Welcome to the astronomy of New York
    NYSkies is the support group for home astronomy in the New York cosmopolitan area. This is substantially the commuting ring around the City, out to about 100 kilometers from the Empire State Building, plus all of Long Island. We are incorporated in New York State as 'NYSkies Astronomy Inc', a not-for-profit organization.
    NYSkies is not a club in the usual sense, but a service and resource for other clubs and individual astronomers. We do not recruit members, altho our supporters are commonly referred to as such. We, therefore, neither collect nor solicit dues. We receive continual and generous donations, to which you are graciously welcome to add.

www.nyskies.org
    We inaugurated our website on 29 August 2007 and unveiled it on September 1st. General inquiries are received at 'nyskies@nyskies.org'. You may continue to email us at 'nyskiesastronomy@earthlink.net', which will stay active for the indefinite future. Phone us by voice at 212-273-5958.
    Please mind  that we are at 'www.nyskies.org'. There is an other website with '.com', not '.org', that has absolutely no relation to NYSkies Astronomy Inc. It is a private site for a person in upstate New York that happens to have some astronomy items on it. We  in July 2008 advised the site owner of the potential mixup and asked that he insert a link to us.

NYSkies Astronomy Seminar
    The NYSkies Astronomy Seminars are a round table free-form discussion for current astronomy topics. They convene in St Paul's Lutheran Church, 315 West 22nd Street, near 8th Avenue, in Chelsea, Manhattan. Welcome signs are posted at the entry gate.
    Sessions are on the 1st and 3rd WEDNESDAY of every month, year round. (Until March 2009 the Seminar met on Thursdays.) They are free and open to the public. They start at 7PM and wind down by 9PM. There are no cancellations except by overwhelming circumstance, like a transit strike or storm evacuation.
    A fuller description is HERE.

NYSkies Yahoogroup forum
    We run a free public discussion group in the Yahoogroups system, the only open soapbox for New York astronomy. You may join by clicking HERE to open your email program. Just do 'send' without entering subject or text. Any that you do enter is ignored by Yahoogroups.
    You may also join thru the Yahoogroups website. If you already are in the Yahoogroups system, for other discussion fora, click HERE. In the logon screen, enter your Yahoogroups name and password, then do 'join' to meld in the NYSkies forum. If you not be a Yahoogroups registrant, go thru the signup process as instructed by the logon screen.

twitter.com/nyskies
    NYSkies on 25 March 2009 entered the Twitter network of realtime notices. You receive thru your cellphone brief texts about last-minute events, change of plans, sudden or rapid celestial activity. The latter can be aurorae, atmospheric optics, mutation of comets. 
    This service is only for items that require immediate notice. Routine news, announcements, articles are carried in the NYSkies yahoogroup or website. You will not be flooded with tons of texts every day, each of which may incur an annoying fee from your cellphone service. 
    If you are already enrolled in Twitter, send the text 'follow nyskies' to Twitter. You may also check NYSkies items, but not in realtime, at 'twitter.com/nyskies'. 
    To join Twitter, click HERE. The website has tuition in working Twitter but once enrolled, there's really little more to do. You get NYSkies items just like any other text on your cellphone. 

NYC Events and PazMiniBits
    NYC Events is the definituve authoritative calendar of astronomy and space activities in the New York region. The current issue is HERE. The next month's issue is posted, replacing the old issue, near the end of each month. An explanation, with answers to frequently asked questions, is HERE
    PazMiniBits is the astronomy news digest for the New York region. It emphasizes items commonly missed in mainstream news channels, plus items of special importance for New York astronomers. The current issue is HERE. The next month's issue is posted, replacing the old issue, near the end of each month. 

RASC Observer's Handbook
     NYSkies once again offered the RASC Observer's Handbook at deep discount to astronomers in the US. The damage, of only $20 per copy, included pack & post to you. 
    The offer for the 2009 issue is ALL SOLD OUT as at 12 December 2008. Requests received after then must, with deep sadness, be returned.
    If you are from an astronomy club you may consider filling your member requests thru NYSkies, as explained HERE for the 2010 issue, starting in September 2009.

Starviewing in the City
     NYSkies offers starviewng in Central Park, Manhattan, and Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn. The Central Park series is operated by a colleague group Top of the Lawn on  clear weekend nights thruout the year. Details HERE. 
    The Floyd Bennett Field series is run in conjunction with the National Park Service once per month in the spring and fall. The current schedule is HERE.
    Sessions at both sites are cancelled for clouds.

GLOBE at Night
    NYSkies, as part of its role in Night Sky Network, participates in the GLOBE at Night monitoring of luminous graffiti in February-March of each year. Assessments of constellation Orion are made, in accordance with GLOBE at Night procedure. In spite of erratic weather, useful data are collected from the Top of the Lawn site in Central Park and a couple other places around the City.

Astronomy services
    We facilitate and cooperate with other astronomy centers and individuals in the advancement of New York astronomy. Examples include, with links for additional details:
        Allies in Space,  CURRENT and PREVIOUS one.
       Earth Day, CURRENT ONE and general information HERE
       New York Space Society (NYC chapter of National Space Society). Details HERE.
       Northeast Astronomy Forum, CURRENT ONE.
       World Science Festival. Details HERE.

       Collaborate for public astronomy outreach with International Year of Astronomy.                                       

       Collaborate for public astronomy outreach with NASA-JPL and ASP in Night Sky Network.

NYSkies Astronomy Inc is now a member of the NASA/JPL:

Details HERE.

Articles by NYSkies supporters. Browse, read, print them HERE