Astronomical Society of Southern Africa

The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA) is a nonprofit voluntary association that brings together amateur and professional astronomers across Southern Africa. Formed in 1922 by the merger of the Cape and Johannesburg astronomical associations and renamed from the Astronomical Society of South Africa in 1956, it supports observing and research, public outreach, scholarships, awards, specialist sections, regional centres, and dark-sky work. ASSA publishes the peer-reviewed Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa and the annual Sky Guide for Southern African skies, while its observing groups document comets, asteroids, meteors, planets, stars, solar activity, astrophotography, spectroscopy, and other phenomena. It is distinct from the newer pan-African professional African Astronomical Society.