(Why You Should) Join the Club!

One of the first pieces of advice I always have for people interested in buying a telescope, as well as for those who have recently bought one for the first time, is to join a club.

When I say club, I am referring to civic organizations for people with an interest in astronomy. They are also sometimes referred to as astronomical societies. In the United States, many of them are 501(c)(3) organizations, meaning they’re tax-exempt organizations for educational purposes. Also in the US, many such organizations are members of the Astronomical League, or AL, which serves as something of an unofficial parent organization and offers further benefits.

But why is membership in such an organization important? What are its benefits?

The benefits vary from club to club, but there are a lot of shared characteristics:

• Most clubs have regular meetings during which a presentation on some form of astronomy-related topic is given
• Most clubs conduct star parties, often on a regular schedule
• Most clubs do outreach events to schools and other civic organizations
• Most clubs have some form of dark - or, at least, darker - sky observing location
• Most clubs have a wide range of members with a variety of interests and willingness to share their knowledge and expertise
• Many clubs have their own observatory or access to one
• Many clubs have telescopes that members can borrow
• Many clubs conduct workshops and seminars to help foster users knowledge
• With clubs that are members of the AL, members have access to observing programs and awards.

These are all benefits available in clubs in the United States, and clubs in other countries are usually similar. In the United States you can find a club in most major cities (some have more than one), as well as many smaller communities. Odds are there’s a club within reasonable driving distance from you, unless you live in a remote rural location.

Outside of the US, club prevalence varies. In Europe, it’s similar to the. United States. The UK, in particular, seems to have a fairly large number of clubs and enthusiasts. In less-developed nations, however, clubs are a little less common, but usually still there.

In the United States, the membership dues for most clubs are $50 or less per year, with many being significantly less. Many clubs also prorate the dues based on when you join, so if you join mid-year, you only pay half of the annual dues for the remainder of the year.

Now, for new telescope owners and users, or those who have not yet bought, I want to focus on a couple specific benefits.

The first, and most important, would be star parties. There is a bit of variation here, but the general concept is the same: a group - often the club membership, sometimes another civic organization or school, and sometimes open to the general public - meets in a particular location, often the club’s dark site or a park. Those who have them and are able, bring out their telescopes and set them up in that location. Then the group spends the night, or at least a few hours, observing together. Sometimes there are specific interests, such as a comet or planet, that are focused on, other times people just observe whatever they want.

For those who have not yet purchased a scope, this is a perfect chance to get a look in-person at and through a wide variety of telescope designs and styles. And those of us who own them usually are absolutely happy to answer questions about our gear. So a prospective buyer may be able to talk to the owner of a scope they’re interested in about the ownership experience: what kinds of views is it best for, how much did it cost, how easy is it to set up and take down, what kind of maintenance does it need, etc…. This way you can get a first-hand idea of what you’re shopping for. It makes the buying decision that much easier.

You are also likely to find a lot of help and advice from club members. Learning to use a telescope can take time - it's not just a matter of pointing it at something and looking through the eyepiece, that gets boring fast. But learning how to observe,how to really see what’s out there, typically takes some guidance. And while most telescopes don’t require much maintenance, there’s often some. On top of that, when something goes wrong, you may have a built-in support group that can help you determine what the problem is and whether or not there’s an easy fix.

This leads me to another point I hadn’t yet mentioned, and that’s that many clubs, I dare say most, have a thriving buy/sell/trade culture. In my own club and clubs I’m familiar with, there’s always someone selling off a piece of equipment, usually well-maintained, in order to have money to upgrade to a new piece. Occasionally someone will decide to give up the hobby and sell off a lot of equipment all at once (usually this is for financial reasons, downsizing, or older people who can’t carry around their gear anymore). Oftentimes, people selling gear will give first-crack at it to club members, or even offer a discounted price from what they’d charge non-members (not always the case, but frequent in my experience). Buying from a member of your club is usually one of the safer ways to buy used equipment - unless they’re leaving the club, odds are they don’t want to cheat you and risk earning a bad reputation within the club. Personally, I’ve bought about half or more of my equipment from club members.

