Starting an Astronomy Club at my school

[Rascal Nag]

I\'ve kind of been waiting on this for a while, finally got started on it. I put up an interest poll in my school\'s science building and sent out an email to all the classes about it, and have some interest (Right now, I have 6 people who have said they\'re interested, not including myself, as well as two teachers who could act as moderators for the group), and I\'m pretty confident that by the time the gym gets opened up next year for the clubs to present themselves I\'ll be able to get more.

However, the biggest hurdle is not interest levels, but plans for the club. Right now, I would bring in both of my telescopes, one solar one and another normal one, to be used for Sun viewing and stargazing (The former of which could occur just after school, the latter is up in the air right now, since weekends may be occupied with other activities and other days would be school nights), and I would try to set up viewing sessions for special events. The events could include meteor showers, which could be planned in advance, and with the coming of the solar maximum in 2013, I could also try to send out alerts for possible auroras in the case of a strong flare. Of course, in addition to all this, things that are being seen would be explained, and any questions answered along the way.

But other than this, I can\'t think of anything, and I\'m not comfortable with this list of stuff, since after a while it could become stale. I don\'t think it has enough variety, and is too focused on viewings and stuff. Well, maybe there is one other possibility, which would be amateur rocketry, but I\'m not so sure about that due to expenses (It IS a club, and so usually it wouldn\'t require any sort of money on a regular basis, plus rockets are difficult to build in real life). And I\'m not so sure about the safety of it.

So, any ideas? I\'m not on any particular schedule with ideas yet, since this would start NEXT year (all I have to do in the next few days is make sure it has enough potential interest, which I think it does), but this would really be my first leadership role, and I don\'t want to make the universe seem boring (since it most certainly isn\'t), so I want to make sure it goes smoothly.

[Abrexus]

I would suggest starting out with programs such as http://en.spaceengine.org/ to allow you to take people on a guided tour of our solar system and galaxy, then follow that up with a real life look via telescope! It\'s amazing how much more you can appreciate what you se e live after it is put into perspective in a digital format first.

Also, if allowed KSP would be a great tool to introduce your class to orbital mechanics. I would recreate real life events if possible such as the space x dock with the ISP and allow the students the chance top try it for themselves. This hands on approach will really give them a feel for how complex space travel really is compared to what you see on TV.

Just my two cents.

[Rascal Nag]

I am not a teacher, I\'m a student, I don\'t have a class .

Also, I don\'t have access to anything at my school that could come close to running SpaceEngine (I have it), or even KSP for that matter.

[James510]

I am not a teacher, I\'m a student, I don\'t have a class .

Also, I don\'t have access to anything at my school that could come close to running SpaceEngine (I have it), or even KSP for that matter.

Get members to bring in laptops? Start fundraiser for club computers. Be creative with it

Anyways this sounds like a great idea, I hope it goes along well!

[togfox]

Make a model of our solar system using tennis and basket balls and offering it to the library when finished. Use paint and paper/plaster. Assign a planet to each club member and tell them to take as long as they need to get it right.

Make it big and grand.