Resources

This page has links to astronomy-related websites.

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

• National Website
• Centres
  • Locations
  • Meetings and Centre Websites

Observing

The Canadian Magazine of Astronomy and Star Gazing

• This week’s sky
• Aurora Watch

Star Parties

BC

• Astronomy in the Park (Sechelt)
• Merritt Star Quest – time varies
• Mount Kobau Star Party – August
• Victoria RASCals

Other

• RASC sponsored Star Parties
• SkyNews list of star parties in Canada
• Clear Sky Clock for North American Star Parties
• Sky and Telescope’s list of Astronomy Events
• “World’s Top Ten” Star Parties (YMMV)
• Astro-Observer list of North American Star Parties

Equipment

• General Info
• Buying your first telescope
  • The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide website (the book is great for beginning astronomers)
  • cleardarksky.com
  • Heretic’s Guide
  • Sky and Telescope
  • deepastronomy.com
• Marketplace sites (used telescopes and equipment)
  • Astromart (US site)
  • astrobuysell.com (Canadian site, but few BC listings)
• “Local” vendors
  • Markarian Fine Optics
  • Brandon Optics
  • rasc.ca has a list of Canadian vendors (including more from BC)
• Imaging
  • Digital Imaging with Richard Berry
  • Thierry Legault’s Astrophotography Page
  • Robert Gendler
  • CCD Camera Advice (page last updated 2006)

Observing Aids

• Clear Sky Clock
  • Main Site
  • BC
  • Boundary Bay
  • Campbell Valley Regional Park
  • Merritt – Loon Lake Road Site
  • Mount Kobau Star Party Site
  • Vancouver
• Charts
  • Sky and Telescope’s Pocket Sky Atlas
  • Uranometria
• Planetarium Software
  • Free
    • Stellarium – good for looking around
    • Cartes du Ciel – make charts for observing
  • Commercial
    • Starry Night
    • TheSkyX

BasicS of AMATEUR ASTRONOMY

• Home Science Backyard Astronomy
• Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe
  

  ONLINE

• Google Sky – pretty pictures, easy
• NASA/JPL Ephemeris Site (very complete, but quite technical)
• Microsoft WorldWide Telescope (web client is unusably slow from my 2008 Mac Mini)

Current events

• http://earthsky.org/tonight
• Amazing Space

General Astronomy

• News
  • Universe Today
  • Science at NASA
• Space Exploration
  • Canadian Space Agency
  • Space Elevators
  • Canadian Space Society
• Online Courses
  • Hong Kong University (in English)
• The Sun
  • Solar Dynamics Observatory
  • Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  • Royal Greenwich Observatory Solar Storm Watch
  • http://www.solarcycle24.com/
• The Solar System
  • nineplanets.org
  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth and Moon
    • Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
    • New Atlas of the Moon (Review)
    • Earth from Space (NASA)
  • Mars, Phobos, Deimos
    • HiRise Mars Images
    • Rovers
    • Mars Express
    • Phobos Flybys
  • Jupiter and moons
  • Saturn and moons
    • Cassini Solstice Mission
  • Uranus, Neptune and moons
  • Other (asteroids, dwarf planets, comets, etc.)
• Stars
  • Nearby Stars
  • Variable Stars
  • Exotics (neutron stars, etc.)
• Exoplanets (planets around other stars)
• Nebulae and Dust
• Galaxies
• Cosmology
• Cataclysmic Events
  • Novae and Supernovae
  • Gamma Ray Bursters
  • Other Cataclysms

