How many UK amateur astronomers are there ?

[Nightjar]

Does anybody know ? Or would like to make a guess ?

Nightjar

[Ant]

I cannot remember who I was talking to, but we chatted about this and came up with a figure of 10 - 20,000.

But there wasn't a lot of "Science" behind the conclusion, so take it with a rather large pich of salt.

Ant

[FLO]

I don't know but Sky at Night and Astronomy Now reader-numbers together with BBC Sky @ Night viewer-numbers would give some indication. (I don't know those either).

[tinvek]

there are 3, patric moore, a chap who got confused and really wanted to find out his horiscope and a cartoon charector who hits his head regulary and enjoys seeing stars

[ashenlight]

10-20k seems quite low to me but I suppose it's as niche as a hobby can get...

[GazOC]

On that BBC4 "Meet amatuer astronomers" program (can't remember the proper title) they said 40,000....

[ashenlight]

according to ONS the UK has a population of around 61.4 million...

is there really that few amateurs out there?

[ashenlight]

hm, I suppose that is 606 amateurs per every 'official' city, 66 according to that site.

[Ben Ritchie]

I've always felt that there's a large missed opportunity here. Thinking of the entirely arbitrary sample that is the people I know outside the Astronomy community, the vast majority have a genuine interest when chatting over a beer and a surprising number - a quarter to a third, i'd guess - actually own a telescope. Most are the type of thing you find in a corner of camera shops, in a couple of cases they're quite good kit (an ETX-125PE and one of the early Meade 8" SCTs, LX10 I think), but in virtually every case they're stuck in a cupboard somewhere unused.

So people seem to trip up on that last step, I guess finding whatever they buy to be too frustrating to actually get them into the hobby.

[ashenlight]

Good point Ben, there's probably alot more out there than we can see and communicate with. I know how hard and daunting I found that step into becoming an 'active' (for want of a better word) amateur - going out regularly, communicating with other amatuers. I guess this is where great communities like SGL come in, helping others along

Something the IYA could have picked up on I suppose.

[michaelmorris]

I think the basic problem is that no-one has defined exactly what they mean by 'Amateur Astronomer'.

If they mean, 'active observer'I would guess a figure somewhere between 5,000 to 20,000. I would define an active observer as someone who goes out with the specifc intent of observing the night sky on more than 4 ocassions a year (an arbitray figure).

Another measure might be a member of an organisation such the BAA, SPA or a society affilated to the FAS.

There is no perfect definition so there will always be a large margin of error on the figure.

[callump]

The BAA has something like 2700 members, and the SPA in the region of 3000 to 3500. Of course quite a few people are members of both

I did a count up of FAS member society declared membership numbers a couple of years back, and if i remember rightly it was something like 13,000. Again there will be duplication in there.

It seems to be very difficult to get circulation numbers for Astronomy Now and Sky @ Night Mag. I have heard them rumoured to be around the 20 to 25 thousand mark, each.

/callump

[ashenlight]

What about people who just enjoy identifying constellations from the comfort of a sunlounger? are they 'stargazers'? I'd say they are amateurs, just as interested as I am with my newt and a list of doubles...

[shaula]

I feel a 'drake-esq-type' equation coming up.... let me have a few glasses of vino later & I'll have the answer for you!!

[RobH]

I was discussing this very subject recently with Albert Etherington, of Astrosource, who knows just about everyone who's been in the astronomy line for a while, and he said that it's reckoned to be about 50,000 active.

No idea where the figure comes from, but he does know his stuff.

Cheers

Rob

[Vega]

I reckon if we're just talking people who are fascinated by the night sky its more like around 20Million! People who own a telescope? I dunno maybe 1M... and who actually use them? yeah probably around the 50K mark

Matt

[GazOC]

As Ben says the interest is def. there. I post a few of my lunar images every couple of months in the off-topic section of a Boxing forum I'm a member of and theres always a lot of genuine interest (and some pretty funny questions) in them. My last lunar mosiac got 4 pages of replies/ questions!!!

Most people who would like to get into the hobby casually are put off by not knowing what gear to buy, how to use it and what views/ objects they can expect to see. Those issues provide enough 'inertia' to put them off looking and further into the hobby.

[ashenlight]

It is pretty daunting Gaz, you're right. I really believe if I hadn't joined SGL (even though now I can't imagine my day to day life without logging on - yes I need another hobby) I wouldn't have a telescope. And so follows I wouldn't have seen some truly amazing, awe inspiring sights and I wouldn't know that I can 'do' something that I once viewed as too 'techie' for me. It has been a revelation!

[pete_gamby]

Assuming some cross-over in subs for Astro Now and S@N, there are prolly around 30,000 people that buy a copy of an astro mag based on what I have been given as subscription numbers (they give you those numbers when you threaten to spend money on advertising ;-)).

This is about the same as the number of people that buy a birding mag.

On the basis that people who invest in literature are the ones that care, then the estimates of 20 to 50k amateur astronomers sounds fair to me. But, as with the nation's "bird watchers" the majority of which check out a starling on the lawn with an Argos binocular, there are probably millions that would say they are "interested" in the night sky having seen Sir P chat about moon landings on the 6 o'clock news :-)

I'd guess that there are something like 2,000 to 4,000 serious tube/mount combinations sold per year in the UK i.e. not your £49 Skywatcher tube. That would stack up with a ten year replacement cycle and/or 2 to 5 year upgrade path for up to 50,000 keen astronomers.

Cheers, Pete

[ron.s.g]

At work whilst reading the sky at night several people have mentioned they own a scope but when asked what it is they dont have a clue,

but they always ask questions regarding the bright star in the sky at the moment,(jupiter) which i tell them that if they used the scope they would see its moons.

so a lot of them would become astronomers if they just used what they have.

regards ron.s.g

[tinvek]

what would be interesting is if some business (say FLO for example) had a record of how many customer addresses they have on file as we tend to be a fairly purchase happy hobby so if some one is actively engaged they probably are buying equipment from somewhere.

alternatively just do a survey of the bankrupcy declerations for those who are a little too active

[FLO]

[TheThing]

Surely the answer is 42?

[Nightjar]

Thanks for the replies everyone, a wide range of answers, but I'm tending to agree with 42.

It will be interesting to see how many people will turn up to the Great Look Up The Great Look Up - 28th August 2009 - The Varsity Centre, University of Surrey tonight. There will be about 500 people coming we think.

We're encouraging visitors to bring along binoculars and telescopes if they have them. The nice chaps at Hants Astro will be on hand to offer advice on setting up and using scopes.

I'm sure by the end of the evening there'll be a few more astronomers in the UK. Hurrah !

[661-pete]

I wonder whether the answer could come from a Census question?

No - really! I don't mean just astronomy of course, but why not a section on 'hobbies and pastimes' or something like that. Purely optional of course, a list of tick boxes for all the most popular hobbies and a box at the bottom for other - please specify. I'd hope that 'astronomy' wouldn't get relegated to the other - please specify slot of course!

I've just been having a glance through the proposed form for the next UK Census (2011). It looks plenty convoluted already, I don't suppose an extra question or two would make it much more so! And I'd far rather answer this sort of question than 'ethnicity' or 'religion' (last time, 2001, I purposely refused to answer the 'religion' question...)

Petition time maybe?