Astronomy Links

My List of Astronomy Related Links

I have many varied interests spanning some 30 years of involvement in the astronomical community. So, my list of links is long and varied to reflect those interests. If you find lists without links attached, I'm working on those items. Due to the changing nature of my interests this list will truly be a work in progress, so you may wish to check back in the future as the list grows.

You can scan the list topics here and pick ones you are interested in, or simply scroll down to view the entire list.

Amateur Telescope Making

Amateur telescope making page
Robert Deane's reverse-engineered Schmidt-Cassegrain designs and related data
Peter Smith on telescope optics
barn-door tracker plans, telescope making information
Barn-door tracker plans, CG-5 mount improvements

Amateur Telescope & Accessories & Equipment

Orion Telescopes and Binoculars Mainly their own brand of telescopes and accessories, which are good; very good place to start for beginners.

Astronomics Leading full-line dealer selling all brands, recommended for the more experienced observer; has informative literature for beginners too.

Oceanside Photo and Telescope Photographically oriented, especially digital SLRs for astronomy.

University Optics An old-time supplier with good eyepieces at low prices.

Remember Lumicon? They're back! After a period out of business, their product line is being revived by Parks Optical.

Advanced Telescope Systems - very solid portable and permanent telescope piers.

IDAS (Tokai) nebula filters - a new type of nebula filter that is lighter and gives more realistic colors while still suppressing the emission spectrum of streetlights.

ScopeTronix Several unique products including camera-to-telescope adapters, digital camera afocal bracket, ETX piggyback mounts, and eyepieces that thread directly onto your digital camera.

LE-Adapter for afocal coupling of SLRs, digital cameras, and camcorders to telescopes and microscopes

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis sighting reports updated every few minutes

Astrophotography

Bengt Hallinger: Photography web pages and links
Astro-photo mailing list archives (with search engine)
Robert Reeves' film tests for astrophotography
Doug Bremer - Wide-field astrophotography on a budget
Jerry Lodriguss' site: A very useful primer for film astrophotography and post-processing techniques.
Chuck Vaughn's site: An excellent explanation of levels adjustment for astrophotography.
Matt BenDaniel's site: Check out articles on curves, star shaping, and anti-vignetting techniques.
Philip Perkins' site: An excellent resource for tips on using the Lumicon Off-Axis Guider.
Chris Cook's site: Beautiful deep sky and landscape shots from a world-class astrophotographer.
Brian Lula's site: Extremely talented astrophotographer and telescope maker.
Mike Stecker's Astrophotography: A great collection of photographs.
How to Perform Drift Alignment: An excellent site for learning this valuable technique.
Thierry Legault's Collimation Primer: Nice description of an important adjustment for high resolution views!

Beginners Links

Ed Ting's telescope reviews
The Compleat Amateur Astronomer (Lenny Abbey's 50 years of experience)
Amateur Astronomy Clubs and Organizations — maintained by the ASP.
The Antique Telescope Society — Site includes pictures of wonderful old telescopes.
Deep Sky Astronomy — Observing notes, sketches, and more from Emil Neata in Romania.
The Stellafane Home Page — the Springfield Telescope Makers.
Purchasing Amateur Telescopes FAQ — contains good glossary.
How Telescopes Work — by Craig C. Freudenrich
The Sky & Telescope website — All kinds of information, including much for hobbyists.

Cameras, Digital

CCDs

Acquiring and Processing CCD Images
Build your own CCD camera
Rob Gendler (CCD imaging)
Angel Gomez ("Astro Dog") -- astrophotography with digital cameras
Ron Wodaski's online book about CCD imaging
Starizona's Guide to CCD Imaging: An excellent resource for those starting out in CCD imaging.

Comets Sommers-Bausch Observatory at the University of Colorado. The University's on-campus observatory has quite a few links relevant to comet observations.

Comet Observations Home Page This JPL Comet Page is a good source of comet observations from observers around the world. Probably many of the people involved with the UCW have images posted on this page.
Sky and Telescope Magazine's Comet PageSky's Online Comet Page gives information on what's up now.
Crni Vrh Observatory Comet Home Page Hermann Mikuz's home page in Slovenia. Excellent archive of comet observations.
The Comet Hale-Bopp Home PageRuss Sipe's Hale Bopp comet site -- voted Cool Site of the Day! on October 19, 1995
The Astronomer OnlineGuy Hurst's web page of amateur observations of comets and other celestial objects.
The Puckett Observatory
Worth Hill Observatory
IAU/Central Bureau for Astronomical TelegramsThe official place to report things astronomical.
Current and Recent Comets

