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When most people think of astronomy they picture someone standing outside on a sparkling clear night, gazing up at the wonders of the universe, perhaps using a telescope or pair of binoculars, or just sweeping the night sky with their eyes, taking in the view of stars, planets, the Milky Way and other natural nocturnal wonders. Indeed, a Google image search for ‘astronomy’ will bring up hundreds - even thousands - of pictures of people standing on their own, or in a small group, peering into telescopes beneath a star-dusted sky long after the rest of the world has gone to bed.
As the old joke goes, astronomy is the perfect hobby for three types of people: insomniacs, burglars and vampires. But astronomy doesn’t have to be such an antisocial pastime, and it doesn’t have to be done between sunset and sunrise either.