Association of Star Friends

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The Vereinigung der Sternfreunde e. V. (VdS) is the numerically strongest association of amateur astronomers in Germany . It was founded in 1953 in Berlin as a successor to the Bund der Sternfreunde (BdS) founded by Robert Henseling in 1921 . At the end of 2017, the association had a good 4,000 members, including amateur astronomers from other German-speaking countries.

Club duties

Purposes of the VdS are the promotion of astronomy in public and the professional further education , care and information of its members. The VdS is not an umbrella organization of the more than 200 regional astro associations , but has been performing this function unofficially with the specialist group "Astronomical Associations" since 2016. The VdS maintains a total of 17 specialist groups that have been set up since 1983:

Since 1992 there has been a partnership with the Volkssternwarte Kirchheim (Thuringia) with the project "VdS-Sternwarte" in order to give VdS members access to larger telescopes (30 cm Cassegrain and 50 cm Newton ).

Journal of Astronomy

Since 1997 the VdS has published the “Journal for Astronomy”. Here amateur astronomers and the specialist groups of the VdS report on astronomical observations and their evaluation. The magazine appears four times a year (January, April, July and October) with 128 pages and changing focus topics. Non-members can purchase them at trade shows and telescope meetings.

Events

The VdS has been organizing the nationwide Astronomy Day in Germany since 2003 . This usually has a motto, according to the Astronomy Day on March 24, 2018: "The secret life of the stars" (different appearances of stars), and on March 30, 2019: "May the night be with us" (orientation on Starry sky, light pollution ).

In addition to annual meetings of individual departments of the VdS, there are also annual conferences. These are organized every year in a different federal state, most recently in October 2019 in Neunburg vorm Wald.

VdS medal

From 1999 to 2009 the VdS medal was awarded annually for special activities in the field of amateur astronomy. In 2011 the prize was replaced by the “German Prize for Astronomy, awarded by the Sternfreunde Association”. The old name “VdS Medal” has been in effect again since 2017.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ New VdS specialist group “Astronomical Associations”. Vereinigung der Sternfreunde eV In: www.vds-astro.de. Retrieved November 20, 2016 .
  2. ^ Astronomical Associations. Vereinigung der Sternfreunde eV Accessed November 4, 2017 (English).
  3. ↑ Homepage - section specialist groups. Vereinigung der Sternfreunde eV In: www.sternfreunde.de. Retrieved September 22, 2016 .