STAR FINDER RESOURCES
Weather Forecasts
If you are thinking of skywatching, check out
the weather
forecasts.
Time Check/Computer Clock Reset
Click here to find the precise time from the U. S. Naval Observatory and the National Institute of Standards & Technology.
To reset your computer clock (free and easy!), go here: http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/service/time-computer.html
MORE RESOURCES
SKY BOOKS and PLANISPHERES
NEAT ASTRONOMY ON THE WEB
SKY SIMULATION SOFTWARE
SKY DATA AND IMAGES
EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
ROBOTIC TELESCOPES
Books & Planispheres
A Planishere is a Star Chart with a calendar and time scale that allows you to set it for any date/time. They are built for various latitude zones, north and south, so make sure you get one for your approximate latitude. You set it by your local zone time, so you can use it at any longitude around the globe. They are not expensive and they are all about the same, so you can't go wrong. Great for beginners who want to learn the constellations. (They don's show the planets.) Click here to see Sky Publishing's offerings.
Here are a few useful books and magazines for skywatching with binoculars or a small telescope (In order of increasing sophistication -- more or less):
- John Moseley's Star Gazing for Beginners is nice, practical introduction to the constellations around the year.
- Eicher, David, Beginner's Guide to Amateur Astronomy.
What you may see in a small telescope.
- Levy, David H., Nature Company Guides: Skywatching. Readable and well illustrated. Includes constellation lore.
- Menzel, D.H. and Pasachoff, J., Field Guide to the
Stars. Comprehensive, dense.
- Patrick Moore, Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars
Excellent introduction, one constellation at a time.
- Lloyd Motz and Carol Nathanson, The Constellations.
An Enthusiast's Guide to the Night Sky Lots on mythology.
- Liller, W., The Cambridge Guide to Astronomical Discovery.
Mostly astrophotography with lots of helpful clues.
- For mythology, the stadard references are: Robert Graves,
The Greek Myths (2 vols.), Edith Hamilton, Mythology,
and Bullfinch's Mythology.
Amazon is great on-line bookstore
for ordering.
If you have a favorite book, send
me its name by email and I will consider adding it to the
list.
Neat astronomy on the web
A selection of sites offering images, resources, and links
to dozens of other sites.
Sky Simulators
Programs to put the sky on your desktop:
- Here is the downloading site for one of my favorites, Starry Night .
It is a winner for for ease of use if you want to star hop.
- For making charts or finding your way around at the telescope,
you might want to check out TheSky
for the PC.
- And for the Macintosh or Windows, try Voyger III or the new version 4, or SkyGazer (for novices) from Carina Software
- For Palm OS computers, the Planetarium program of Andreas Hofer is excellent. It is available at www.aho.ch/pilotplanets
Orbital Data and Sky Images
Educational Programs/Software in Astronomy
- For those who are high on math and want to compute astronomical events on their own computer, I recommend the book, "Astronomy on the Personal Computer," by O. Montenbruck & T. Pfleger (Springer-Verlag, 1997; 3rd ed.) Amazon is great on-line bookstore
for ordering.
- Description of Project
CLEA (Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy) and
information on some exercises for cloudy nights.
- NASA's Mars Exploration Program here
- Prof. Edward L. Wright's introduction to the expansion of
the universe can be found here.
- For resources in astronomy and physics, with animations go to Compadre.
Robotic Telescopes
With a little work, you can control a remote telescope from
your computer and take your own images!
- Links to Astronomical Education Projects Using Remote Telescopes
Copyright © 2006, Charles A. Whitney. E-mail: charleswhitney@comcast.net
[Top]