Dear Astronomer

December 1, 2010 5:44 PM

Dear Astronomer
Dear Astronomer lets readers submit their questions about Astronomy and Science. Topical posts include: Answering reader questions, NASA press releases, Breaking Space/Science news, Product reviews, editorial posts/opinions and science humor. The site is a spinoff from a Facebook page that was used to "beta-test" the site concept.
posted by Dearastronomer (6 comments total)

I'd really appreciate any feedback/comments on the site. It's a pet "outreach" project of mine and I'm hoping to develop it into something fairly substantial.

Thanks in advance!
posted by Dearastronomer at 7:28 AM on December 2, 2010

I like the idea, but I haven't looked too deeply into the site yet... maybe later, time allowing.

A couple of initial thoughts...

It's not clear who the site is intended for. Adults or kids? Space geeks? People with zero knowledge? That's more from the nature of the content and the branding than what you say it's about.

Also the site itself leaves me wondering: Is this one person or many? Who are they, and what is their connection with astronomy, with NASA etc?
posted by philipy at 11:40 AM on December 2, 2010

Great feedback. The intended audience will probably be more clear as the site evolves, but I'll definitely keep that in mind when adding new content. The plan is to have "some" kids activities, but in general, the goal is to have a a site that anyone interested in space / science / astronomy can visit to learn more and have their questions answered in a "down to earth" manner.

In regards to who/what/why Currently, it's just myself. As the site develops, there will most likely be "guest" articles. Kind of difficult to get people like Neil DeGrasse Tyson (and others) to write for some site they've never heard of. Have to build the site, develop the following, build a community, and of course, as the site grows attract more "talent".
posted by Dearastronomer at 2:51 PM on December 2, 2010

There appear to be quite a few "ask an astronomer" sites out there. How is this one different from the others?
posted by mnemonic at 7:27 PM on December 3, 2010

Good question. If you notice, most of those sites are ran by universities and aren't updated frequently. The last question answered on the Cornell site was in October. (I did research before starting this project)

Currently I'm working on posting content at least daily - the goal is to increase interest in Astronomy and space, not just answer questions. By posting content on a regular basis, including "fun" and humorous articles I hope to build an audience.

Sure, there are quite a few q&a sites out there, and a number of sites like space.com and discovery news. There are some aspects of those sites that I find lacking.

Can I do better than others? Time will tell I guess.


Thanks again for your feedback. I do appreciate it very much.
posted by Dearastronomer at 2:12 PM on December 4, 2010

In response to other feedback, I dropped the "kids" section for now, and replaced it with an FAQ page.

Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks!
posted by Dearastronomer at 5:03 PM on December 17, 2010