Links
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For Amateurs
Astronomy Tutorials
From basic astronomy to cosmology.
Astronomical League
The Astronomical League is composed of over two hundred and forty local amateur astronomical societies from all across the United States. These organizations, along with our Members-at-Large, Patrons, and Supporting members form one of the largest amateur astronomical organizations in the world.
StarDate Online
From the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. StarDate keeps you in touch with the universe with detailed skywatching information, in-depth features, the latest astronomy news, and more.
Night Sky Info
This is a simple but very useful site which gives clear information on planetary cycles and notable sky events, including details on the most important asteroids, comets, and meteor showers. Although some of the information is intended for telescopic study, most of it is readily applicable to naked-eye observation and with finder maps included it is a perfect tool for all amateur astronomers, beginners and experts alike.
Astronomy
This site has many links to an eclectic list of astronomy sites for the amateur and some for professional.
Ask the Space Scientist
Conducted by Dr. Sten Odenwald (Astronomer). This resource covers FAQs that have to do with the Sun, the Earth and their various interactions. You may visit The Astronomy Cafe for answers to over 3000 FAQs about the following additional subjects: The Solar System, Planet-X, Stars, Galaxies, Black Holes, Big Bang Cosmology, Origin of the Universe, General and Special Relativity, Space Travel, Space Physics, Careers in Astronomy, Telescopes and many other topics, too!
The Nine (Oops! 8) Planets
This website by Bill Arnett, a software engineer, is an overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of the planets, moons and other objects in our solar system. Each page has Bill Arnett's and NASA's images, some have sounds and movies, most provide references to additional related information.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Sun (2003) by Jay M. Pasachoff
Skywatchers and armchair scientists can learn all about the origin and history of the Sun. With information on the Sun's physical properties; how solar flares, sunspots, and winds on its surface affect Earth's atmosphere and environment; solar and lunar eclipses, transits, and occultations, and early astronomers' discoveries about the Sun, including Galileo, Copernicus, Francis Bailey, and the Mayans. Free download.
Calendars
All you ever wanted to know about calendars. The information is reprinted from the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac.
Astronomical Societies
From A to Z with links to their Web sites.
Core List of Astronomy Books (2003)
This list of books in astronomy was intended to assist librarians in building collections. This list also attempts to serve as a resource for researchers and as a guide to teaching faculty in selecting available course readings. It's also a useful guide for amateurs searching for a particular astronomy topic.
PBS Astronomy Videos
"Hunting the Edge of Space" and others.
Talks and Colloquia by Sean Carroll,
Professor of Astrophysics, Cal Tech.
Dozens of videos on cosmology, astrophysics, relativity, string theory, ......
Tools and Resources for Sun Calculations and Observations
Astronomical Terms, Daylength-Charts, Moon Phases and Positions, Solar Energy Information, Sun Position (Azimuth and Altitude), Sunrise/Sunset Calculators, Sun Calendars. (link contributed by S. Wahlberg).
Online Observatories
- MicroObservatory
MicroObservatory is a network of five automated telescopes that can be controlled over the Internet. The telescopes were developed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and were designed to enable students and teachers nationwide to investigate the wonders of the deep sky from their classrooms.
- SLOOH
Using SLOOH’s patented instant-imaging technology and user-friendly interface, customers of all ages and skill levels can take control of powerful telescopes from their Mac or PC computer and Internet browser. Real-time space exploration is just a click away!
Telescope and Equipment Suppliers (Thanks to Mike Usher)
Buying Your First Telescope by Mike Usher, EAS President
Telescope Making (Thanks to Mike Usher)
Observing Chairs (The cure for backaches and contortions)
- Build your own chair (Complete plans, thanks to EAS member Dave Cushing)
- Build your own Denver chair (Complete plans)
See also: http://www.tulsawalk.com/projects/denverobserverchair/index.html.
- Catsperch Observing Chairs (Commercial version by Wood Wonders; similar to Mike Usher's chair)
See also: http://www.catseyecollimation.com/chairprods.html and http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=2337.
For Advanced Amateurs and Professionals
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a Digital Library portal for researchers in Astronomy and Physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant. The ADS maintains three bibliographic databases containing more than 8.1 million records: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, and arXiv e-prints.
Astrophysics Preprints
The arXiv (pronounced "archive", as if the "X" were the Greek letter Chi) is an archive for electronic preprints of scientific papers in the fields of mathematics, physics, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics which can be accessed via the World Wide Web. In many fields of mathematics and physics, almost all scientific papers are placed on the arXiv.
Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2nd Edition, 1990
This is a free online version. A comprehensive compilation of the facts and figures relevant to astronomy and astrophysics. As well as a vast number of tables, graphs, diagrams and formulae it also includes a comprehensive index and bibliography, allowing readers to easily find the information they require
Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics Links
Hundreds of links for advanced amateurs, graduate students, researchers and professionals working in astronomy and the space sciences. Includes links to databases and free online advanced text books.
Astronomy and Astrophysics Data
Chapter 2 of the 3rd edition (2007) of The Handbook of Astronomy and Astrophysics (searchable 7.2 Mb pdf file).
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) Virtual Library
Free online books relating to astronomy and astrophysics which can be browsed and printed on demand.
Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS)
Astronomical databases, catalog services and more.
Astronomical Data Base (Simbad)
The SIMBAD astronomical database provides basic data, cross-identifications, bibliography and measurements for astronomical objects outside the solar system. SIMBAD can be queried by object name, coordinates and various criteria. Links to some other on-line services are also provided.
Core List of Astronomy and Physics Journals (2003)
This is a list of highly-used and highly-cited physics and astronomy journals. "Use" is measured largely on paper-journal counts from selective academic research-level libraries.
Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial
This website contains a tutorial that goes through the basic principles of Cosmology. It begins by doing a historical review of the discoveries that led to the current theory of how Universe is. The sections deal with the concepts of homogeneity and isotropy, measuring distances, effects of gravity, geometry of space, horizons and inflation, and finally how projects like COBE provide astronomers with evidence of the mass distribution in our Universe. Edward L. (Ned) Wright is a professor of astronomy at UCLA.
Ned Wright's Cosmological Calculator
A cosmology calculator that computes times and distances as a function of redshift for user-defined cosmological parameters.
Coordinate Conversion and Precession Tool (Chandra X-ray Center)
Modern Telescopes and Instrumentation (Christian Clemens, Max-Plank-Institut fuer Astyrophysik, Garching, Germany; in English)
Software for Observers (This list has been provided by Bob Gurnitz)
DeepSkyStacker - Freeware
DeepSkyStacker is a freeware for astrophotographers that simplifies all the pre-processing steps of deep sky pictures - registering, stacking, simple post-stacking processes to quickly view the final result, saving the resulting image to a TIFF or FITS file (16 or 32 bit).
DSRL Focus - $45
DSLR Focus takes a series of exposures as fast as the camera will allow either automatically or at your command. The results are downloaded from the camera and displayed on the screen instantly.
You then scroll around the image and find a suitable star to use as your focus star. Place the crosshairs on the star click the mouse to select it. At this point a focus analysis window will open that will perform analysis on the selected star. As you adjust the Telescope focus and take a new image the analysis window quickly shows you if your focus is getting better or worse.
DSLR Shutter - Freeware
DSLR Shutter is designed to be a simple tool to capture long-exposure images from digital SLR cameras using their "bulb" setting. It allows you to specify the number of frames, their duration, and various delays to act as a software interval timer for your camera.
K3CCD - $49 with evaluation period
K3CCDTools is a Windows application dedicated for astro-imaging.
It includes video-capturing (supporting wide range of video capture devices), auto-guiding and frame aligning and stacking/summing. It also provides simple image post-processing.
Neat Image - Free edition available
Neat Image is an image filter to reduce noise and grain in photographic images produced by digital cameras and scanners. Neat Image is indispensable in low-light (indoors, night, no-flash, astro) and high-speed (sport, action, children) photography.
Nebulosity - $45 0r $60
Nebulosity (Windows and OS X) is designed to be a powerful, but simple to use capture and processing application for a wide range of astronomy CCD cameras.
PHD Guiding - Freeware
PHD Guiding is designed to be "Push Here Dummy" simple, yet provide powerful, intelligent auto-guiding of your telescope for both PCs and Macs. Connect your mount, your camera, select a star, and start guiding.
PixInsight - 45-trial period
PixInsight is an advanced, modular image processing software platform designed specifically for the demanding requirements of astrophotography and other technical imaging fields.
