Thank you for purchasing a CAS membership. The following information is to help you find your way in the first months of your membership. If you are unsure about any aspect of your membership please come along and ask a committee member at any CAS event or email us at membership@cas.org.nz

Memberships

Memberships run annually from our AGM in April until the following April. If you purchased a membership in the months prior to the AGM your membership will run to the following year. You can renew by paying at any members night, online via bank or paypal. You will be sent a reminder by email when it is due.

CAS Website

We strongly urge you to sign up with us on the CAS webpage at cas.org.nz You can find a calendar of events, news and information on observatory activities there as well as find information and downloads like the CAS Magazine.

Meetings

We meet regularly at the UC on each 3rd Tuesday of the month. There is usually a tea/coffee catch up and then a talk or activity session. From Feb 2021 there will be a juniors/beginners session at 6.30 – 7.30 followed by a short break with our main meeting starting at 8pm.

Our practical sessions run 2 x a month on Saturdays for induction training, practical sessions and help with your own equipment. One meeting a month coincides with our monthly CAS members night too.

Open Nights and CAS Public Events

As a CAS member you have free access to any of our events. For public nights / Kidsfest etc you do not need to book online – just turn up. For ticketed events like lectures etc then we ask you register as you would as a member of the public – this will be for managing event capacity.

Observatory Access, Training and Accreditation

As our telescopes and buildings can be quite daunting for newcomers, we run an accreditation programme to ensure you are have the knowledge to operate safely and unaccompanied.

Accreditation training takes place on our practical nights and you will buddy up with one of our experienced astronomers who will teach you how to operate our buildings and help you build up your knowledge. When we think you are ready our observatory director will give you a driving test and then if your successful the L plates come off and you get to operate unattended!

Don’t be too worried we have some simple equipment to get you started as well.

The observatory is open to members 24 x 7 x 365 – The combination on the door will be supplied once you have received your formal membership acceptance and you have attended an induction session.

Here’s a map of how to get to the observatory: https://cas.org.nz/finding-cas

CAS Magazines

Our CAS magazine is free to members and you will receive an email each month with a link to download it. The magazine is in PDF format and you can also download back issues on the CAS website. We do not normally supply printed copies due to the ever increasing cost of printing.

Finally …

The best way to the most out of your CAS membership is to be active members. If you want accreditation training…. please ask, if you want shown how to operate something….. please ask, if you want to know how to access the observatory and equipment….. please ask.

We will help guide you in the first months but we’d suggest you come along to some of the meetings and get to know the team and you will learn how to get involved.

See you at CAS soon 🙂