Amateurs and students

The observatory opens slots to independent observers : university students who come through the association, and amateur astronomers. Access requires training on the instruments first.

Why training. The instruments are shared, expensive and easy to knock out of true. A mount left badly aligned, a sensor left under dew or a dome closed carelessly, and it is somebody else’s night that is lost, sometimes several. The training is not an exam : it is what lets us hand you the keys.

The route, in three stages

1 · Apply

Tell us about your experience of observing and of equipment, and what you would like to observe. No minimum experience is required to write : the exchange is what shapes the route.

2 · Train

The training covers the instrument, setting it up, making it safe and the rules of the site. It happens with a member who is already independent, over one or several evenings depending on your experience.

3 · Observe

Once you are independent on an instrument, you book your own slots. Independence is granted instrument by instrument, not once and for all.

À confirmer par l’associationLe contenu exact de la formation, sa durée, la personne qui la valide et la périodicité des créneaux dédiés. Tant que ces points ne sont pas arrêtés, cette page décrit la démarche sans promettre de durée ni de fréquence.

Students and amateurs

University students. Access goes through the association : joining opens the training evenings and the outings, where you learn on the mobile equipment before moving on to the observatory’s instruments. No prior knowledge is needed to start.

Amateur astronomers. You often arrive with a practice already in place. The training then bears less on observing than on what is particular to this site and its instruments, and on the shared rules. Tell us what you already do and we adapt.

In both cases, membership of the association is required : it carries the insurance and makes you part of the group that looks after the instruments, rather than the user of a service.

Apply

Write and tell us what you do and what you want to observe. We will tell you how to go about it and when the next training takes place.