ASTRONOMY 1230: USEFUL WEB LINKS
OBSERVING THE SKY
- Observing highlights this week (Sky & Telescope)
- JPL Space Calendar (astronomical & space program events)
- SpaceWeather.com (information on current sky & magnetospheric phenomena)
- Tonight's Sky (monthly video podcast from STScI)
- Monthly sky calendars
and maps (Skymaps.com)
- Heavens Above (info on artificial satellites; good sky & constellation charts)
- Sun, Moon, Planet data for any date (USNO)
- Sunrise, Sunset, Twilight, and related sky information for Charlottesville (timeanddate.com)
- Constellation charts and information (International Astronomical Union)
- The Night Sky Atlas (color maps and info for each constellation)
- Your Sky (interactive planetarium)
- AstroPixels.com (sky charts, calendars, observing information)
- American Meteor Society
- Observing Comets (Gary Kronk, Jose Chambo)
- Planet, Minor Planet, and Comet Ephemeris Service
- NASA Eclipse Website
- Espenak's
Eclipse Pages (everything you could possibly want to know about
eclipses)
- The Messier Catalog of Deep-Sky Objects (SEDS)
- The Caldwell Catalog of Deep-Sky Objects (Wikipedia)
- SAO
Star Catalog
- Celestron CPC Telescopes Instruction Manual (PDF)
- ASTR 1230 Weather Page
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook (classic reference, with all-sky star charts)
- Astronomy Without a Telescope (introduction to naked-eye astronomy by Nick Strobel)
- Observational Astronomy
for Amateur Astronomers (David Haworth)
- The Constellations & Their Stars
- Stars & Constellations (James Kaler)
- The Webb Deep Sky Society
- Olcott's "Field Book of the Stars" (detailed classic descriptions of each constellation)
- The Nine Planets (multimedia tour of the solar system, many images & links)
- Views of the Solar system (ditto)
- Planetary Fact Sheets (data for each planet, Goddard SFC)
ASTRONOMICAL IMAGE SITES
- Astronomy Picture
of the Day
- Hubble Space Telescope Image Archive
- David Malin Images
- JPL Photojournal Image Site (solar system images from spacecraft)
- Photo Archive at Views of the Solar System
- Lunar Photo of the Day
- The World At Night
(image archive)
- America the Beautiful at Night (night sky scenes from Wally Pacholka)
- The Universe in Color (small telescope images by Robert Gendler)
- Star trail photos by Lincoln Harrison
- Astrophoto.com (small telescope images by Tony & Daphne Hallas)
- Brad Goldpaint (nightscapes)
- Views of the Solar System (telescope images by Damian Peach)
- Lunar and Planetary Observation with CCD Imaging (telescope images by Antonio Cidadao)
- El Cielo de Canarias (images & videos by Daniel Lopez)
- Deep Sky Colors (nightscapes and telescope imagery by R. B. Andreo)
- Michael Shainblum (night sky and
landscape photography)
Time-Lapse Sky, Earth, and International Space Station Videos
Astrophotography Technique
- Digital Photography Tutorial (Cambridge in Color)
- Astrophotography (J. Lodriguss)
- Digital SLR Astrophotography (M. Covington)
- Timelapse Astrophotography (T. Lowe)
- Canon Rebel Xsi Astrophotography Tutorial (ASTR 1230)
- Astronomical Imaging Processing (Sloan Digital Sky Survey)
Sky Data Viewers
MAGAZINES, BOOKS, & NEWS
- Sky and Telescope Magazine
- Astronomy Magazine
-
"Seeing in the Dark" (by Timothy Ferris)
- Spaceflight Now Website
- Space Ref Website
- Nine Planets Blog
- Universe Today
- NASA Watch (best space-rumor
and space-politics site)
- Bad Astronomy (a blog by UVa Astronomy grad Phil Plait, with news, images, & video. Specializes in debunking misconceptions, fraud, and pseudoscience in astronomy and the media)
SOFTWARE
- Starry Night (best of the planetarium simulators)
- Master List of Astronomy Software
- Another List of Astronomy Software
NASA MISSIONS
- The Hubble Space Telescope
- Spitzer Space Telescope (orbiting infrared telescope)
- Galaxy Evolution Explorer (orbiting ultraviolet telescope)
- Kepler Exoplanet Mission
- Mercury Messenger Mission
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Current & Planned Missions to Mars
- Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn
- New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Arrokoth
- OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission
- International Space Station
- James Webb Space Telescope (successor to Hubble; launched in 2021.)
OTHER
- ASTR 1210 links
- Charlottesville Astronomical Society
- How to Fight Light Pollution
- Universe Within (Powers of Ten) (interactive Java tutorial, FSU)
- Physics & Engineering Applets (Paul Falstad)
- Night Sky Observer (compendium of useful links, including NASA TV)
- AstroGuide (web index & guide for amateur astronomy)
- AstroWeb (web index & guide for professional astronomy)
- International Year of Astronomy (2009) Home Site
- Galaxy Zoo (interactive galaxy classification project)
- Bennett, Donahue, and Voit The Cosmic Perspective (ASTR 1210-1220 text publisher's web site)
Return to ASTR 1230 Home Page
Compiled and last modified June 2026 by R. W. O'Connell