EarthSky and the Astronomical League have agreed to partner in the years 2016 to 2018 to bring the wonder, beauty, and mystery of the night sky to the public. The partnership was finalized today (July 30,  2015).  John Goss, president of the Astronomical League, said:
The Astronomical League, the nation’s largest federation of astronomical societies, is  proud  to  partner  with  EarthSky  …  We  recognize  the  importance  of  what stargazing  and   amateur  astronomy  offer  to  the  betterment  of  our  society, especially to the benefit of our young.

Among many other activities,  the Astronomical  League hosts a national meeting for  all  people  interested  in  astronomy.  It’s  called  ALCon,  and  you  are  hereby invited.

Deborah Byrd, founder and editor-in-chief of EarthSky, added:
We are thrilled and honored to be  partnering with the  Astronomical League, and we’ve  got  some  exciting  plans  for  the  coming  three  years.  For  example,  after surveying  our  audience and getting  their ideas on what they want to see,  we’ve been working toward a slightly different design for our website (bigger pictures!), which we hope to implement in early 2016. We also hope to add two new features to  EarthSky.org,  first,  a  global  map  where  people  can  pinpoint  their  favorite stargazing locations, and, second, a calendar of events (star parties and the like) that people can attend and enjoy. The Astronomical League will be helping us with both features, and we are grateful for their support.

In the coming three years, we also want to help our audience understand, prepare for and
enjoy the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse, which will be visible from North America.
And  we  want to continue  building  providing  information about astronomy to our audience,  enabling  them  to  take  next  steps  toward  enjoying  astronomy  as  a lifetime pursuit.
The  partnership  will  include  co-promotion  of  EarthSky  and  the  Astronomical League in each organization’s outreach to club members and the public. And it will include an exchange of information, designed to help each group accomplish their goals.
Bottom  line: EarthSky and the Astronomical  League announced a partnership for the years 2016-2018.

If you are a Master Observer, we want you!  The AL has a Master Observer Network set up to answer questions from members and the general public.  It is also a means for the League to talk with you as a group. If you are already on the list – Awesome!  If not, please join us.  

Please send an email to Aaron Clevenson, an AL Observing Program Director, at aaron@clevenson.org.  Please include your name and your MO number.  We are trying to have the list updated by 8/15/2015.  Thanks.  Aaron

This is a reminder that the third NASA Observing Challenge is “On!” (an AL Special Observing Award)
The website:  https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/challenges.cfm
The requirements:
        Image Pluto and submit it to the NASA Flicker site.
        Have an outreach event regarding the New Horizons encounter with Pluto.
        Submit the form to NASA.
The reward:
        A NASA/AL certificate.

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