Astronomy Web Links

Here is a list of links to just a few of the incredible web pages on the net that deal with astronomy. There are many more as can be seen from just following the links on any one page. Explore!

• Weather sites
  
  • The NASA SpaceWeather Bureau. A great page to check on solar outbursts and the likelihood for auroral activity on Earth. Live pictures from the Sun and more.
    

  • The National Weather Service page. The government's weather page. Satellite images for all around the globe, weather predictions for each state and more, severe weather alerts, and more. Check out the Groton, CT airport weather forcasts for our area.
    

  • The Weather Underground Home Page. If you are going to look at the sky, you need to know when it might be clear. Check out the weather conditions for New London, CT, zip code=06320.
    

• Observing Guides / What's Up Tonight Sites
  
  • Sky and Telescope magazine's This Week's Sky at a Glance page gives you a brief summary of planets and constellations that are up this week, plus tips for observing.
    

  • Check out Astronomy magazine's page called Tonight's Sky. Talks about fascinating things to look for in the sky.
    

  • The Abram's Planetarium has two sites of interest to sky watchers. First the Sky Watcher's Page is a list of links to what the moon, sun, comets, and meteors are doing. The second site is the Sky Watcher's Diary is a monthly guide with daily descriptions of what can be seen in the sky on that date. The Abrams Sky Calendar is posted on my door (Olin 210) and can be used as a companion to the Sky Diary.
    

  • Was it a plane? A UFO? Or was it an orbiting satellite? Find out using NASA's program JTrack to plot the global tracks of the Space Station, Hubble, and weather satellites for any day of the year. If you think that a satellite will be passing over your location on Earth, find out where in the sky to look for it using the companion NASA Java applet JPass to plot where among the stars to look for the satellite at your location. You can get your location set by using your zip code in case you don't remeber your latitude and longitude.
    

  • What's the phase of the moon tonight? How about for the month? To find out the phases and print lunar calendars, check out this Lunar Calendar. This site will also give you Sun rise and Sun set calendars.
    

  • The best deep space objects for small telescopes as determined by the members of the Saguaro Astronomy Club.
    

  • The finest NGC (deep-space) objects as compiled by observers with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
    

• General Astronomy and Astronomy Education Sites
  
  • The Sky and Telescope magazine web page. All kinds of information about the sky such as what is up now, comets, eclipes, planets, and much more. They also have information on how to buy a telescope or binoculars, and an astronomy news bulletin section with the latest hot news from space with a zillion images.
    

  • The Astronomy magazine web page. All kinds of viewing information, astronomy news and articles, and lots of great celestial pictures.
    

  • The High-energy Astrophysics Learning Center educational page called Imagine the Universe. There are all kinds of self-paced astronomy lessons here. The subject matter covers most of the topics we will learn about in astronomy this term. There are self-learning quizes that test you on your knowledge of the subject. These are at the level (or slightly lower) of the quizes given in astronomy 110. I strongly recommend using this site as your own personal tutor for self-paced learning. There is alot of information here also about the latest X-ray and gamma-ray satellites, and what kinds of science they are doing.
    

  • AstroWeb is a list of links to Astronomy and Astrophysics related sites on the Web and the Internet. It contains numerable links to observatories and astronomy programs around the world.
    

  • Students for the Exploration of and Development of Space (SEDS) homepage. A great site with information and images on all kinds of space stuff from planets to quasars. A fun page to cruise.
    

• Solar System Sites
  
  • The Sun
    
    • Look at the Sun's activity during this year's sunspot maximum by checking out the Solar Max site.
      

    • View the extreme UV and Xray Sun as seen by NASA's TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer.
      

    • View live images of the Sun and learn about Solar storms and their effects on the Earth by visiting the National Solar Observatory which is conveniently located in Sunspot NM.
      

  • The NASA Mars Home Page. This page is dedicated to the latest Mars mission - the Mars Polar Lander. Lots of interesting images and info here. On this page there are two news subpages which give current mission status:
    
    • Mars Polar Lander Mission status.

  • The 3 minute guide to the Moon Nasa provides a quick overview of what we currently know about the Moon.
    

  • The Lunar and Planetary Institute's page about the latest findings on the Earth, Moon, and planets.
    

  • SEDS Nine planets page. This pages gives links to info and images on all of the solar system planets and their moons.
    

  • The Comet Observer's Home Page. All the comets that are currently up in our skies and how to find them.
    

  • The Cassini Mission to Saturn Home Page.
    

  • The Galileo Mission to Jupiter Home Page.
    

  • The NASA Home Page. Check out the Space Science buttom for info on the life on Mars issue. Learn what's up and being discovered on the current NASA missions. Check out the Mars Surveyer or Rover, or even the Mir space station.
    

• Beyond Our Solar System
  
  • Students for the Exploration of and Development of Space (SEDS) Messier objects (amazing deep-space objects) homepage.
    

• Telescopes and Observatories
  
  • Check out Sky and Telescope's primer on Getting Your Frist Telescope. This is a good introduction to the differences between refracting and reflecting telescopes.

  • Yet another guide to purchasing your first telescope or pair of binoculars can be found at Astronomy Magazine's Telescope Buying Guide.

  • The Hubble Space Telescope Science Center Home Page. The latest news on the HST mission. Has beautiful images of objects in space as seen by the HST and lots of general information under the button marked public.
    

  • The Haystack Observatory Home Page. Haystack is the 120 foot diameter radio dish located in Westborough, Massachusetts. Check out the neat work that they do there.
    

  • Visit the Mt. Palomar Observatory, home of the 200 inch Hale telescope. This site has great images taken by various telescopes on the mountain, neat animations of how the telescopes move and recieve light, and all sorts of information about the astronomical science done there.
    

  • The Mt. Wilson Observatory home page. Get a virtual tour of the site and 100 inch telescope that Edwin Hubble used to discover galaxy recession and the expansion of the universe. Here to you can learn about how you can request remote observing time on the 100 inch, plus you can also learn about the telescope or indulge in the Mt. Wilson constellation quiz!
    

• Organizations for Amatuer Astronomers
  
  • The American (Amateur) Association of Variable Star Observers or AAVSO is known world-wide for collecting the observations of amateur observers and using them to further the science of astronomy. This page will give you info on how to get started in observering for the AAVSO. They have several projects including monitoring Sunspots, monitoring all different kinds of variable stars, and even trying to catch the optical afterglows of gammaray bursters! This site is full of practical and invaluable information and advise on both naked-eye and CCD astronomy.

Last edited 01Aug2002 by LFBrown.