New Zealand astronomy has a rich history of valuable amateur research, and RASNZ is keen to make sure that this continues to be the case in the future, whether that involves people hosting meteor cameras, analysing variable star data, recording aurorae, documenting the history of astronomy, or undertaking visual or instrumental observations (for example).  Amateur research activity can range from collecting data for others to analyse, to actively participating in the analysis and presentation of results in journals or conferences.

The main goal of RASNZ is the promotion and extension of knowledge of astronomy.  One way in which we do this is by supporting amateur astronomers to participate in astronomical research. Further, RASNZ is one of entities that are to be supported by the International Astronomical Society (IAU) under its recently launched professional-amateur (pro-am) relationships initiative.

But if RASNZ is going to be effective in supporting amateur research in the future, we have to update what we know about who is research active and what their needs are.  We have developed a survey for New Zealand amateur astronomers who participate in research, so we can have better information about what they do and what they need from us.  If you have at some point taken part in any form of astronomical research, please help us by taking 10 minutes to respond to the survey and tell us a bit about what you do, and what support you look for.  If you know of somebody who takes part in astronomical research who may not have received this notice, please pass them the link to the survey, so they can also respond.  The survey will be open until 1 January 2023, and we expect to report results in February.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/59M6FRH

Article added: Tuesday 15 November 2022