2023

Observing Program Announcement – New Imaging Opportunities

July 3, 20230 commentsstory

There are some new major changes in the Observing Programs at the Astronomical League, specifically aimed at imagers.  They affect the Master Observer Progression, specifically the Advanced Observer award, Messier, Caldwell, and Bennett Observing Programs.  If you are an imager and are interested in earning the awards in the Master Observer Progression, these are for you!

Why the changes:  If you are an Imager, previously you would not have been able to earn the higher awards in the Progression without doing the Messier Observing Program, manually and visually.  The Astronomical League recognizes that not everyone is a visual observer, and we value those who pursue imaging.

Changes #1, #2, and #3:  There are now versions of the Messier, Caldwell, and the Bennett Observing Programs specifically for Imagers:  Imaging – Messier, Imaging – Caldwell, and Imaging – Bennett.

Change #4:  The Master Imager Award may be used in the progression in place of the Master Observer Award.

Change #5:  The Advanced Observer Award for those who did not complete the Master Observer Award (but did do the Master Imager Award), will require that either the Imaging – Messier, Complete Messier (visual), Imaging – Bennett, or Bennett (visual) plus any version of the Herschel 400 Award be included in the list of completed Observing Programs for the imager.

Note:  Visual Observers are required to do a bit of imaging as part of their progression, and Imagers are required to do some visual observations as part of their progression.  Specifically, the Observer Award is required to earn the Advanced Observer Award.  Also, the Sketching Award is required of everyone pursuing the Master Observer – Silver Award.

So what does this all look like? 

Questions?  If you have any questions, please ask the Master Observer Progression Coordinator or any of the Observing Program Division Directors.

So what Observing Programs do you need to do?

Observer (total of 5 awards or more)

  • Required:
    • One of the Constellation Hunter Observing Programs.
    • One of the Messier (complete), Binocular Messier, or Bennet Observing Programs.
    • Lunar Observing Program (telescopic).
    • Solar System Observing Program.
  • Member’s Choice (choose one of these):
    • Galileo, Sketching, Sky Puppy, Youth Astronomer, Beyond Polaris, Two in the View, Universe Sampler, or Urban Observing Program.

Master Observer (total of 10 awards or more)

  • Required:
    • Messier (complete, visual) or Bennet (visual) Observing Program.
    • Lunar Observing Program (telescopic).
    • Double Star Observing Program.
    • Herschel 400 Observing Program.
  • Member’s Choice: Any additional five Observing Programs (full certification).

Binocular Master Observer (8 binocular awards or more)

  • Member may choose to complete any 8 of the AL’s Binocular certifications.

Master Imager (total of 10 awards or more, all must be done using Imaging)

  • Required:
    • Complete one of the Lunar Observing Programs.
    • Complete one of the Solar Observing Programs.
    • Complete either Solar System (Telescopic), Jupiter, or Mars Observing Program.
    • Complete any one of the Deep Space Observing Programs that may be done using Imaging.
    • Complete one of the Scientific Study Observing Programs.
  • Member’s Choice:
    • Any five additional Imaging Observing Programs.

Advanced Observer (total of 15 awards or more)

  • You must have completed the Observer Award.
  • If you have completed the Master Observer award:
    • 5 of your awards must be based on specific types of objects.
  • If you have completed the Master Imager award:
    • 5 of your awards must be based on specific types of objects.
    • You must have completed the Herschel 400.
    • You must have completed either the Imaging – Messier or the Imaging – Bennett Observing Program.

Master Observer – Silver (total of 20 awards or more)

  • You must have completed the Observer Award.
  • You must have completed the Master Observer Award or the Master Imager Award.
  • You must have completed the Advanced Observer Award.
  • Required:
    • Lunar II Observing Program.
    • Outreach Award (any level).
    • Sketching Observing Award.
    • Sunspotters Observing Program.

Master Observer – Gold (total of 30 awards or more)

  • You must have completed the Observer Award.
  • You must have completed the Master Observer Award or the Master Imager Award.
  • You must have completed the Advanced Observer Award.
  • You must have completed the Master Observer – Silver Award.
  • Required:
    • Herschel II Observing Program.
    • Outreach Award (at least the Stellar level).
    • Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Observing Award.
    • Stellar Evolution Observing Program.
    • Variable Star or Binocular Variable Star Observing Program.

