Observer's Page
(Background image of M1, the Crab Nebula, comes from Bill Arnett's Messier page crediting the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.)
For beginners
For Everyone!!!
- Abrams Sky Watcher's Diary - A listing of events for every day.
- Ask the Astronomer - 3001 questions answered. For new questions see next link.
- Astronomy picture of the day - Something new every day!!
- Astronomy picture of the day Archive - All the old APODs, too.
- Astroweb - Astronomy/Astrophysics on the Internet.
- CNN News, Science, Technology, Space - The latest news reports about space stuff.
- Did MEN land on the Moon? Yes - Go here for a debunking of the Fox tv show.
- Donald Simanek's Page - Lots of links for skeptics, philosophers, about de-hoaxing hoaxes, etc.
- Hobby Space - A web guide to space activities and hobbies.
- Hubble Images - A plethora of pictures since 1994.
- Izzy's Skylog - Astronomical events to look for.
- JPL News Flashes - A lot of astronomy related news, press releases, etc.
- More Hubble Stuff - More info about Hubble Space Telescope, as well as education and games.
- NASA's Planetary Photojournal - Provides easy access to publicly released images of the planets, etc.
- Pat Baker's Astronomy Central - Explore Astronomy and the Universe from 19 categories.
- Science at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center - Science headlines from Marshall Space Flight Center.
- SETI@Home - Search for extraterrestrials yourself in your own home.
- Skywatching Center - An index of something to look for in the sky each night.
- Space Shuttle Picture of the Day - For a limited time only.
- Starry sky com - What's up in the sky at this instant. Customize for your location.
- The Star Gazer (Jack Horkheimer) - If you can't see the show, you can read it here.
- The Sky at a Glance - Updated weekly about what's up in the sky.
- Wiki Sky - A growing list of stellar objects to look at, etc.
Amateur Astronomy Info
- Abrams Sky Watcher's Diary - A listing of events for every day.
- Amateur Astronomy Down Under - Amateur astronomy website from Sydney, Australia.
- Amateur Telescope Making - Resources and techniques for the amateur...
- Arp's Peculiar Galaxies - An exploration for observers compiled by observers.
- Aurora Page - Forecasts, links and images Of the 'Northern Lights.'
- Comets Meteor Showers - Contains predictions, past observations, and other good comet stuff.
- Expanding Universe - A classified search tool for amateur astronomy.
- Eclipse home page - New and improved web page for solar and lunar eclipses.
- Heavens Above - Locate satellItes visually in Maryland.
- Humans in Space - Links to the latest info on the space shuttle and space station.
- IAU Circulars - Home page of he Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
- ISS Visibility - The naked-eye visibility of the International Space Station.
- Learn What's Up - Updated on or before the first of every month.
- Light Pollution Awareness - Learn what kind of action to take to control light pollution in your neighborhood.
- Lunar Info for Amateur Astronomers - Some links about the Moon including fictional stories.
- The Messier Catalog - There's a lot of info on the Messier objects here.
- The Moon - Almost anything you want to know about the Moon can be found here.
- Moon Phases - See images of what the moon will look like on a certain date.
- Nearby Star Observers - Exchanging info about stars within 20 parsecs (65.2 light years).
- Noctilucent Cloud Observer's Homepage - How to observe and report noctilucent cloud observations.
- Planetary Nebula Observer's Home Page - Mucho info on PNs and links, too.
- Satellite Overpasses - Can predict the times a satellite will pass overhead and where.
- Satellite Passes over N. American Cities - Shows when certain spacecraft are available for visual observations or radio communications.
- SETI@Home - Search for extraterrestrials yourself in your own home.
- Skyeye at Obliquity - A guide to this month's celestial events.
- Sky Maps - Free sky maps for the northern or southern hemisphere.
- Sky Watch - Personalized sky calendar that sends emails about events to look for from you location.
- Space Shuttle Sightings - Want to see the Space shuttle, and other spacecraft naked eye? Go here.
- Sunrise, sunset times - Sunrise and sunset times from the USNO. And more info.
- Supernovae, The Latest Visible - A list of currently observable supernovae.
- Terry's Hunt of the Month - Contains 5 monthly observing lists from the Messier, Herschel, Herschel II, FWAS Favorites, and the Beyond Messier lists.
- Unisys Weather - Make your own forecastes with these maps.
- Virtual Telescope - The Internet's Virtual Telescope. Pictures at any wavelength.
- Visual Satellite Observer's Home Page - Why, when and what satellites to look for.
- What satellites are visible from the ground? - Find out what time and which satellites are passing overhead.
