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Field Guides to the Night Sky |
Tools & Charts |
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Astronomy Knowledge Base |
Astronomy & Space News |
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Field Guides to the Night Sky
Stellarium
Stellarium is a free, open-source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It's available for download here. The link above takes you to the online version.
Your Sky
The interactive planetarium of the Web. You can make maps for any time and date, viewpoint, and observing location:
Sky Maps which show the night sky as it would appear if you were lying flat on your back looking up;
Horizon Views showing the stars above the horizon as they would appear if you were standing facing any of the 360 degrees of a view;
The Virtual Telescope allow you to set time and date, aiming point, orbital elements to track an asteroid or comet, and a variety of viewing options.
N.B., Yarmouth's coordinates are 43.48 N / 70.09 W, but if you are unsure, select the "Set for nearby city" option.
Constellations & Chandra Images
Excellent, easy-to-use field guide, developed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory in Cambridge, MA. Each constellation is depicted in 3-D star group image and with an illustration from Johannes Hevelius' Uranographia (1690). Discussion of mythologies from several cultures.
Stars
A compendium of stars and their constellations, created by Jim Kaler, Prof. Emeritus of Astronomy, University of Illinois. This site is easy enough to be used by the beginner and comprehensive enough to satisfy the old hand. More than just an online field guide, pages such as "Star Names" discussing how the stars got their names and the "Star Atlases' page, with illustrations from Johannes Bayer's Uranometria of 1603 and John Flamsteed's Atlas Coelestis are literally pages right out of history.
All The Sky
Digital images of the sky: comets, constellations, star clusters, nebulea, galaxies, and more.
The "Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations" presents constellations for all months of a year, as well as by name. Deep exposed and highly resolved color photographies show stars down to twelfth magnitude in a standard field of about 26 x 39 degrees. A variety of deep sky objects is seen in most constellations and presented as magnifications with description. The big images are intended to show the deep sky objects in their galactic environment and can be used as "real sky" finder charts for observers.
The Skyhound
Another intermediate to advanced field guide to deep sky objects.
Tools & Charts
NOAA Solar Rise & Set Calculator
Please note that this web page is the old version of the NOAA Solar Calculator. Back when this calculator was first created, they decided to use a non-standard definition of longitude and time zone, to make coordinate entry less awkward. So on this page, both longitude and time zone are defined as positive to the west, instead of the international standard of positive to the east of the Prime Meridian. They maintain this page as a courtesy to those people (including yours truly) who, for whatever reason, prefer the old calculator (because we find it more intuitive to use). All others are encouraged to use the updated version instead.
Rise & Set (USN)
This page provides a way to obtain a table of the times of sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, or the beginning and end of twilight, for one year. You can obtain a table for any location worldwide by either selecting a nearby city or by entering the longitude and latitude coordinates. Site includes link for coordinates.)
Moon Phases (USN)
This data service calculates the primary phases of the moon for years between 1700 and 2100.
NOAA Tides & Currents
Official U.S. high and low tide predictions. Choose a state on the map to access your local water levels, tide and current predictions, and other oceanographic and meteorological conditions.
Tide Predictions (USC)
Tide & Current Predictor Calculator for the U.S. Upper East Coast (Maine through Virginia), constructed by Dean Pentcheff at the University of South Carolina.
Aurora Forecast (UAF)
The auroral activity forecast predicts the expected location of the most active auroral forms that can be expected for the given period. The forecasts deal with the average level of activity expected within the prediction period. The short term forecast is a calculation based on measurements of the solar wind made at a satellite that is approximately one hour upstream toward the sun. Watch this forecast from the comfort of your chair to find out when you should wake up the kids and go outside to see the display.
Northern Hemisphere Enlarged View
This presentation provides an estimate of the location, extent, and intensity of aurora on a global basis.
Astronomy Knowledge Base
Some of the sites listed here have some aspects of field guides, but all are structured primarily as educational sources or study guides.
Constellation Mythology
Each of the 12 Zodiacal and 20 of the major constellations are depicted as a star group and a drawing to suggest "seeing" the figure that gives the constellation its name, and the mythological origins of the figure are discussed as stories. Sadly, we lost our old page (http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/index.html) which contained stories of the 88 standard constellations. We'll try to find a comparable site to augment this one.
All about Tides
There's much more to the story of the ocean's movement than meets the eye. Astronomer Bob Berman tells that story here. If you'd like to delve deeper into the subject, there are several links.
The Aurora Page
Information about and images of the "Northern Lights".
PBS Space Time
PBS YouTube channel explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and other topics beyond Planet Earth with astrophysicist host, Matthew O’Dowd.
The Naked Astronomer
A beginner's guide to naked-eye astronomy. Using a light-hearted and non-technical approach, its purpose is to bring out the inner astronomer in everyone, by gradually increasing one's knowledge, skills, and courage to go out under the night skies and search the stars. From the site: "When you're out there in the dark, you're doing naked astronomy when you need no field guides nor star maps, no flashlights, no telescopes — none of that. That's not to say that naked astronomers never use books and charts, but the less you need to take them out into the dark with you, the more naked you are."
Astronomy & Space News
Space Weather
Solar wind, X-ray Solar Flares, Sunspots, Auroral Oval (Borealis), Near-Earth Asteroids, Visible Artificial Satellites, and more!
EarthSky
Daily updates on the cosmos and the world.
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
The site design offers some of the worst mystery navigation in the business, but try this tip: If you want to read something, tap on the picture or the descriptive text, not on the yellow "Advice" buttons, unless a few spins around the site's carousel is what you're interested in.
NASA Video Gallery
Features a monthly guide to outstanding features of the night sky, a very good quick tour for beginners, as well as occasional video articles from NASA projects, such as the Mars rovers, etc.
Nasa Science News
Science Daily Astronomy News
No awards for design, but useful information. Homepage is obnoxious with pop-up ads, which defy pop-up blocker. Yes, Virginia, site designers are still finding ways to inflict those nasty little things upon you as a punishment for reading their site. We bypass the homepage with this link directly to the astronomy news page!
International Dark Sky Association
The International Dark-Sky Association works to protect the night skies for present and future generations. Artificial light at night has revolutionized the way we live and work outdoors, but it has come at a price. When used indiscriminately, outdoor lighting can disrupt wildlife, impact human health, waste money and energy, contribute to climate change, and block our view of the universe. Since 1988, IDA has led a movement to protect night from light pollution.
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