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Deadlines: There are no deadlines. Articles are run in the order received, so the sooner you send them in the sooner they will appear in print. Photographs, artwork, and disks will be returned if requested.

Preferences: We prefer to receive your articles via email. Please send in a printed copy with your drawings and photos. Articles over 3000 words will probably be shortened due to space requirements. Please write your name and address on each page of your hard copies and photos. 

Specifications: We use Macintosh computers running Quark-XPress, Word Perfect, and Photoshop. We can read plain TEXT formated on Mac or IBM disks or CDs. Please save articles as plain TEXT so we can open and read them. Photos should be 35mm prints with an uncluttered background if possible, 3x5 or 4x6 B&W; or color is fine-enlargements are not necessary or desired. Well composed, exposed, and focused prints will be given top priority. Please send in more photos than you think we will need for your article. We will run as many as possible. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is just as true as ever. Even if you are just writing a letter to the editor or a short article, a photo or two is always welcome.

E-mail: We are available on email. Your articles must be sent as the regular body of the email message and not as an attachment. Attachments are not accepted.

Digital Photos: Please burn your original images to a disk or CD. saved as JPEGs, and mail them to us, along with a TEXT copy of your article and the photo captions. Email photos are not accepted and printed photos not always usable. Scan your photos at 300 dpi. Change the image size to 4x6". Save as 200 dpi JPEG. Please save all photos as grayscale. We do not need or want color, higher resolutions, or larger sizes. Images of about 200K are the right size for very clear printing in Amateur Astronomy. In the subject box, print (photo # from [your name] for name of article.) Please send your article and captions, with corresponding numbers as on the photos, as a regular e-mail to the editor .

Photo Tips: First, learn every photographer's main trick-make your subject fill the field. Move in! Get close! Make it BIG! Shoot people pictures like those we use for "Star People"-the classic head and shoulder shot. When taking a telescope picture with a person, put the person behind the scope so he doesn't block the view of the scope. We all know what a pair of jeans looks like! Please leave a little room around the edges for cropping to magazine formats.

Second: Use automatic fill-flash to eliminate the harsh contrast that is so hard to print. Without a flash, the best portraits of people are taken in full shade or when overcast-eliminating the harsh shadows that make all faces disappear when under the shade of a hat.

Third: Watch that background. Please- no photos of your newest telescope with two garbage cans filling the background.

Fourth: Shoot the whole roll of film, but don't take 24 shots of the same picture. Move around; move up and down, in and out; vary the backgrounds; vary the exposure, shoot horizontals and verticals.Take closeups! If a person is in the shot-put him behind the scope so he doesn't block the view.

Fifth: Low contrast printing such as WalMart's satin prints are the best for magazine reproduction (and are low-cost too.)

Drawings: Charts, graphs, drawings, and other sketches must be submitted ready to publish. We prefer them in an electronic format that can be read by Photoshop, (Macintosh TIFFs are the preferred format) or laser printed so we can scan them into the computer. We do not have an expert CAD draftsman on staff who can turn your rough work into finished showpieces.

Writer's Tips: You do not have to be a professional writer to be able to write an article for AA. As a matter of fact you don't have to be a writer at all. You just have to have something interesting to say. Amateur Astronomy is looking for interesting articles about amateur astronomers, observing, and telescopes. The best advice we can give is to read the articles in Amateur Astronomy that are published by other writers, and take a lesson from them on the way they cover a subject. Don't try to emulate someone else but be yourself. Write like you are talking to a group of friends. YOU ARE!

Write like you talk! Imagine that 30 of you have pulled your lounge chairs up into a circle in the dark at a star party, while waiting for some clouds to pass. You all take turns telling stories about your experiences that have taken place since you were last together. These stories are good. No one stops to look up big words in his dictionary or thesaurus, they just excitedly tell of some of the experiences that have happened to them as they have lived the life of amateur astronomers. This is real! This is what makes us interested in astronomy and what keeps us coming back year after year. When stories like these are told in the magazines, they are far more interesting to read.

When you start to write an article, simply write as fast as you can, let your thoughts flow, jot down the ideas as they flash through your mind, and don't worry about how you spell something. The thought process is strange, almost magical. When you are talking or telling a story, you don't worry about spelling or proper diction or whether you have slipped back into a regional dialect, you just tell the story. Write it down. Then go back later after you have finished and start to clean it up.

First get the ideas down on paper (or the screen) and then go back and fix it after your brain has put in all the important and interesting details. During the rewrites you can rearrange your thoughts that were out of sequence. Have a friend read it before you send it to us, and get his opinion.

Your opening paragraph must grab your readers' attention and make them want to read the rest of your article. A slow start will lose them and your article will not be read. Just think of how you read most magazines: You read the first couple of lines of an article, and if the story grabs you, you will then finish the story.

After you finish your article, put it down for a couple of days and then go back and read it again. This will help you put yourself in your readers' shoes, and see it from their viewpoint.

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All the readers of Amateur Astronomy thank you in advance for being willing to share your thoughts and experiences with the rest of us. We are here to provide a forum for the average amateur astronomer to communicate with others from all over the world.