Links
verified
New! A Student’s Guide to Solar and Lunar Eclipses Hat tip to Amelia
Guide to Backyard Astronomy Hat tip to James Morgan (UK)
Find your context: Online Astronomy Education Puzzles, and learning projects Hat tip to Peyton.
Home Science: Backyard Astronomy Basics Hat tip to Lucas.
A commercial site with a great astronomy link page. Hat tip to Celeste Hall.
Educational Guide to the Solar System recommended by the kids at Summer Science Camp in Seattle
Learning about space
is fun at spaceplace.nasa.gov
Mrs McVey's Class recommends Planetary Guide to Outer Space
Lets go stargazing - from Sky and Telescope Magazine
This Week's Sky at a Glance - from Sky and Telescope magazine
Sky and Telescope Magazine - News - astronomical news from Sky & Telescope magazine.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Space Calendar contains space mission and observing events.
NASA’s SKYCAL (Calendar of Sun, Moon and planetary events in tabular or calendar form for a month or year)
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS)
SEDS Messier Database - Descriptions and images of the 100+ Messier objects (star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies). These are among the brightest in the sky for binoculars or small telescope.
US Naval Observatory: Calculates sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, civil twilight and moon's phases for locations in the US,
Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer Jack may have passed on to that big star cluster in the sky, but his crew keeps on looking up.
SpaceWeather.com. Sunspots, aurorae and more
Gary W. Kronk's great web site on Comets
International Meteor Organization Calendars. They have them also in PDF formats for printing.
The Constellations and Their Stars page (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Bad Astronomy: Here's a site which reviews the astronomical and other science errors in television programs and reporting in general. It would be funny, if it weren't true.
StarChild - A learning center for young astronomers
Sky and Telescope Magazine – web site
Astronomical Almanac Online: U. S. Nautical Almanac Office, United States Naval Observatory (USNO), in the United States and Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO), in the United Kingdom
The International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. The official source for late breaking astronomical discoveries.
International Astronomical Union IAU: Minor Planet Center
Today's Space Weather - from NOAA
Current Solar Images in all wavelengths - from NASA
Michigan State University's Abrams Planetarium
The Planetary Society: News, views pictures and other resources about planetary exploration and Seti.
Northwestern Michigan College's Rogers Observatory
Mauna Kea Observatories - Hawai'i
These are companies I've purchased from and have been satisfied with. There is no other endorsement other than that.
Enerdyne – In Suttons Bay,a local source for telescopes and other astronomical and science items
Willmann-Bell, Inc - Source for astronomical books and atlases
Edmund Scientific - telescopes, binoculars and lots of other stuff
Celestron telescopes
Stellarium – a great realistic planetarium program which is easy to use! “Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.” For Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Cartes duCiel – (Sky Charts) not as beautiful as Stellarium but a very robust star chart program with stars down to 12th magnitude and the ability to download hundreds of asteroid and comet orbits. I find this is better on a laptop than star charts at the telescope. Lots of star and object catalogs are available for it. It can supposedly drive a telescope, but I haven't tried it.
Celestia - “... space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. ”
Virtual Moon Atlas – This is the ultimate reference for studying the moon. “Used in several books, magazines, observatories, universities and Web sites. Used in Chandrayaan 1 lunar mission preparation. Recommended by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the French Ministry of National Education ” For Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Microsoft WorldWide Telescope - “WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world. Experience narrated guided tours from astronomers and educators featuring interesting places in the sky. ” A client can be downloaded for Windows or a Web client can be used for Mac.
Google Earth – (Contains also Google Moon, Google Mars and Google Sky) Roam these as easily as you can roam Google Earth.
Ephemeris Home Page
Ephemeris Calendar
Ephemeris Star Charts and observing notes
The Bright Planets this month
Comments? Email to: bob@bjmoler.org
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