WCS - Free
This program helps you to polar align your mount using the drift alignment method with CCD or webcam support. It supports any cam which can be installed as a Windows device (Meade LPI, ToUcam, NexImage, etc). There's also a version available for the Meade DSI cameras. The error in polar azimuth and polar elevation can be adjusted very quickly, even if Polaris is not visible (e.g. obstructing trees, buildings, or if observing in the southern hemisphere). The idea is to measure the star drift of an inaccurately aligned mount using a webcam, and to calculate the amount of polar axis misalignment. After that, it assists you in achieving near-perfect mount alignment using the webcam display. With WCS, the effort needed for alignment is reduced to a minimum, and you have more time for observing and imaging.
StarTarg2.0 - $19.95
Draggable, rotatable crosshairs that will pop up on top of everything on your desktop. Excellent aid for performing a drift alignment if you have a CCD camera capable of placing a live image on your computer desktop.
Registax - Free
Image processing software.
TheSkySix - $279
TheSky6™ Professional Edition is used by more observatories and controls more automated telescopes than any other astronomy software. For twenty five years, astronomers worldwide have relied on TheSky for everything from a visual observation guide to turn-key telescope control center. The Sky6 Professional Edition has extensive databases of celestial information.
TSatellite Tracking Software - Free
For tracking and following artificial satellites.
Camera Control and Image Processing
Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
iPhone Apps
Star Walk - $2.99
Star Walk covers about 9000 stars, planets and constellations and comes with Time Machine and Lunar Phase features. Star Walk is virtual astronomy for anyone who is interested in stargazing, amateurs or more professional astronomers. Use the Star Spotter function to activate the DIGITAL COMPASS on 3GS only, find your orientation and you will see the sky in front of you in real-time. You can pan the iPhone’s display and watch the stars scroll around.
Clear Sky Chart - Free
It is the astronomer's forecast. It shows at a glance when, in the next 48 hours, you might expect clear and dark skies. Similar functionality as the Web version.
Sun & Time - $1.99
This application displays in real time the pattern of day and night on a world map WITHOUT using WIFI or cellular network! Double tapping a point on this map allows you to get an enlarged local view centered on the point, with majors cities.
SoLuna - $0.99
SoLuna is a utility that calculates moon phases as well as predicted sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times. It also calculates predictions for the begin and end of civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight. The current moon phase is shown at the top of the main screen, while the predicted dates for the next 4 major phases are shown along the bottom of the main screen. The rise, set and twilight data is in table form in the center of the screen. The current latitude and longitude that the program is using for calculations is displayed in decimal format at the bottom left of the main screen. SoLuna can use the built in location capabilities of the iPhone to determine your location, or you can set your location manually on the settings page. You can can also change the date on the settings page to calculate information for other dates.
SkyVoyager - $14.99
A powerful planetarium program, SkyVoyager is designed for both beginners and advanced users. It contains a database of 300,000 stars to 10th magnitude, and 30,000 deep sky objects, including the entire NGC and IC catalogs. It renders the planets and moons in detail, using NASA mission imagery, and includes a database of several hundred asteroids, comets, and artificial satellites.
SkyVoyager accurately shows the sky from any location on Earth, at any time up to 100 years in the past or future. It is a precise astronomical calculator, computing the positions of solar system objects to sub-arcsecond precision with the latest JPL planetary ephemerides.
If you have a computer-controlled telescope, SkyVoyager can use the WiFi capabilities built into your iPhone to point it in the sky. To do this, you will also need a WiFi-to-serial adapter; see the WiFi Scope Control page for more details.
CosmoCalc - Free
This cosmological calculator has a simple and intuitive interface. You can quickly set a reference cosmology and redshift, and CosmoCalc will calculate a full suite of astronomical distances and scales.
CosmoCalc allows you to:
o Select cosmological parameters H0, Ωm, and ΩΛ with simple touch-screen controls
o Easily choose from common reference cosmologies, including WMAP5, Concordance, and Einstein-deSitter
o Quickly determine the luminosity distance, angular diameter distance, lookback time, age of the Universe, comoving volume, and critical density
o Easily switch between flat and non-flat cosmologies by clicking on the chain
o Return to your previous settings when the program is restarted
- Plot angular diameter distance, luminosity distance, lookback time, age of the Universe, comoving volume, and critical density as a function of redshift.
- Compare the evolution of a distance indicator for any two sets of cosmological parameters.
- Pinch to zoom and drag to pan for a detailed view of the plot.
This was checked against Ned Wright's Cosmology Calculator and found to be in complete agreement.
APOD - free Astronomy picture of the day.
