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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Here is a list of frequently asked questions about the Night Sky Network and our website.
How do I contact a club to do a presentation for my organization?
Use the Club Directory to find a club near you.
Then use the Club's displayed information to contact them.
What is the Night Sky Network?
The Night Sky Network is a partnership of amateur astronomy clubs, NASA, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the Astronomical League.
Amateur astronomers regularly share their knowledge, time, and telescopes to bring amazing aspects of astronomy to the public.
In 2002, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific conducted a survey of amateur astronomers to determine the nature of outreach by amateurs. In the survey, amateurs express the need for support of their outreach efforts. The main requests were:
- Materials on themed topics
- Training in the use of the materials
- Effective ways to communicate with varied audiences
- Networking with other amateurs doing outreach
The Night Sky Network was inaugurated to help meet these needs.
Amateur astronomers have an interest in providing the public with entertaining, engaging ways to learn basic astronomy concepts. It is one of NASA's education goals as well to improve the American public's understanding of astronomy.
The Night Sky Network was developed with the dedicated assistance of an advisory team of amateur astronomy clubs.
Why should my club apply for membership in the Night Sky Network (NSN)?
Your club will join a national coalition of amateur astronomy clubs bringing astronomy and the excitement of NASA missions to your communities.
Membership in the Night Sky Network is free.
This is an opportunity to:
- Enhance the public outreach you already do
- Encourage more of your members to participate in outreach
- Increase the confidence of those who are interested in outreach
- Earn national recognition for your outreach efforts
- Keep up-to-date on the latest NASA discoveries via members-only teleconferences with NASA scientists
Your club can:
- Receive Outreach ToolKits on themed topics in astronomy
- Discuss ideas for outreach with other NSN members
- Contribute your ideas to the development of new Outreach ToolKits
What are the qualifications for Membership?
Qualifications: - Your club must have a minimum of 15 members
- Your club must be based in the United States, its Territories, or Possessions
- Approval by an officer of your club
- Your club commits to using Night Sky Network Resources in a minimum of five public astronomy events a year.
- Apply for membership using the online application form. We recommend that you review the contents of the
online application form (pdf) before applying.
But your continued enthusiasm with sharing your knowledge, time, and telescopes with the public is the primary qualification!
In order to achieve broad dissemination, we will be choosing clubs of various sizes from all over the United States, urban, suburban, and rural. Qualifying clubs must show a commitment to sharing astronomy with the public and an interest in contributing to the Night Sky Network community.
How does my club submit an application?
Only online applications will be accepted.
You will need to designate two different members from your club as club contacts.
Applications must be received by June 30, 2008 in order to be considered for this round of memberships.
Membership in the Night Sky Network is free.
What happens when my club applies for membership?
Your application will be acknowledged within a few days.
Your application will be reviewed and your club contacts will be notified within four to six weeks of your club's membership status.
What happens when my club is accepted for membership?
You will then be eligible for all the benefits of membership in the Night Sky Network.
Your primary point of contact will be your club's Night Sky Network (NSN) Club Coordinator.
Your Club will be put on the list to be shipped the Shadows & Silhouettes Outreach ToolKit.
Your club may download a special Night Sky Network logo and link to post on your website designating your club as a member of the Night Sky Network. You have the right to use this logo on club correspondence and publicity.
Your club is listed as a member on the Night Sky Network.
The Club Officer and the Night Sky Network Club Coordinator listed on the application form are each sent an email with his or her login and access password for the Night Sky Network. Through the Club Coordinator, other club members can be registered as participants in the Night Sky Network.
We recommend you place the Night Sky Network login page into your Favorites or Bookmark the page in your browser.
What does my Club Coordinator do?
Your club needs to assign a primary and at least one backup Club Coordinator. In case the primary Club Coordinator is unavailable, the backup can take over. The first primary and backup Club Coordinators are the club contacts you put on your application for membership. The Club Coordinators can change who is designated for the role after your club is accepted.
The Night Sky Network Club Coordinator:
- Receives and manages any new Outreach ToolKits
- Introduces the Outreach ToolKits to club members
- Maintains the list of your club members who are participants in the Night Sky Network.
- Confirms outreach events logged by club members
How does my club maintain its membership in the Night Sky Network?
To receive continued support for this program, NASA must document the success of the Night Sky Network.
To remain a member in good standing of the Night Sky Network, your club must log a minimum of five outreach events a year using the Outreach ToolKits. Timely and accurate logging of outreach activities and events into the Night Sky Network (NSN) is essential.
An NSN Club in good standing will receive any new Outreach ToolKits that are released and will continue to participate in all activities provided by the Night Sky Network.
What is "outreach"?
"Outreach" is any activity that involves sharing astronomy with your community, with youth groups, or with your astronomy club members.
