International Network of Amateur Astronomy Organizations (INAAO)

Background

There are amateur astronomers all around the world. Many are members of local and regional groups where we share our passion, share good practices, learn from each other, arrange private and public astronomy activities, and just enjoy each others’ company. We recognise the many benefits of working together, both for ourselves and our communities.

In some countries there is a national organisation or federation that provides support to multiple amateur astronomy groups in different locations. Such an organisation/federation’s activities might include encouraging collaborations, providing training, arranging insurance, and/or sharing skills and resources between groups.

However, we have until now lacked a wider, international network. There are international networks for specific projects, mostly in research, but none that focus on supporting the amateur astronomy groups themselves. INAAO was started by Cesare Pagano and Jenny Shipway in March 2025 to address this need.

Network description

INAAO is an informal international network that links national organisations/federations which support astronomy groups in multiple locations across large regions.

To avoid confusion: INAAO is not a network of local amateur astronomy groups, and does not have individual amateur astronomers as members.

The main goals of the network are:

• To share good practices as well as challenges. How can a national federation or similar organization best support its member organizations? We can learn from each other and maybe face some challenges together.

• To arrange concrete experiences like international projects or exchanges.

• To provide a single point of contact for professional astronomers interested in international collaborations, facilitating communication with amateur astronomy groups.

We meet up about every six weeks on Zoom to share our ideas and experiences, and to discuss chosen topics. The network is quite new and still evolving, but we have already benefitted from exhange of information and inspiration.

Participating organizations

As of July 2025, the network has 12 organisations and is still expanding.

• Vereniging voor Sterrenkunde (Belgium)

• Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

• Société Astronomique de France

• Vereinigung der Sternfreunde eV (Germany)

• Société Haïtienne d'Astronomie (Haiti)

• Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies (Ireland)

• Unione Astrofili Italiani (Italy)

• Nederlandsche Vereniging voor Sterrenkunde (Netherlands)

• Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand

• Portuguese Amateur Astronomers Association (Portugal)

• Federación de Asociaciones Astronómicas de España (Spain)

• Federation of Astronomical Societies (UK)

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US?

We would be excited to welome new organisations to our network. Please get in touch if you would like to find out more.

To be eligible to join, the following statements must all be true of your organisation:

1. Your organisation/federation is structured, with written aims and defined roles

2. Your organisation/federation supports at least three different groups of amateur astronomers where:

1. Your organisation/federation has a formal relationship with the groups.

2. Each group has its own organisational structure, with a leadership through which communications are made.

3. Each group holds in-person activities (eg meetings, events) for their members at least once every two months.

4. Each group is in a different location, so that the members of different groups  cannot normally all meet up together.

3. Your organisation/federation provides general/varied networking and support to these groups of amateur astronomers.

Please note we do not accept local amateur astronomy societies, nor individual astronomers, as members.