Master Observer – Platinum (total of 40 awards or more)

  • You must have completed the Observer Award.
  • You must have completed the Master Observer Award or the Master Imager Award.
  • You must have completed the Advanced Observer Award.
  • You must have completed the Master Observer – Silver Award.
  • You must have completed the Master Observer – Gold Award.
  • Required:
    • Dark Sky Advocate Observing Award.
    • Outreach Award (Master level).
    • Target NEO Observing Award (advanced).
    • Radio Astronomy Observing Program (gold).
    • Asteroid (gold) or Comet (gold) Observing Program.

ALCon 2023 Notice:

June 30, 20230 commentsstory

ALCon 2023 Notice:

Any Master Observer who plans to attend ALCon 2023 and who has NOT received a Master Observer plaque at a previous ALCon needs to register before July 3. On your registration, please indicate on the “Checkout” page that you are a Master Observer and that you have NOT received your MO Plaque. This allows time for the plaque to be produced.

Observing Program Division – Web Site Information

June 28, 20230 commentsstory

Just an update to let you know that the Astronomical League Web Team has been doing a herculean effort to get the Observing Program related pages of the site fully functional.  We have come along way since the go-live.

If you see any mistakes, broken links, or missing content related to the Observing Programs, please send it to Aaron Clevenson at aaron@clevenson.org.  Be sure to give enough detail that I can find the problem.

Thanks for your help.

Launch of our new website

May 31, 20230 commentsstory

Welcome to the new Astronomical League website!

We are excited to announce that the Astronomical League website has undergone a complete platform change and upgrade. The upgrade included the migration of years-worth of pages, articles, images, custom code, and data from the previous website.  As with any project of this magnitude, there will be some ongoing issues that we intend to address. For your awareness, we will keep a list on known issues in this article.

Why are we releasing the website with known issues?

The previous version of the Astronomical League website is a highly customized and complex solution that was written on a platform that is undergoing a major architectural change. The website  was going to require an entire rewrite of the software to accommodate the changes being dictated by the platform upgrade. Many of the functions of the previous website were broken over time, leaving us with a website that was difficult to update and maintain. The new version of the Astronomical League website, while still needing some work, is in a stable enough state for us to release and use. With that said, please pardon out appearance as we work though the remaining issues.

Known Issues

Society / Club information

The Society / Club information is not visible at the moment. The information in the previous version of the website was out of date and we were unable to update it. Rather than launch the new website with outdated / incorrect information, we opted to keep it offline until each Societies information can be confirmed and updated. Your information will be made visible as we make corrections.

Broken Links, missing bookmarked pages

With the migration to the new platform also came a drastic change in web page naming conventions. For this reason, your bookmarked pages may show as “missing”. If you have bookmarked a web page that is not available on the new website, please search for the page in the search box on the right side of this page and update your bookmark with the new link. If you cannot find the page that you are looking for, please fill out THIS FORM.

What to do if you notice a problem with our website

If you notice incomplete, incorrect, or missing information on our website, please fill out THIS FORM. Your request will be sent to our web team for processing. We appreciate your help!

 

Observing Program Division Information – Award Approval

April 2, 20230 commentsstory, Uncategorized

Many of the Astronomical League Observing Programs have multiple types of certifications.  Many of these allow for an officer of a local astronomical society to review and approve the member’s work.  If you are a person approving the work and submitting an email to the Coordinator, it is critical that you tell the Coordinator which type of certification is being requested:

  • Binocular – all observations were done with binoculars or naked-eye.
  • Manual – all observations were done manually.
  • Imaging – all observations were done using imaging.
  • A Combination – observations were done through mixed methods.

Be sure that the member has met all of the requirements.  Some Observing Programs have different and specific requirements that must be met.  If in doubt, please check the web page for that Observing Program or contact the Coordinator.

Thanks for your support of these observing activities.

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