The Society at 120

Mercury Spring 2009 Table of Contents

by Bruce Partridge

As was true in 1889, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific is the only professional organization that welcomes the full range of those who love astronomy -- from research scientists at colleges and national observatories to devoted amateurs, teachers at all levels, and members of the small but growing cadre of professional astronomy educators. Other organizations surround us, serving specific groups, but the ASP stands at the center. That has not changed in 120 years.

What has changed, I believe, is the increasingly outward focus of the Society. We are not so much a society for astronomers as a society of astronomers, with an overt goal of using astronomy -- and our love of it -- to further science literacy in the US and internationally. We interpret "science literacy" broadly.

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