You never need to be a member to come to a viewing night. Membership buys you the field on the other 359 nights of the year, plus the equipment and the people who know how to drive it.
Sample dues: replace with [set your dues]
[set your dues] a year
Best for: someone who wants six good nights a year and no equipment to store.
[set your dues] a year
Best for: someone who has started checking the forecast at 21:00 out of habit.
[set your dues] a year
Best for: someone who is going to end up running the club whether they meant to or not.
Six nights, chosen for the objects rather than the diary. Each is called by 16:00 on the day; a clouded night rolls forward and you keep your place.
Sample dates: replace every row
| Night | Object | Magnitude | Date | Gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Saturn at opposition | 0.4 | [set the date] | 20:30 |
| 02 | The Perseid shower | varies | [set the date] | 21:00 |
| 03 | M31, the Andromeda galaxy | 3.4 | [set the date] | 21:30 |
| 04 | The lunar terminator | varies | [set the date] | 19:45 |
| 05 | Jupiter and the four moons | -2.5 | [set the date] | 20:00 |
| 06 | M13 in Hercules | 5.8 | [set the date] | 21:15 |
They exist because dark adaptation is fragile, the ground is uneven, and a telescope tube is easier to walk into than you would think.
Phones face down or filtered. Red film is at the gate and costs nothing.
Every instrument on the field is aligned. Nudging a dob out of alignment costs the next person ten minutes.
Nobody wants a pair of reversing lights across the field at midnight. Headlights off before the gate.
Look, describe what you saw, step back. The second look is always better than the first, and everyone gets both.
Nearly everyone joins after their first viewing night rather than before it. Reserve a place, come and stand in a field with strangers, and decide afterwards.