There are astronomers all around us. Carl Sagan once said that we are descended of astronomers. So, it makes sense that the guy standing behind you in the bank line, or the woman ahead of you when you get on the plane MIGHT be an astronomer. Whether or not they’re professional astronomers (meaning they get paid to do it as a living) or amateurs (meaning they do astronomy AND hold down an unrelated job or go to school or something)—that’s another question.

Recently the president of Chile visited the European Southern Observatory. It turns out he’s an avid amateur astronomer and took the opportunity of a private visit to ask a lot of good questions about the technology astronomers were using to scan the skies. (If you want to read more about his visit, click on the European Southern Observatory link above.)

That story reminded me of a favorite pastime of amateurs: finding out which other famous people are into amateur astronomy. It turns out there are a fair number of them in the U.S., and I’m sure many more around the world. There’s Johnny Carson (former king of late-night talk shows in the U.S.), who stargazes from his home in California. Anthony Williams, mayor of Washington, D.C., is reported to be a night skygazer. I’ve also heard that movie stars Steve Martin and Tim Russ (a Star Trek: Voyager actor) do their fair share of stargazing, and rumor has it more than one rock musician is also turned on by the stars! A friend once reported he saw actor James Earl Jones at a star party on the East Coast, and astronaut John Grunsfeld once held a star party on orbit in the space shuttle!

Kinda neat when you think about it—no matter who we are are or how famous we are, stargazing is one of those things that nearly everybody can enjoy and share!