Developed in partnership with NASA. Shake the phone for a random image and browse through descriptions.
Satellite Flybys
"Satellite Flybys" turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a field-tested satellite watching tool. It tells you when spacecraft are about to appear (with a countdown clock!), which direction you should face, and even turns down the screen brightness to boost night vision. Selections of spacecraft are made by Dr. Tony Phillips of spaceweather.com and updated anytime you're on the internet.
Iridium Flares $.99
This application lists the Iridium Flares that are visible on your location for the next 7 days. The only necessary thing to see them is a clear sky.
FEATURES:
- List of Iridium Flares for the next 7 days
- Shows the date and time, the direction, altitude and intensity of the Iridium Flare
- Uses GPS to know your location, or you can enter your location manually
- Shows your last loaded Iridium Flares when offline.
When selecting your timezone: Daylight saving time has been accounted for.
Distant Suns
Distant Suns was originally a program for the Commodore Amiga computer in 1987, and is still available for the Windows operating system. Among iPhone star charting apps it is one of the more serious, with rather plain graphics but a wealth of text information about astronomical objects.
3D Sun - Free
A new iPhone app developed by NASA-supported programmers delivers a live global view of the Sun directly to your cell phone. Users can fly around the star, zoom in on active regions, and monitor solar activity. Realtime images used to construct the 3-dimensional sphere are beamed to Earth by the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), a pair of spacecraft with a combined view of 87% of the solar surface. STEREO-A is stationed over the western side of the sun, while STEREO-B is stationed over the east. Together, they rarely miss a thing.
Total Solar Eclipses - $1.99
Total and Total-annular solar eclipses processed by the program are comprised between 1900 and 2100, exactly 287 eclipses from 28th May 1900 to 4th September 2100. The program gives the times in Universal Time of the Solar eclipse phases (initial, central and final) and the geographical coordinates from where it is possible to observe those circumstances of the eclipse. It also gives maximum duration and the width of the lunar umbra.
Meteors - $0.99
Meteors is a handy utility to show the peak days of the major meteor showers based on year selected by the user. Date range supported from 1899 to 2101AD.
AsteroidAlert - Free
Asteroid alert keeps track of asteroids and comets passing relatively close to our planet. The application, for any approaching comet or asteroid, shows the name, date in which the object will draw closer to Earth, its approximate diameter (estimated on the absolute magnitude of the celestial body), its distance from Earth, and its speed. In addition, the tool shows the most recent approaches and those expected on the following days, with a 7.5 million km. accuracy. An object of approximately 150 m. in diameter approaching Earth, will be defined as potentially dangerous, in fact, the Earth gravitational field may lead it towards our atmosphere. All data is directly obtained from the NASA page (NEO Earth Close Approaches) of reference
Messier List - Free
Messier List is an app containing the famous list of celestial objects compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier in the late eighteenth century. This list was put together by Messier to aid comet hunters while searching for comets by accurately cataloging the positions of objects that might be mistaken for comets. As such, his catalog contains all of the brightest and most prominent objects vi... Read Moresible from the northern hemisphere and is extremely popular among amateur astronomers.
Julian Date Calculator - $0.99
The Julian Date Calculator gives the user a simple and quick way to convert between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in the Gregorian Calendar to the Julian Date as well as a selection of additional epochs and time systems.
The Julian date (JD) is the number of days and fractions of a day since noon January 1, 4713 BC at Greenwich. The Modified Julian Date (MJD) has an offset of 2,400,000.5 days from the Julian Date and hence starts at midnight November 17, 1858. The Julian Date is often used for scientific time measurement by the astronomy community and was introduced to provide a single system of dates that could be used when working with different calendars.
Sidereal Time - $0.99
The Sidereal Time App gives the user a simple and quick way to determine:
- Local Apparent Sidereal Time (LAST) based on longitude
- Rough estimate of LAST based on Time Zone
Exoplanet - Free
Exoplanet is a database of all detected extrasolar planets. It includes visualisations and all physical parameters for each planet.
Push notifications keep you up-to-date with any announcement of new planets. You can turn off notifications at any time in the Settings App.
iTimeZone - World Clock - $0.99
Most world clocks can only show the current date & time in other cities. With iTimeZone you choose the date, time & current city. Doesn't matter if you pick the past, present, or future time in Boston or Buenos Aires, iTimeZone does the tricky time zone math using all daylight savings time transitions
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