I mentioned dark sites before. The term dark site is somewhat vague, but generally refers to a location with darker skies than you’d typically have in your backyard. Of course, this is relative. I used to live in the Jersey Village area outside of Houston, Texas. From there, my back yard skies were better than, say, downtown Houston, but not by a whole lot. Where I live now, in Hockley, Texas, is quite a bit better, but not as good as where my club has it’s dark site, outside of Columbus, Texas. And that site isn’t as good as where they hold the Texas Star Party just outside of Fort Davis, Texas. So, yeah, it’s relative.

When a club has a dark site, it may mean one of a few different things. In the case of my club, we actually have a piece of property, about 18 acres, outside of Columbus, Texas. This site is about 5 miles from the highway (as the crow flies), and about 10 from the nearest town or city, which isn’t a particularly large town. This means that light pollution near the site is pretty low, around a 3 on the Bortle scale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale), which can be described as rural-sky. My own backyard is around Bortle Class 5, which is described as suburban sky. Where I previously lived near Jersey Village was Bortle Class 8, maybe 9 which is an inner-city sky, where constellations are pretty hard to make out and the sky is not really black.

A dark site with a Bortle class of 3 or 4 is a big improvement over most urban and suburban skies. But even Bortle 5 or 6 will be better than inner-city skies. Again, we’re talking relatively better.

If a club has its own dark site, oftentimes that site is going to be fairly rural, often surrounded by trees but with a good, cleared space for observing, and with regulated access. A good dark site will also typically require people adhere to a set of rules regarding the use of lighting. In most cases, only red light is acceptable (either from red LED elements or filtered through red plastic of some sort). Even then, that light is usually required to be fairly dim. This is for preserving dark adaptation (I’ll probably discuss this further in another post soon). The point here is to provide an area with good dark skies for viewing and little or no interference from external lighting (e.g. headlights and streetlights).

If a club doesn’t have its own property, then it’s not uncommon to have access to a piece of land owned by a member or supporter. Sometimes clubs will work with local colleges and universities, particularly those with their own observatories, which may have a location that’s available.

And even when a club doesn’t have a particular site like this, you’ll usually find that club members have scouted out good locations, often in state parks or public lands. The goal is always to find a place to observe from that’s darker than you have at home and relatively free of stray light.

From my experience, clubs tend to be full of members who are not only happy to, but also enjoy helping out new members. Whether this is a matter of teaching someone how to use or maintain their equipment, or helping people learn their way around the sky, you’re likely to find

plenty of people in a club to help out.

Again, using my own club as an example, we have a number of programs to help foster new users, to teach them how to identify stars and constellations, how to set up and use telescopes, how to polar align equatorial telescopes, how to collimate Newtonian telescopes, and more.

It’s also common to find one or more people in a club who actually know how to do repairs to scopes, which is really helpful if something goes wrong. And for people interested in astrophotography, there’s often people already experienced in these dark arts and willing to offer help and advice.

And I also brought up the Astronomical League. This is a national organization to promote astronomy. Among the things they offer is the ability to take part in their observing programs. Most of these programs are centered around observing a given set of astronomical objects. For example, one of the most popular is the Messier program. The Messier catalog has 110 deep sky objects, and the Messier program requires individuals to observe and log at least 70 of these objects. The logs require things such as time, date, location, instrument used, weather and sky conditions, and a description of the object. Once an individual collects enough observations, they submit them to either their local club coordinator or the national coordinator for the program, and, if approved, they earn the award. In the case of the Messier list, 70 objects earns the individual a certificate, and observing all 110 earns a pin as well (most of the programs have a pin).

Observing 10 or more such programs, including a few specific programs, can earn the individual the title of Master Observer.

These programs all help improve observing skills and foster a better understanding of the sky above us. And there’s no cost, other than membership.

Not all clubs are members of the AL, but many are. For those clubs, membership in the club typically includes membership in the AL. For those who aren’t members, or for international individuals, at-large memberships are available, which allows the individual to take part in the programs.

One last benefit I'd like to discuss here is equipment. Many, though certainly not all, clubs have telescopes that members can borrow. In the case of my club, members can essentially check out telescopes as one would a library book. Other club have their own observatories, usually at their dark sites, which have one or more telescopes available for members to use, though usually with additional training.

In the end, the fairly low-cost of membership is usually a great value, particularly for people just starting to learn about telescopes and astronomy. I would call it a nearly essential benefit for a new member. It makes learning your way around the hobby so much easier, and aside from dues, there's no commitments required. It's more than worth the price.

As always, clear skies!