An "outreach event" is when you use of any part of the Outreach ToolKits in any setting where one or more of your club members are presenting information on astronomy to any number of other people. All of these are examples of events as long as you use some part of the Outreach ToolKits: a star party, a presentation for your club members, a presentation or star party for a youth or community group, a demo set up at a science museum, a classroom activity or science fair, a gathering at your house where you take a group of friends outside to look at the sky.
In addition, an "event" can be an article you write for a club newsletter or local newspaper or a spot on a local radio or TV show about the Outreach ToolKit, about the NASA missions featured in the ToolKit, or about the Night Sky Network program.
What is the Outreach ToolKit?
The first Outreach ToolKit your club will receive is "Shadows & Silhouettes: Phases, Eclipses, and Transits". This ToolKit covers topics you can address during that shadowy time just before and just after sunset. It also covers those special events enhanced by views through telescopes and binoculars: eclipses and transits.
The significance of transits in NASA's search for habitable planets begins with the Kepler Mission. Kepler will be monitoring an area in the Summer Triangle, a part of the sky amateur astronomers find filled with telescopic targets of beauty and interest.
Each Outreach ToolKit includes the materials you need to support a variety of activities, as well as a training video on DVD showing ways you might use the materials, a manual of suggested activities, PowerPoint presentations, and video clips.
The next ToolKit you will receive is "PlanetQuest: The Search for Another Earth". Using the fascinating idea of finding planets around other stars, you can explain basic astronomy concepts to visitors at your star parties, classroom presentations, club meetings, or community group activities. Excite your audiences about astronomy by discussing upcoming NASA missions about the search for another Earth.
Examples of activities:
- "Where are the Distant Worlds?": A set of monthly constellation maps that show the locations of naked-eye stars that have been discovered to have planets. Illustrated cards are included that show the orbits of the star's planets and fun facts about the system. Imagine being able to point to a star in the sky and discuss what a planet orbiting that star might be like. You can even personalize the maps with your club's information and use them as handouts.
- "Shadows in Space, Phases and Eclipses" This set of activities provides a variety of methods to explain Moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, and phases of Venus, including addressing a common question: Why don't eclipses happen every month?
And much more . . .
As long as you continue to log events using the ToolKits, you will receive subsequent ToolKits. Released ToolKits are:
Shadows & Silhouettes: Phases, Eclipses, and Transits
PlanetQuest: The Search for Another Earth
Our Galaxy, Our Universe
Black Hole Survival ToolKit
Telescopes: Eyes on the Universe
Exploring the Solar System
What is available on the Night Sky Network website?
The Night Sky Network website has several purposes:
- News is posted about upcoming events for NSN participants, like teleconferences with NASA scientists and special outreach opportunities
- You can review what other clubs are doing for outreach
- You report your outreach events and earn outreach recognition
- It's a place to get help with the Outreach ToolKits
- You can contact other Night Sky Network members either by email or on the Discussion Board
NSN Club Coordinators can:
- Add new participants from your club
- Change logins and reset passwords of your club
- Change those assigned as the NSN Club Coordinators (you must have at least two and no more than four)
- Review events logged by your club members (Review Logged Events) and approve them for posting on the Find Events" listings.
Participants and NSN Club Coordinators can:
- Log any events ("Log an Event") in which you use any part of the Outreach ToolKits: One of the NSN Club Coordinators must approve the event for it to be posted on the "Find Events" listings. Events are logged using an online form that takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete.
- Post photos from your events
- Find and view events posted by your club and other clubs
- Download a variety of resources for use in public events
Who is sponsoring the Night Sky Network?
The Night Sky Network is sponsored and supported by JPL's PlanetQuest public engagement program. PlanetQuest is a part of JPL's Exoplanet Exploration Program, which encompasses several of NASA's extra-solar planet-finding missions, including the Keck Interferometer, the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI), and the Michelson Science Center.
The NASA Education Forum on the Structure and Evolution of the Universe
(SEU), based at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, is a
national center for teaching and learning about NASA's SEU theme.
The Origins Education Forum, based at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, is an association of the education and public outreach programs of the NASA missions seeking to understand and characterize the origins of the universe, planets, and life.
NASA's Kepler Discovery Mission, NASA Grant NAG 2-6066 to SETI Institute. http://www.kepler.nasa.gov/
NASA Education and Public Outreach at Sonoma State University:GLAST, Swift and XMM-Newton missions http://epo.sonoma.edu
Suzaku Mission E/PO Program at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center http://suzaku-epo.gsfc.nasa.gov
I am not a member of an astronomy club. What can I do?
If you are not a member of an amateur astronomy club and want to become involved, check the Club Directory to find the nearest club that is a member of the Night Sky Network.
Use the club's displayed contact information to find out how to join.
I still have questions ...
Contact us through this online form or click on "Contact" below.
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