Young Astronomers Group (YA!)
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Meetings are held on the 3rd Saturday of every month between 7pm and 9pm (check our main club calendar for time changes throughout the year - determined by sunset times) for one hour at the Parkwood Hill HOA Club House - 5573 Eastwedge Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76137. MAP

It's free to the public, membership is not required to participate in the YA! meetings and the public is encouraged to come check us out! But in order to get the full benefits of the YA! experience, they will need to join the club officially!

With membership, the child will get the handbook, the official YA! member t-shirt, observing supplies to use at the telescopes (planisphere, red flashlights, etc.) as well as to earn several specially designed buttons (currently numbering 26 different buttons/achievements!) aimed at different skills and areas of knowledge that a good amateur astronomer will need to know! The buttons, which the kids wear on a lanyard, display the specific milestones and accomplishments each child has achieved. (Ownership of a telescope is not required to join!)

To become an official YA! member the child must officially join the main FWAS astronomy club at least at the $20 per year student membership rate (full family household membership is just $40 per year).

All FWAS/YA! memberships include:
  • discounts on popular astronomy magazines
  • associate membership status in the international Astronomical League
  • associate membership in NASA's Night Sky Network
  • full use of our FWAS dark site located on a private nature preserve 70 miles North of Ft Worth in Montague County (great for earning those buttons!)
  • use of the large aperture communal telescopes and eyepieces at the dark site (if they don't already own their own scope)
  • invitations and inclusions to all club picnics, club star parties and club banquets
  • as well as occasional special discounts to the Noble Planetarium at the Ft Worth Museum of Science and History

Not to mention the educational benefits of being a member of a scientifically-oriented hobby and community-centered club.



YA! Achievement Badges*
(Place cursor over button image below to see the YA! award it represents.)

Constellation Identification Achievement Button Reading Star Maps Achievement Button Telescope Basic Knowledge Achievement Button Finding Polaris (The North Star) Achievement Button Masters and Measurements (Measuring the sky with methods as before invention of telescope) Achievement Button Logging (Recording) Observations Achievement Button Amatuer Telescope Making Achievement Button
Mercury Observation Button Venus Observation Button Lunar Features Observation Button Mars Observation Button Jupiter Observation Button Saturn Observation Button Uranus Observation Button Neptune Observation Button         Order of the Ancients Achievement Button (Observed the 5 'naked-eye' planets known to the ancients with a telescope) Order of Sol Achievement Button (Observed all 8 official planets with a telescope)
Galaxy Observation Button Nebulae Observation Button Double/Multiple Stars Observation Button Messier List Observation Button         Comet Observation Button Asteroid Observation Button Meteor Shower Observation Button
Partial Solar Eclipse Observation Button Total Solar Eclipse Observation Button Partial Lunar Eclipse Observation Button Total Lunar Eclipse Observation Button
Transit of Venus 2012 Achievement Button(Special Edition button only awarded for observing the transit in 2012 - no longer available)

*Available only to official YA! members.


Also see our club events calendar for dates, times & location:

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Click the logo to send us your questions or comments!

This youth oriented astronomy group is sponsored by the Fort Worth Astronomical Society