Astronomers Without Borders

{{Infobox organization

| name = Astronomers Without Borders

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| logo = AstronomersWithoutBorder.Logo.jpg

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| formation = {{start date and age|2009|05|15}}

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| type = 501(c)(3)

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| headquarters = Calabasas, California

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| leader_title = Founder & President

| leader_name = Mike Simmons

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| board_of_directors = Anousheh Ansari
Tim DeBenedictis
Roy McCord
Tom Meneghini
Farah Payan
Scott Roberts
Babak Sedehi
John Spencer
Babak Tafreshi

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| website = {{URL|http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/}}

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Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is a U.S.-based organization founded by Mike Simmons, dedicated to spreading astronomy throughout the world and connecting people through this universal interest. Projects include crowdfunding in developed countries to sponsor the purchase of equipment and training for people in developing countries. The group's aim is to create "goodwill and understanding" across all boundaries through the sharing of astronomy.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bje_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA246| publisher=Springer Science & Business Media | year=2013 | title=From Casual Stargazer to Amateur Astronomer | last=Eagle | first=David | page=246 | isbn=978-1461487661 }}

The group was founded in 2007,{{cite journal | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26500137 | publisher=International Astronomical Union | date=February 2008 | volume=2 | journal=Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal| title=The World At Night | pages=17–20| bibcode=2008CAPJ....2...17S| last1=Simmons | first1=M. | last2=Tafreshi | first2=B. A. }} and achieved official tax-free status in 2009,{{cite web |url=https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=680649259 |publisher=Charity Navigator |title=Astronomers Without Borders Inc. |accessdate=December 21, 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222221803/https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=680649259 |archivedate=2016-12-22 |url-status=dead }} which was the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). AWB sponsored several events that year, including The World At Night (TWAN), and assisted in the IYA2009's Global Cornerstone Project 100 Hours of Astronomy. Utilizing important historical and natural settings across the globe, The World at Night created wide-angle images of the sky, in order to show the universality of star-gazing. 100 Hours of Astronomy ran April 2–5, 2009, the goal of which was to get as many people across the world to look through optical telescopes.{{cite journal | url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-international-astronomical-union/article/div-classtitleastronomers-without-bordersdiv/0A30937224418B3DC40E41B358F7DC4F | publisher=International Astronomical Union | date=January 2009 | volume=5 | issue=S260 | journal=Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union | title=The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture | pages=438–441}} The World at Night was the idea of Babak A. Tafreshi, the editor of Iran's Nojum Magazine, at the time the only astronomy magazine in the Middle East.

As a follow-up to 100 Hours of Astronomy, the group has organized Global Astronomy Month every April since 2010.{{cite web|url=https://astronomynow.com/tag/astronomers-without-borders/ |publisher=Astronomy Now |title=Global Astronomy Month begins 1 April |accessdate=December 21, 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222153300/https://astronomynow.com/tag/astronomers-without-borders/ |archivedate=December 22, 2016 |url-status=dead }}