The Society for Amateur Scientists is launching a major new education program that we believe could have a profound impact on science education all over the United States. As I hope you know, our Western Connecticut Chapter raised over $200,000 from their local community and built a world-class observatory at New Milford high school. This facility is teaching much more than just astronomy. Students are learning responsibility and self-confidence as well as science while they conduct a variety of research programs, some of which were devised by the students themselves. And the observatory is more than a laboratory. It's a meeting place where students from all over the New Milford area can meet others of like mind. It's a place where mentors from the community can come to give back to the next generation of Americans. It's also a place where students can introduce members of the public to the wonders of astronomy. In short, a high school-based observatory is a powerful vehicle for making a better world, and it's something that belongs in every community in America.

With that goal ahead of us, and WCCSAS's success behind us, SAS National is launching a bold new educational campaign to build similar observatories in communities all across America-- including yours.

Here's the plan. SAS National intends to raise $50,000 this year to support one full-time employee who will work with our members and other community activists to build an observatory at a high school in their own school districts. We in the National office will act as facilitators-- developing the necessary written materials, observatory plans, etc. and helping each local team of activists to carry the project forwards. We will help these teams sell the vision of the program to their city officials, community leaders and local business professionals. The teams will then secure the necessary local support and raise the money for their own observatories from their own communities, just as WCCSAS did. And SAS will work with them to help oversee the construction.

The project's long-term goal is to put one telescope into each school district in the country. A tall order! But to get us started, we have set the more modest goal of completing two observatories in the next 24 months. As the program grows, we will seek additional funds to hire more staff to accelerate the pace.

The second phase will begin as soon as the first few telescopes are in operation. In Phase Two we plan to link the telescopes together over the Internet so that students and citizen scientists from all over the world would be able to request images from the STAR Network via the Web. Once students have finished their observations on their local observatory, control would be switched to the network which would then queue up requests from all over the world. This would allow anyone with a computer to potentially gain access to real telescopes to carry out simple observations. Personally, I would like to make this a fee-for-service to help support and expand the network. But no matter how we implement it, such a network could dramatically expand humanity's access to the universe. We hope to collaborate with NASA's Telescopes In Education (http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov/tie/) program. Note, most of the technology to do all this already exists. We just need to build the telescopes and implement it.

Of course, once a telescope is built the students who run it will have to have something to do with it. The thousands of novice astronomers will need expert guidance and training. That's why we have partnered with the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). Their Hands-On Astrophyics program will form the backbone of our education program (http://hoa.aavso.org/about.htm) and their outstanding observing programs will have even the greenest neophytes contributing scientifically useful observations in a very short time.

All this is clearly doable! Since the Western Connecticut Chapter has already raised money from their local community and built a world-class observatory at a local high school, SAS clearly has within it the expertise to carry such a project through. And since dedicated pro-astronomy activists (many of them SAS members) can be found all over the country, there is plenty of talent and determination out there to make this happen. The technology and the education programs already exist. SAS National just needs to build the infrastructure to push it all forwards.

In the coming months I'll be approaching several Foundations to secure a commitment for the necessary support for the first three years. However, before we can secure money from funding agencies, we have to be able to prove that there is strong support for the program amongst our members. That means that we need each of our members to contribute whatever they can to this effort. If you've been with us for very long you know that we don't ask for money very often. But I am asking now. Remember, all money donated will go to pay staff who will then help local activists raise the necessary money from their own communities to build the telescopes. Fifty thousand dollars spent by the national organization could generate half a million dollars worth of observatories. Clearly, this is a fantastic opportunity to leverage your charitable giving.

But it can't happen without your support. So please follow this link to our STAR Supporter page on the SAS Online Store and be as generous as you can. You can donate via credit card on-line or email or call Nancy Scarduzio, or Managing Director, at 401-823-7800. If you prefer, you can send a check to the STAR Network at:

Society for Amateur Scientists
5600 Post Road Suite 114-341
East Greenwich, RI 02818

Please make your check payable to the STAR Network.

If you would like to help volunteer your time to bring an observatory to your community, please send email to star@sas.org and let me know.

Sincerely,

Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Society for Amateur Scientists

All photos compliments of WCCSAS.