Amateur Organisations

The American Association of Variable Star Observers — for more than a century, the organisation that gathers variable-star observations from amateurs worldwide into a single database that professional astronomers draw on. The model for how amateur and professional astronomy work together.

The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, which coordinates amateur observation of the Moon, the planets, comets, and asteroids — organising observing programmes and archiving the results so that amateur monitoring of the Solar System adds up to something lasting.

The global body that coordinates amateur meteor observation, collecting counts from observers around the world to measure the strength and structure of meteor showers and to study the streams of debris that cause them.