FIRST: This is the old website site address which is now a mirror/backup. The new ad-free site is located RIGHT HERE If you are not forwarded in a few then just the link...thank you.

To see this site's goals, newest revisions or turn off the lights Click Here. To read the latest astronomical news Click Here.

I hope all who visit this site will find it helpful, educational, provocative and interesting - it's creation has certainly been all that and more for me
- Ken Pinkela

Click Below to View the Cool Image of the Week

NGC 1499 - The California Nebula

Since I reside in California it seemed only fitting to include NGC 1499 as this week's cool image. Using a color composite from the POSSII survey (Palomar Observatory Sky Survey) and a black and white image seemed to present a very nice contrast while showing slightly varying detail differences. The page also links to a large, filtered wide angle view of NGC 1499 taken some time ago.

Looking Around

You'll see on your right-hand side the links that will take you all over this web site: Galaxies, Nabulae, Stars and more. Each page presents a different aspect of our universe complete with images, scientific quotes and opinions, references, credits, publications, abstracts, as well as contributions from astrophysicists, observatories, artists, hobbyists and myself. The material generally has an educational rating of around 6+ and I've tried to be as accurate and up to date as possible. That said, know that even the strongest cup of mudd is no defense against the occasional human error. So, should you find anything amiss then please contact me and I'll be happy to reply and correct the error accordingly.

Other Places to Check Out

If you have the time then you may also want to check out the "Links and Credits" page. I've briefly outlined some of the finer points of using SIMBAD, ALADIN and NED data based archive/image query sites. Also included is a list of online observatories, educational sites with software you can download and links to the individuals who have generously allowed their own work to be used on this site. Lastly, should you need a little distraction then check out the science humor page which I originally wrote to distract myself! And please remember: if you wish to use anything from this site that is not in the public domain please contact me or the credited individual because asking permission is an absolutely risk-free-no-obligation courtesy! Thank you.

A Quick Word On Browsers Tested - IE, Opera & Firefox

First, the page you are now viewing, as well as others on this site, have been validated via the W3C web site; the links on your right allow you to verify this yourself. That said, this site is optimized for and best seen with Opera or Mozilla Firefox Web Browsers. If you're using Microsoft's IE web browser then please note that certain pages on this site may not display correctly. This problem exists due to IE's understanding (or not) of .css syntax. While some improvements have been worked out, the bottom line is a back and forth trade off that simply circumvents and nullifies the guidelines established by the W3C and limits the rich presentational options built into the .css language; the need of alternate syntax or extra lines to "hack" IE into properly presenting a web page are the results of this. Read ... No, Internet Explorer did not handle it properly I will continue to make this site as compatible as possible but I can not guarantee 100 percent that IE will display it correctly.