My last entry notwithstanding, there are a number of outreach efforts to bring astronomy to a wide cross-section of people of all ages, genders, and financial levels. Of course there’s the local planetarium, a place I always recommend as a good first step to the stars. But, not everybody has one. Same for astronomy clubs, but again, they’re not everywhere. The Sidewalk Astronomers bring telescopes to the sidewalks of Los Angeles and San Francisco quite regularly, offering peeks at the heavens for nothing more than the price of a few minutes of standing in line.

In Massachusetts, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston do the same. I’m sure there are groups in every major city that set up telescopes and let people take a peek. Heck, even my friend Wendy sets her scope up occasionally in her city to show the stars and planets to anybody walking by. I’d love to hear about more such efforts to bring the stars to everybody, because they DO belong to everybody.

Here are a couple of cool stories about people sharing the stars with others. Check out this one and this one. And feel free to send me links to others. I’ll post ’em!