Amateur Astronomy Orgs
Archeoastronomy
Astrobiology
Basics of Astronomy
Beyond the solar system
Cosmology and miscellaneous info
History of Astronomy
Humor
K-12 Teachers
Observatories, et al.
- Allegheny Observatory - At the University of Pittsburgh.
- Armagh Observatory - Founded in 1790, but still doing research today.
- Anglo-Australian Observatory - A world-class observing facility for British and Australian astronomers.
- Australia Telescope National Facility - Has 4 telescopes, mostly for radio astronomy.
- National Astronomical Observatories - Chinese Aacademy of Science - The HQ of the NAOC are located in Beijing, China.
- Cangaroo (Collaboration of Australia and Nippon (Japan) for a Gamma Ray Observatory in the Outback) - To study gamma rays in the southern sky.
- DOT - Dutch Open Telescope - Monitoring the Sun from La Palma.
- Earth Observatory - You can monitor regional and global changes as they happen, almost.
- European Southern Observatory - A intergovernmental European astronomical observatory in Chile, South America.
- Gettysburg College Observatory - Mainly looking for asteroids.
- Griffith Observatory - Located in Los Angeles.
- Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory - Some 65 km NW of Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Keck Observatory - Located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
- Kitt Peak National Observatory - Home of 22 optical and 2 radio telescopes above the Sonoran desert.
- Lick Observatory - On the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California.
- Lowell Observatory - Near Flagstaff, Arizona.
- Meyer-Womble Observatory - Located on top of Mt Evans, the highest elevation of any observatory.
- National Air & Space Museum - You don't have to go to DC to see the exhibits, but its worth it to go at least once.
- Paranal Observatory - The Very Large Telescope is located here in nothern Chile.
- Royal Observatory Greenwich - Home of the Prime Meridian of the world.
- South African Astronomical Observatory - Located on the high arid Karoo plateau.
- Subaru telescope - The newest telescope on Mauna Kea, HI, with the largest single piece mirror also.
- Sudbury Neutrino Observatory - The observatory is still uder construction, but is proceeding well.
- Univ of Maryland Observatory - Open to the public on the 5th and 20th of every month.
- U.S. Naval Observatory - Provides data to measure the Earth's rotation and maintains the Master Clock for the U.S.
- Whipple Observatory - Located near Amado, AZ on Mount Hopkins.
Online 'scopes the public can use
Other Instruments
Radio Astronomy
Research Astronomy
Solar system topics
- Asteroids - A web page describing asteroids, their types, etc.
- Asteroids & Comets - Photos, missions, and other resources about asteroids and comets.
- Center for Mars Exploration - News, information, maps and educational resources concerning Mars.
- SOHO LASCO Comet Finders Page - Comets found by LASCO (onboard SOHO) and other comet info.
- Comet Observation Home Page, The New - Recent news and observations (pix) of comets.
- Comets Meteor Showers - Contains predictions, past observations, and other good comet stuff.
- Dr. SOHO's FAQ - Many questions about the Sun answered using SOHO data.
- Helioseismology - The science of studying vave oscillations of the Sun.
- Hitchhiker's guide to the Moon - Contains phases and maps of the Moon, links to other Lunar stuff.
- The Moon - Almost anything you want to know about the Moon can be found here.
- Nine Planets, The - Info on the planets and its moons.
- Oort Cloud, The - Where do comets come from?
- Planetary Image Atlas - You can search, display and download images from many planetary missions.
- Solar Oscillations - Standing sound waves on the Sun.
- Planet Quest - Interactive site using the full capabilities of the Internet.
- Solar System Live! - An orrery of the solar system on the web.
- Solar System Simulator - Want to ride on Voyager? See what you would see here.
- Space Watch - Studying the statistics of comets and asteroids to understand the evolution of collisions in the solar system.
- Sunspots - Questions and answers about sunspots.
- Views of the Solar System - And much info about the Solar System.
- Windows to the Universe - An innovative approach to learn about the Earth and the Space Sciences.
Space Art
Spacecraft/Satellite info (past)
Spacecraft/Satellite info (operational)
- ACE - Advanced Composition Explorer - Providing 24 hr coverage of solar wind and energetic particles.
- AcrimSat - Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor - Will measure the solar radiation incident on the Earth's atmosphere.
- Aqua - More Earth studies in the afternoon.
- ArianeSpace - Contains info about Ariane 4 and 5.
- ASCA (Astro-D) - The fourth x-ray satellite launched by the Japanese.
- Aura - Will enable new research into how the Earth's ozone, air quality and climate.
