Join Us

Membership of Wellington Astronomical Society is open to everyone with an interest in astronomy.

The membership year is from September 1st to August 31st. Joining after March 1st pay half of the full year amount.

WAS has not increased our membership fees in 10 years. During this time there has been a significant increase in inflation, as well as in the costs that your WAS subscription helps us to cover. As a result, our subscription fees have been devalued by 40% during that time. As a result, there is a fee increase for this year. We have had to register for GST and add GST to our membership fees, so we can recoup the significant amount GST paid on the equipment at the new observatories.

Membership fees:

Membership TypeFull-year membership
(1 Sep – 31 Aug)
Cost if applying after 1 March
(half year)
Ordinary$77.50$38.75
Unwaged (full-time students or beneficiaries)$37.00$18.50
Associate (if you live 80+km away)$42.50$21.25
Family membership (up to 2 caregivers & dependent children)$103.00$51.50
Fees correct as at 15 Oct 2024

The above is inclusive of GST and include our newsletter distributed by email 11 times per year.

If you wish to pay the membership fee by installment, then please email treasurer@was.org.nz.

If you would like to join the society having seen who we are, please either fill out and submit the Registration Web Form.  Our postal address is:

The Membership Secretary,
Wellington Astronomical Society,
PO Box 3181,
Wellington 6140

Paying for your membership
If you want to pay your subs using Direct Deposit or Internet Banking: please use acct no 03-0502-0508656-00.  Remember to use your name as reference with your direct deposit, so WAS knows who’s paid.

Our Activities
The Wellington Astronomical Society is for anyone who is interested in stars, planets or any other topic related to astronomy. Our main goal is to educate and promote astronomy, providing opportunities for all to experience our spectacular night skies.

We run public viewing events at the Wellington waterfront and travel to many primary and secondary schools to observe the Moon and planets using our telescopes. We also hold joint events with libraries and science organisations. Every month, the Society organises observing and astrophotography / deep sky events.

We hold a monthly Society meeting with inspirational speakers presenting on many varied topics on astronomy. At least once a year, we host an international speaker for a free public lecture.

We are involved in over 60 events a year, which are all free. The reason being we want to make our astronomy events freely accessible for anyone and everyone to attend.

Why Join?
As a Society, we still incur costs for venue hire, hosting international speakers, purchasing telescope equipment, insurance and affiliation fees and we need members to support the promotional and educational work we do.

So, if you believe in what we are doing, want to support and be part of our activities, then please consider becoming a member of the Wellington Astronomical Society.

As a member you will receive monthly newsletters and other publications, the ability to learn about telescopes if you are interested in purchasing one and, in the near future, access to a remotely accessible telescope via the internet for astrophotography and research work. This remote-access observatory is currently undergoing testing while we are waiting for the telescope to arrive from Italy.

If you have any questions, please contact membership@was.org.nz.

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