Links used in the Astronomy course at Douglas College

• Chapters 8 9 10 and 11 – Stars
  • Conservation of Angular Momentum
  • Size of stars
  • Black hole – zoom into one
  • Black hole at centre of our galaxy – stars orbiting
  • Periodic Table – Animated Giants song
• Chapter 7 – The Sun
  • The Sun Earth Viewer
• Periodic table of the elements
  • Periodic Table – Videos – Introduction
  • Periodic Table – Videos
  • Periodic Tables funny song animated “Tom Lehr”
• Chapter Six – Stars and Atoms
  • Doppler shift – applet
  • Doppler shift – Nova – with music
  • New Sun Earth Viewer /Space Weather
• Chapter Five – Telescopes and Light
  • Different wavelengths of light
• Chapter Four – Origins of Modern Astronomy
  • Kepler orbit animations
  • Orbits – how many bags of gunpowder?
  • Phases of Venus
• Chapter Three – Cycles in the Sky
  • Moon Phase Viewer
  • Meteorite – Earth Impact Database
  • Relative Velocity – Ok Go – Here it goes again
  • Moon Phases
  • Animations – many
  • Moon and planet time lapse animations
• “Useful, with a pleasant degree of humour.”
  • The Old Farmer’s Almanac Site
  • Tides animation
  • Tides – more animations
  • The reasons for the seasons – US Naval Observatory
  • Interactive Astronomy – eclipses, orbits
• Chapter Two – The sky – constellations, sky maps, etc.
  • Sky maps In English, French, Spanish, Portugese and Turkish.
  • Stellarium – free planetarium program
  • Planetary Orbits – Sun and Earth centered
  • The Nearest Stars – 3D Map
  • Messier objects – clickable poster
  • Messier objects – black and white from a 10 inch telescope
• Chapter One – Size of the universe web links
  • Power of ten – the size of the universe – the original
  • Power of ten – the size of the universe – from Florida
  • Power of ten – the size of the universe – from CERN

General astronomy web sites

• Weather Underground – forecast and good astronomy maps
• Astronomy Picture of the Day – APOD
• Clear Sky Clock – Burnaby
• NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• NASA – History as a Public Administration Agency
• Space Weather
• Heavens Above – where is the International Space Station?
• Fraser Valley Astronomical Society
• Stargazer University
• One Minute Astronomer
• International Space Station – ISS
• ISS timeline – from USA Today: Watch the ISS come together.
• ISS from APOD – April 10 2009
• ISS from APOD – January 16 2009
• ISS from APOD – February 28 2008
• ISS and Space Shuttle transit the Sun.
• ISS against the Moon.
• ISS from APOD – April 6 2009
• ISS from APOD – September 20 2006
• ISS from APOD – January 2 2002
• ISS from APOD – December 8 2002
• ISS from APOD – June 23 2008
• Dextre – Canadian Robotic Arm
• ISS from APOD – May 24 2008 Pictures from a small telescope.
• ISS from APOD – April 1 2008 Dextre the Robot
• ISS from APOD – July 20 2004
• ISS from APOD – February 23 1999 Construction begins
• ISS from APOD – December 10 1998
• Space station Mir – 1995 – APOD September 15 1995 Before the ISS there was Mir.
• Another Canadian in space
• ISS – Canada Space Tourist – story
• ISS – Canada Space Tourist – movie

3-D (Stereo Vision) pictures

• ISS from APOD – February 23 2008 – 3-D (Stereo vision)
• ISS from APOD – August 27 2005 – 3-D (Stereo vision)
• ISS view – Volcano in 3-D (Stereo Vision)
• Asteroid – Eros
• ISS astronaut portrait – APOD September 30 2006
• The Sun – APOD November 26 2005
• Phobos – one of the Moons of Mars – APOD November 20 2004
• Craters on a moon of Saturn – APOD July 10 2004

Space Telescopes

• HubbleSite.org
• James Webb Space Telescope
• Spitzer site at JPL
• Spitzer Youtube Channel
• Solar Dynamics Observatory
• Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Resources written for Kids

• The Eight Planets
• Guide of Astronomy Activities for Kids
• Astronomy Magazine Kids Site
• Bring Science Home – Activities for parents to do with kids from Scientific American
• News Sites
  • The Young Astronomers (astroleague.org)
• Observatory Sites
  • Sloan Digital Sky Survey Challenges
• Museum Sites
  1. Canadian Virtual Museum: Astronomy
  2. H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
  3. Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation
  4. Exploratorium

  Resources aimed at Teachers

  • Observatory Sites
    • Sloan Digital Sky Survey
  • Museum Sites
    • Canadian Museum of Science and Technology Virtual Astronomy Programs

    Videos

    • NASA eClips
    • Spitzer Youtube Channel
    • Our World: Hubble History
    • Our World: Arecibo – The Largest Radio Telescope on Earth
    • Our World: Two Eyes on the Sun
    • Launchpad: The Search for Exoplanets
    • Ask an Astronomer: “What’s Between the Stars?”
    • Ask an Astronomer: “Why isn’t Pluto a planet any more?”
    • Ask an Astronomer: “What is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way?”

Resources in other Languages

• Chinese
  • Hong Kong Space Museum
  • Online Astronomy Course
• Français
  • Société d’Astronomie de Montréal et Centre Francophone de la SRAC
  • Musée virtuel du Canada