Astronomy Sites
American Astronomical Society: www.aas.org
Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards: http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/index.html
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies: www.nasm.edu/ceps
The International Astronomical Union: www.iau.org
NASA Home Page: www.nasa.gov
Space Telescope Science Institute (home of Hubble): www.stsci.edu
U.S. Naval Observatory: www.usno.navy.mil
Ask-A-Scientist Astronomy Archive NASA site that provides short answers to many commonly asked questions in astronomy. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/astron98.htm
Online Astronomy Lab Manual The University of Colorado has produced an online manual with lots of experiments. This would be a good supplement for folks wanting to make their astronomy more scientific. Note that this is a lab manual for a university level course and is designed to be supported by the university's staff and lab. About half the experiments require sophisticated equipment. Others require an understanding of math (but there is an EXCELLENT math review to help you get up to speed). Regardless, check out the website and download the entire manual or any portion you like. You must have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer (but you can pick it up at this website - FREE http://lyra.colorado.edu/sbo/manuals/astr1010/astr1010.html
The Nine Planets Has a large amount of information about all the moons, comets and asteroids in the solar system, as well as the nine planets (of course). These astronomy lessons touch only briefly on this area of astronomy, so it is highly recommend as "additional reading". Consider this your online reference to specific details about the Solar System. The difference between reference materials (like The Nine Planets) and learning materials (like our course) is that you are not expected to actually study and learn reference materials but they are handy to have around. http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/billa/tnp/nineplanets.html
Heavens-Above has all the information you need to observe satellites, Mir, the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle (when it's up there) as well as the dazzlingly bright "flares" from Iridium satellites (while they're up there). Thanks Mr. Perlman! http://www.heavens-above.com/
Universal Clock The USA Navy has a universal clock reporting the current UT (minus the few seconds it takes to load to your machine). Make a note of how far off your local time is from UT. And, while you are there, have a poke around to learn more about time. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/frtime.html
Star Light, Star Bright When you think about it, light is all an astronomer has to work with so it's important to understand what light really is and how it works. This is an excellent introduction to the physics of light with four interactive (robot cartoon) experiments showing energy types, waves, distribution, etc. Adults might find it a bit childish but the demonstrations are excellent. http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/light/index.html
American Association of Variable Star Observers Stars show variations in brightness due to lots of different things, not just the orbiting of an eclipsing binary. Some have to do with the actual physics of the star. At this point in your education you are ready to think about all the different ways a star's magnitude might change. This site is the perfect place to learn more about variable stars - what causes them to be variable, where to find them and even how your own observations can help us to learn more about stars. Once you've visited this website you might find that your hobby could become your addiction. http://www.aavso.org/
Comet Observation Home Page This is a great website to visit once you have learned about comets. Here you will find information about comets that are currently visible (usually with a small telescope) including orbital diagrams and finder charts. This website also has recent news and observations about comets as well as predictions about comets that will be visible in the near future. http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/
Hubble Deep Field Academy This site will give you a good idea about the different galaxies and how we classify them. "Join Professor WifPic in examining the Hubble Deep Field image and simulate the process astronomers have gone through to count, classify, and identify objects in the image as well as estimate their distances from Earth". This website reinforces learning about the size of the universe, the number of galaxies in the universe, and characteristics of galaxies used for classification and identification. Includes an activity book (requiring Adobe Acrobat). http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/hdf-top-level.html
Astronomy Programs for Beginners This website has lots of great simulations and you can play around with them online.
Astrobiology Homepage NASA's site will get you started on a wonderful and fascinating subject. Find out what the folks at NASA are saying about ET life. http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/index.cfm
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) If you are looking for someone to talk to, then this is for you. You can join the SETI@home project and help us look for signs of intelligent radio signals! http://www.seti-inst.edu/
Robert Hilliard's Website of the World. A fantastic collection of Astronomy links, put together by an astronomy enthusiast. http://www.tca.net/tyr7020/astronmy.htm Kid's Corner at JPL Labs: Lots of information, written at a kid's level, not written down to kids. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/Kids/
Views of the Solar System An educational tour of the Solar System, with 220 pages of information about planets, asteriods, moons, meteors and everything in between. http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/homepage.htm
A Few Hale-Bopp Sites
More great astronomy sites:
A Place in the Country Oaks Woods
