Overview: Our Three-Fold Mission

The River Bend Astronomy Club serves amateur astronomers of the American Bottom, the Mississippi River bluffs and beyond, fostering observation, education and a spirit of camaraderie.

OBSERVATION We encourage people of all ages and interest levels to look at the natural world. Sky watching uplifts the head and the mind, spurs greater personal awareness and deepens a sense of interconnectedness with the cosmos. Members use telescopes—sometimes connected to computers and imaging equipment—or binoculars and even their unaided eyes when making observations. Recording these perceptions through note-taking, drawing or photography can freeze a moment in time, can create meaningful data to share with others, and in some cases can serve as the basis for scientific inquiry.

EDUCATION The club educates its members and others, especially young people, through an ongoing series of informal discussions, special presentations and public events. We strive to build a greater awareness of the wonders of space as well as a better understanding of the science of astronomy. There are no small questions in a vast universe.

CAMARADERIE And last, but not least, we aim to have a good time. Astronomy is not just a solitary, noble pursuit; it's also great fun and a wonder-full way to bring people together. If you're gonna do it in the dark, why go it alone? Since earliest times, humans living in this part of North America have shared the sky, emerging from the shelter of bluffside caves to marvel at the sky's beauty and ponder its mystery. Today, at the dawn of the 21st century, a friend's encouragement helps draw us out of our insulated homes to stand in frigid cold or battle swarms of mosquitoes to experience sometimes ephemeral celestial delights. After all, the universe is expanding even faster than our waist lines: The best way to keep up is to exercise our sense of wonder.

COMET HALE-BOPP
by Gary W. Kronk

Through its three-fold mission, River Bend Astronomy Club promotes the wonder of the universe. Most of our members live in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area and observe from sites east of the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois.