, and the What's Up Team, and refreshments, and whatever going on.

It seems to me that if a club has gone "all outreach" it is not serving its members well. Just as if it is all "Dark Sky observing" it is serving neither its members nor the general public, nor the hobby well.

In a good club, there will be enough going on for everybody--those who like outreach, those who like only observing, those who like only listening to famous lecturers! You don't have to like it all. But there should be something you should like.

Just my thoughts. I'd love to hear yours.

Alex

I used to be a member of a local club that did pretty much all outreach events and activities. In fact I was the observing coordinator of that club for a couple years. I finally got tired of the lack of interest in any serious observing among the 100+ members. We would have a dark sky observing session and even on a nice night only 2 or 3 people might show up. The local club basically exists for the sole purpose of supporting a local public school run science center. Opportunities for observing with the 23" Clark refractor at that center were limited to showing it to the public on Friday nights, club meetings some Saturday mornings (solar) and maybe 4 club events each year. I joined a smaller, less formal group of serious observers instead. We still do some outreach at a state park - which happens to be very dark unlike the official observatory that is surrounded by car dealerships and often has mag 3 or 4 skies as opposed to 6.5 The nice thing about that arrangement is that we generally camp for free and still get plenty of serious observing time to ourselves.

Joplin

There's another aspect to "outreach" that I've noticed. Over 6 years ago, I was interseted in getting into astronomy, so I went to a local club's meeting and then, to the monthly star party. Most people were accomodating when I would ask questions about their telescopes such as, why did you buy this type, what are the differences, what makes one better than the other, etc., but every so often, I would come across someone who acted as though I had just asked them to donate a kidney.

If I hadn't had pretty thick skin, those encounters could have been enough to turn me off to the hobby, and it seems to me that we need to attract a new generation of astronomers or this hobby is doomed. With the X-Box, computers, and cell phones that can microwave a frozen Hot Pocket for an after-school snack, kids have even more reasons to stay inside.

Fortunately, computer-guided telescopes could bridge the gap for the tech-teens, but we first have to make sure we at least don't put them off because "they're in my way" or "they're bothering me". We need to remember that we were all novices at one time, and if not for the assistance of another astronomer, we might not be enjoying the hobby that we love so much.

One thing that seems to have escaped the participants in this thread is this: Amateur astronomy clubs can be -- and many are -- 501(c)(3) organizations, the dues and donations to which are tax deductible. My understanding is that a strictly social organization would not qualify for that. But if it is an educational organization, with such activities as public outreach functions, it should qualify.