Links for Astronomy    

Courses
Astronomy
Meteorology
Geology

Links
Astronomy
Meteorology

• Picture of the day from NASA
• Space.com
• Sky & Telescope
  --online magazine
  --news
• Spaceflight Now home page
• LiveScience
• Science Daily

Astronomy Information

• Private space industry
  --Beyond-Earth Enterprises
  --Bigelow Aerospace
  --SpaceX Exploration Technologies
  --ZeroG Aerospace
• Minnesota Astronomical Society.  Local star parties, events, and information.
• New planet discoveries
  --also from California and Carnegie
  --and from the Geneva team
• Space weather
  --Spaceweather.com
  --Space Environment Center
        --Space Weather Now
        --Space Weather Alerts Page
        --Data and products
  Historical
  --NASA Space Weather News Archive
  --10/28/03 flare
  --Nov 2003 flare

Sky Watching

• What's Up In the Sky?   Sky viewing highlights throughout the year from Sky& Telescope magazine.
• Public viewing on the telescope at the U of Minnesota
• Comets currently visible
• Meteor showers
  --American Meteor Society
  --International Meteor Organization  (technical)
• Earth & Sky radio programs
• Relative locations of the planets
  --Inner planets
  --Entire solar system
• Aurora information
  -- from NOAA
  -- Forecast from Geophysical Institute

Star Charts

• WUnderground
• Fourmi Lab
• Sky View Cafe
• Sky & Telescope
• Trial download of Starry Night

Launch Information

• Next launch
• Launches schedule
• Kennedy Space Center
• Arianespace
• Track satellites and spacecraft with Liftoff

Resources for Students

• Many topics--UniverseAdventure
  Light, matter, Cosmology, Big Bang
• Topic 1--Astronomical distances
  --fun interactive
• Topic 2--Orbital motion
  --Orbital motion animation
• Topic 2--Center of mass
  --close-up of Earth-Moon system
  --interactive of two-body motion (go to Binary Orbits animation)
  ----Earth-Moon system animation
• Topic 2--Kepler's 2nd Law
  --very good interactive
  --interactive of equal areas
  --description and animation
  --two planet interactive
  --another interactive
• Topic 2--Kepler's 3rd Law
  --Inner planets
• Topic 2--Gravitational encounters
  --excellent interactive
• Topic 3--Spectra
  --wavelength and frequency
• Topic 3--Examples of star spectra
  --Some star spectra
  --Different spectra
  --Spectrometer in action
• Topic 3--Doppler shift
  --good animation
  --interactive of Doppler spectral shift of a star
• Topic 3--Finding extra-solar planets
  --STARE history and explanation
  --Eclipsing method
  --Thermal emission by a planet
  --A more complicated 2-body spectra
  --Worksheet from U. of Colorado

• Topic 4--Big Bang
  --Mike Guidry University of Tennessee
  --U of Wisconsin
  --Intro from Cornell
  --Notes from Michael Richmond
  --Detailed, but not too deep, from Cambridge
  --In detail from NASA

• Topic 6--Solar wind
  --Description
  --Good description of the solar wind and recent solar wind activity

• Topic 7--Radioactivity
  --Decay calculator

• Topic 10--Meteorites
  --Meteorites from Antarctica
  --Buying meteorites

• Topic 10--Kuiper Belt
  --Kuiper Belt Objects

• Topic 10--Impacts
  --Earth Impact Effects Program
  --Earth Impact database
• Topic 11--Black hole
  --Technical, but interesting (with animations!) from Dr. Hamilton
• Topic 11--Binary Stars
  --visual binary stars--description and interactive
  --very good eclipsing binary simulation
  --interactive that shows how binary motion is changed to one-body's perspective
• Topic 11--Closed binary system
  --animation
• Topic 13--Sidereal day/Solar day
  --very good animation
  --drawing and description
  --description and animation
• Topic 13--Sun's path in the sky
  --excellent animation
  --Chart of sun's path in the sky for anywhere on the Earth
• Topic 13--Retrograde motion
  --Shows how retrograde motion appears in sky
  --Retrograde Motion demonstration of how it occurs
• Topic 13--Eclipse
  --animation of Moon's nodes
  --lunar eclipse movie
  --Page of several solar eclipse movies
  --THE Eclipse web page
• Topic 13--Moon phases   [find one that works for you]
  --good starting point for the basics
  --good moon phase interactive
  --Description and practice
  --another interactive
  --and another interactive
  --current Moon phase
  --phase of moon any time in history
• Topic 13--Calendar systems
  --Calendar systems

Missions, Spacecraft, and Instruments

• Space agencies / Programs
  --NASA homepage
  --NASA/JPL Missions--
  --European Space Agency
  --NASA's Human Spaceflight site
  --Origins--origin of life and the universe
  --Space Transportation Programs--New ideas for space travel!
  --Aurora--European Programme for the Exploration of the Solar System
  --X-prize--to stimulate space tourism
  --Japan--Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science

• Space telescopes
  --ACE--Advanced Composition Explorer--determine composition of basic space matter
  --ACRIMSAT--Active Cavity Irradiance Monitoring Satellite-measuring amount of Sun's energy that reaches Earth
  --ASCA--Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics
  --Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
  --Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
  --FUSE--Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
  --GALEX--Galaxy Evolution Explorer
  --Genesis--Search for origins--Solar wind
  --GLAST--Gamma Ray Large Area Telescope
  --GRACE--Gravity, Recovery, and Climate Experiment
  --Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission
  --Hubble Space Telescope
  --IMAGE--Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration
  --MAP--Microwave Anisotropy Probe
  --MOXE--MOnitoring X-ray Experiment for
     Spectrum-X-Gamma
  --RXTE--Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
  --Spitzer Space Telescope
  --SOHO--Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  --Space Telescope Science Institute
  --Swift--Capture gamma ray burst
  --Ulysses--Poles of the Sun
• Planetary exploration from NASA
• Mercury
  --JPL site for Messenger
  --NASA site for Messenger
• Venus
  --Pioneer
  --ESA Venus Express
• Moon
  --Lunar Prospector
  --SMART-1
• Mars
  --Mars Quest online--GREAT site!!!
  --NASA Mars Missions
  --Exploration Rover (2003)
  --Express from ESA
      --from NASA
  --Pathfinder
  --Global Surveyer
  --Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (2005)
  --Odyssey
  --Surveyer 98--with Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander
• Outer planets
  --CASSINI--Mission to Saturn and Titan
  --Galileo--Exploring Jupiter and its moons
  --Voyager--Outer planets
  --New Horizons to Pluto
• Asteroids and comets
  --Deep Impact--Collision with a Comet
     --JPL site
     --NASA site
  --Deep Space 1--Encounter with a comet
  --NEAR--Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
  --Rosetta--Land on a comet
  --Stardust--Fly close to comet and bring back samples
  --Pan-STARRS--search for threatening asteroids and comets
• Land-based
  --DENIS--DEep Near Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky
  --Gemini observatory
  --Keck observatory
  --Subaru telescope
  --VLT--Very Large Telescope project

Other

• Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence
  --Galileo's finger 
• Temporary
  --David Simons
     --Cosmic Ray summary
     --Description 
     --Photos
     --NASA history archives
     --Demo