Astronomy Links
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Sci.Astro
Another place to get your questions answered is using the usenet news groups
sci.astro (for general astronomy questions),
sci.astro.amateur (discussion on
building your own telescope, buying a telescope, doing your own observing,
astronomy clubs, etc.), and sci.astro.research
(moderated group about current research topics - note that is really for the
professional astronomer). Before you try out those news
groups, see if your question has been answered in the ``Frequently Asked
Questions'' list known as the
sci.astro FAQ
list or the
sci.space
FAQ list (you may want to try the sci.astro FAQ list first). If you do
post a message to one of the news groups, be sure to include your email address
in your message so people can reply back to you (especially if you don't read
that news group that often!).
Bad Astronomy -- countering the misconceptions
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy web site
is ``devoted to airing out myths and
misconceptions in astronomy and related topics''. He separates the fact
from all of the fiction and junk science on many television shows and movies.
He does reference my Astronomy Notes material (but, why of course!).
Java Applets for Astronomy
Juergen Giesen has created a very impressive suite of
Astronomy and
Astrophysics Java programs that you can run in your web browser. The
most popular ones are in the
``GeoAstro
Applets'' area—applets that
show detailed solar and lunar data for any time and location, but his
Astronomy
(Astronomie) section is also very nice for showing astrophysical
processes.
Royal Greenwich Observatory Information Sheets
The Royal Greenwich Observatory publishes many astronomy information pamphlets
for the general public and new media. See if they have the infomation at their
General Astronomy
Information site.
SEDS
See if the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space have the
answer on their galaxy
of images and information pages.
Local Astronomy Club
For Bakersfield and most of the rest of Kern County,
Kern Astronomical Society is the group to join if
you are interested in astronomy and telescopes. They meet on the first Friday of the month
at Northminster Presbyterian Church on north Union (3700 Union) across from Oak Warehouse
in Bakersfield. You do not need to be a member to attend the meetings or the star parties.
People just starting out with astronomy are especially encouraged to join (or at least
come to a star party and look through some excellent telescopes or get some help with
that new telescope you have!).
Their most recent newsletter can be viewed from the link in the Kern Astro newsletters index.
Other Local Astronomy Clubs
If you are not in Kern County, then check out
the Astronomy
Directory at Sky and Telescope to find the astronomy club closest to you.
What was the Star of Bethlehem?
A question asked of astronomers at Christmas time. So just in time for the
holiday season is my response to ``what was the
star of Bethlehem?''
Michael Molnar has published a new explanation for the star of Bethlehem that
says that the ``star'' was the covering of Jupiter by the Moon in April of 6 B.C.E.
See his web site Revealing the Star of
Bethlehem for further details.
What's Happening Up There This Month?
There are several web sites that tell about the interesting things happening
this month for the backyard astronomer. Here's a list of good ones I've found:
- Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar.
We've used this calendar in some of our introductory astronomy courses. The
on-line version has only text while the paper version has a calendar with the
important phenomena listed in the day blocks and a crude sky map on the reverse
side. This web page gives a chronological list of events for the observer in
the northern hemisphere (particularly for those at the same latitudes of the
48 contiguous states in the United States). Abrams Planetarium is at Michigan
State University in East Lansing, Michigan.
- What's
Up in the Sky from Sky & Telescope.
This web page gives a brief narrative of where each of the planets will be in
the sky this week and star charts for the current month. It also gives information about
other celestial wonders visible to the naked eye or through a typical amateur astronomer's telescope.
- Morehead Planetarium Sky Calendar.
First a brief narrative description is given for each of the planets and
other notable objects and then a calendar of events follows. Morehead
Planetarium is at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina.
Astronomy News
Sky and Telescope distributes a
weekly news bulletin.
This bulletin gives information on all areas of astronomy, from naked-eye
phenomena to the latest discoveries by those hard-working professional
astronomers. They have bulletins that go back several months (at least) and is
good way to get up-to-date information about current interesting happenings
``up there.''
Ron Baalke is the Information Man for Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He distributes
a calendar of space missions and astronomical happenings at the
JPL Calendar site. All
of the major events for the space missions for the upcoming year (plus) are
listed.
The American Institute of Physics distributes the
Physics News Update
every week. Occasionally there will be astronomy discoveries listed.
Buying and Using Telescopes and Accessories
Sky and Telescope also has a lot of good information/tips for the amateur
astronomer (tips for naked eye observing, buying and using binoculars,
telescopes, and eye pieces, and photography, etc.) in their
How To
web page. If you're wondering about a telescope, eye piece, astronomy software,
or other astronomy instrument you've seen advertised, be sure to check out
their Test Reports
web page to see if it has been reviewed by their panel of experts. However,
there is a small charge for every test report download (a PDF file)
Astronomy Magazine gives tips on buying the right telescope or
binoculars for you or your child in
their
For the beginning astronomer web page.
You'll also find information about the telescope accessories and astronomy
software on the market.
David Lent has some good advice on Buying a
Telescope for $500 or less.
He discusses the parts of a telescope, the features to look for, and also which
telescopes to avoid.
Astronomy Software
See if the free software or shareware software list has the
package that does what you want on your computer before paying for an
expensive commercial software package.
Sky Surveys
- The Space Telescope Science Institute has created a
Digitial Sky Survey for the public.
You can find the coordinates (Right Ascension and Declination) of an
object and a picture from their survey. The pictures are in FITS
(Flexible Image Transport System) format (used by many professional
astronomers) and GIF format.
- Tom McGlynn has compiled surveys of the sky at 15 different wavelength
bands (from gamma ray to radio) into a very nice tool called
SkyView. You can enter either the
coordinates of an object or simply its name and which wavelength bands you want
and it will put together the pictures in either GIF or FITS format.
Astronomy Education and Outreach
Another excellent site for learning college astronomy is the
Astronomy Education and Outreach site of the Center for
Astrophysics & Space Sciences at UCSD. There is an online tutorial and a
good set of links to other astronomy education sites on the web.
Other Introductory Astronomy Classes
There are many other astronomers who use the WWW in their teaching. Go to
Reggie Hudson's
(Eckerd Coll.) compilation of college astronomy sites.
Astronomy for Kids
Need to start at a more basic level than my site or need some information
for your child or young friend? Then go to About.com's
Space
& Astronomy for Kids web site.
AstroWeb, and A.S.P.
For further exploration into what astronomy resources are available on the
web, also check out The
AstroWeb Consortium and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific websites.
The AstroWeb Consortium
has put together a set of links of interest to professional astronomers.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
also has a large set of resources and links to astronomy information and
astronomy education.
last updated: 19 June 2002
Is this page a copy of Strobel's
Astronomy Notes?
Author of original content:
Nick Strobel