There's lots of stuff on the internet. Science projects,
Astronomy stuff, Educational aids, etc. True, most of it is
garbage. But every now and then, we find a jewel. Every now
and then, we find something worth sharing. And that is what this
page is all about. Below are some of the jewels. Some of the sites
and downloads that are worth visiting.
I would appreciate some input from TAAS members here, then I can call
this page the "TAAS Picks" page, instead of
"Webmaster Picks". Please send
me your jewels. - Sammy
• For
other links, including links to local clubs and astronomical
institutions, Click Here
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http://www.spaceweather.com
A few years ago, there was an incredible aurora
over Albuquerque, that I missed because I didn't know about a
coronal mass ejection that was coming our way. Since then, I
keep informed with SpaceWeather.com. The site specializes in
solar, meteor, and comet events, as well as notable occultation's
and astronomical news. It's a no-nonsense site, without ads
or pop-ups.
One of the bet parts of the site, is their e-mail
newswire, that sends out no-spam notices of coming or in-progress
astronomical events.
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http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html
As an avid user of Bisque's The Sky astronomy
software, I became spoiled with the instant ability to call up a
sky chart, for any date, and zoom-in for details. When my
old PC crashed hard, and I couldn't find the disks to reload The
Sky into my present PC, I was a little lost. I started
looking around for a lower cost alternative and found mostly
garbage... Until I found Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts)
 Cartes
du Ciel is absolutely packed with features, and uses 16 different
star catalogs including New Hipparcos, Bright Star Catalog,
SKY2000 Master Star Catalog Version 2, Tycho Catalog, The
HST Guide Star Catalog, NGC 2000.0, and many more. In
addition the position of planets, asteroids and comets are shown,
with easy online updates for new objects.
The English interface is very similar to The
Sky, and the graphics are, in my opinion, much better than The
Sky.
Cartes du Ciel is a free program written by French
astronomer Patrick Chevalley. At 15 megs, it's a fairly
large program for dialup users to download, but a CD-Rom option is
available.
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Virtual Moon Atlas
http://www.astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html
Another great freeware tool, Virtual moon atlas
offers detailed 3D mapping of the lunar surface, and identifies
features by simply clicking on them.
The program uses images from the United States
Geological Survey which were modified by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory into high quality Moon surface textures.
4.4 Megs. Requires Win 95 or greater. |
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http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
How many times has amateur astronomy been
associated with UFOs? How many times have you been asked if
you've seen UFO's? When it happens to me, I try to calmly
explain, that astronomers usually don't believe in UFO's, but many
do support the scientific search for Extraterrestrial
intelligence.(SETI)
SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses
Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence . You can participate by running a free program that
downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.
SETI@home normally runs as a screen saver,
although it can also be configured to run continuously in the
background, using whatever free resources your computer might have
at the time.
SETI@home downloads as a 792k program |
For Windows systems you'll need a computer with at least 32 MB of
RAM, the ability to display 8-bit graphics in 800x600 resolution,
10 MB of disk space, and an Internet connection (dialup is OK).
For Macintosh systems you'll need the above, as well as a PowerPC
processor and Mac OS 7.5.5 or later. You can use SETI@home on a
laptop that is connected sporadically. Support is available for
many versions of UNIX, including Linux on various CPUs. We hope to
eventually support other systems such as OS/2 and BeOS. The
software does not support WebTV. There are no CPU speed or modem
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David Levy on Internet Radio
http://www.letstalkstars.com/
Lets Talk Stars, is a weekly live astronomy radio
program broadcast on KTKT AM in Tucson AZ. Topics include
interviews with noted astronomers, observing tips, and timely
astronomical subjects. Requires download of free
RealPlayer. . |
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NASA Human Space Flight
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
From updates on the Space Shuttle Columbia
tragedy, to info on the International Space Station, to Live NASA
TV, NASA's Human Spaceflight page is the best place for up to date
info on what we're doing up there.
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http://www.heavens-above.com/
What's passing overhead tonight? What to show the kids
and neighbors the ISS? Impress your girlfriend with an
accurate prediction of an Iridium Flare. (Geek!)
Heavens Above has it all. Great to check before a star
party of campout. Star and moon charts also available. |
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http://www.stardate.org
Stardate is the longest-running
radio science feature in the country, airs on KUNM, 89.9 FM,
nightly @ 7pm (weekends @ 6pm). It began as
"Have You Seen the Stars Tonight?", a brief astronomy
update that aired on a single Austin radio station in 1977.
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Other Astronomy Links
TAAS Home Page |