- BeppoSAX - Covering X-ray astronomy from .1 to over 200 keV.
- Cassini - on its way to Saturn via Venus and Earth.
- Chandra X-ray Observatory - Looking at the universe in X-rays better than ever before.
- Deep Space 1 - Not another Star Trek show, but a real spacecraft testing new technology.
- Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer (FAME) - Designed to determine the positions, distances, motions, brightness and colors of stars in our galactic neighborhood.
- FUSE - Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer - To study the origin and evolution of Hydrogen and Deuterium.
- Genesis - Will take a piece of the Sun and return to Earth for analysis.
- Geotail - Studying the dynamics of the Earth's magnetotail.
- GOES 8-10 - Observing the Earth from space.
- Gravity Probe B - To test 2 unverified predictions of General Relativity.
- Halca (Muses-B) - Acts like an antenna for VLBI (very long baseline interferometry).
- HETE-II (High Energy Transient Explorer) - To carry out a multiwavelength study of gamma ray bursts.
- ICESat - An EOS mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, vegetation and land canopy.
- IMAGE - Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration to study the Earth's magnetosphere.
- Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) - First Japanese orbiting telescope for IR astronomy.
- INTEGRAL - For gamma-ray spectroscopy in the 15 keV-10MeV range with X-ray (3-35 keV) and optical (V-band, 550 nm) bands.
- INTERBALL - Aimed to study various plasma processes in the Earth's magnetosphere.
- International Space Station - Keep up with the latest developments the ISS.
- Jason-1 - An oceanography mission to discover the tie between oceans and atmosphere, etc.
- Landsat 7 - Low-cost, multipurpose land remote sensing data of the Earth.
- MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe - Will answer 3 fundamental questions of cosmology.
- Mars Odyssey - Returning lots of cool pictures, but no Face on Mars.
- Mars Orbiter - Instruments will map mineralogy, morphology and elemental compostion of the surface. Also to study radiation risks to humans.
- MESSENGER - Mercury Surface Space environment Geochemistry and Ranging mission. To study Mercury.
- MIR - Get the latest info on the Mir Space station here.
- Mission and Spacecraft Library - To find those spacecraft not listed here.
- MOS - Modular Optoelectronic Scanner - An imaging spectrometer for the 400-1010 nm range.
- NASA/s Discovery Program - Designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system.
- Orsted Satellite Project - To survey the Earth's magnetic field in 1999 and 2000.
- Polar - To study the plasma, magnetic, ionic fields and other properties of the Sun.
- QuikSCAT - Will collect important information of ocean winds.
- Rosetta - To study the nucleus and environment of a comet for 2 years.
- Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer - Studying the time variability of x-ray emissions in the sky.
- SeaWiFS - Aboard the Seastar spacecraft to measure the ocean color due to phytoplankton.
- SOHO - at the L1 Lagrangian point to look at the Sun 24 hours a day.
- SOLSTICE - The Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment, to study the Sun in the UV.
- SORCE - The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment, to study the Sun at all wavelengths.
- Space Mission Acronym List and Hyperlink Guide - Links to more satellite pages.
- Space Shuttle - Shuttle home page for the current mission and past missions.
- Stardust - This satellite will probe the comets and bring back some cametary material.
- SWAS - Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite - To investigate the coposition of dense interstellar clouds.
- Terra (EOS AM-1) - Will enable new research into how the Earth's land, ocean, air, ice and life functions.
- Three Corner Satellite - Will be controlled by an artificial intelligence brain for several months.
- TIMED - Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics and Dynamics - Will explore the Earth's upper atmosphere (60-180 km).
- Topex/Poseidon - Trying to understand the oceans and climate from space.
- TOMS - Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer - Studying ozone, ultraviolet light, aerosols and more.
- Trace - Transition Region and Corona explorer, exploring the Sun's upper atmosphere.
- TRMM - Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission - To study tropical rainfall and the associated energy release.
- UARS - Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite - Studying global ozone change.
- Ulysses - Polar orbit around the Sun.
- Wind - Similar to the Polar mission except in a different orbit around the Sun.
- WIRE - Wide-Field Infrared Explorer - WIRE will perfrom a 4-month survey at 12 and 25 microns.
- XMM -Newton - X-ray Multi-Mirror. An x-ray satellite by ESA.
- Yohkoh - Japanese X-ray telescope focusing on the Sun.
Spacecraft/Satellite info (future missions)
Terrestrial events
Weather Resources
Curator: Keith Evans
Responsible NASA Official: Howard Dew
NASA's policy on web pages