Deep Impact sent a projectile into comet Tempel 1 on 4 July 2005

Stardust flew by comet Wild 2 on 2 January 2004, returned samples to Earth 15 January 2006

Rosetta comet mission was launched 2 March 2004, will reach Comet 67 P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko in 2014

Instructions how to procede if you discover a comet! (Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams)

Comet Observation Home Page (JPL)

Currently observable comets and recent observations (JPL)

Current Comets (Gary W. Kronk)

Ephemerides of currently observable comets (IAU minor planet center)

Comet News (Bigelow/Catalina Sky Survey, LPL, U Arizona)

Nearby Comet List: Those that came closest to Earth

Great Comets in History, by Donald K. Yeomans

Gary W. Kronk's Comet Resource (Mirror at the MAA, Germany)

Comet Cross-Identification

T. Puckett's Comet Observations Page

Comet images by Sven Kohle and Till Credner

Comet images by Chris Schur (Kohoutek, West, IAA, Halley and other rarely photographed/displayed comets together with Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp)

G.W. Kronk's SL9 pageComet Homepage

Hale-Bopp pre-discovery photo and other Hale-Bopp info from CFA/Harvard Univ.

Spaceviews' Hale-Bopp pages; Link list

G.W. Kronk's Hale-Bopp page

ESO's Hale-Bopp page

GSFC Hale-Bopp page

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Earth

Click here to see current view of the earth
Earth Viewer — day and night.
The Earth at night as seen from space — Pick out your favorite city from its light pollution.

Light Pollution

International Dark Sky Association — dedicated to sound lighting practices and preserving dark skies.

Meade

Meade field de-rotator
Meade Lunar-Planetary Imager
Balancing a Fork Mounted Scope: Excellent resource and a must read for anyone using an SCT.

LX200

Chris Heapy's Meade LX200 modifications and upgrades
Bill Ezell's LX200 information and electronic upgrades
Philip Perkins - Pictures and technical articles, especially about Meade LX200 telescopes. His are the pictures you've seen in Meade's ads.
Michael Richmann (excellent deep-sky images taken with Meade 8" LX200; links to other sites)
A wooden wedge for a Meade LX200
Donovan Conrad's LX200 GPS site with electrical and mechanical information, troubleshooting, minor upgrades
LX200-UNCENSORED; there are similar groups for NexStars and many other telescopes
Yahoo! groups for the LX200 GPS: LX200GPS and LX200-UNCENSORED
Meade Advanced Products User Group (all of the newer Meade telescopes, but especially the LX200 non-GPS)

EXT

Ulrich Beinert (Meade ETX and other telescopes, Germany)

MISC

Mike Marshak (Meade LX10)
Handy Meade 201xt autoguider Tips: Good advice regarding the 201xt that is also useful for 208/216xt autoguiders.
An LX90 Owners site: A comprehensive site with special reference to LX90 modifications and troubleshooting.

Ohio Astronomy Clubs

Observatories in Ohio

John D. Nielson Observatory (Black River Astronomical Society)
Cosmic Orchard Observatory
A Private Observatory near Columbia Station
CAA Observatory
Ohio Observatory of the CAA
Shulele Planetarium
Oberlin College Observatory
SkyWatch Observatory (Private) near Hartsgrove
Urban Observatory (Private) near Wadsworth
Astronomy Club of Akron Observatory
Chagrin Valley Astronomical Society Observatory in Solon
Warren Rupp Observatory near Mansfield
Wilderness Center Astronomy Club Observatory near Canton
Trout Observatory near Oak Harbor
Payne's Starfield Observatory (Private) near Fredericktown
Nassau Astronomical Observatory-part of Warner & Swasey Observatory
Miller Observatory (Kenyon College)
Clarke Observatory (Mount Union College) in Alliance
Field of Dreams Observatory (Private) near Salem
Hutville (Private) between Columbus & Mt. Vernon
Perrysburg Observatory (Private) near Perrysburg
Fort Miegs Observatory (Private) near Perrysburg
Ritter Observatory University of Toledo
Perkins Observatory at Ohio Weslyan University
Tranquility Gate Observatory (Private) near North Lima
Applewood Absurdity Observitory (Private) near Ypsilanti
Black Swamp Observatory (Private) near Napoleon
Hollow Oak Observatory (Private) near Hilliard
Columbus Astronomical Society Observatory
Schoonover Observatory (Lima Astronomical Society)
Cortese Observatory (Mahoning Valley Astronomical Society) near Braceville

Olympus Cameras

Olympus camera FAQs (updated link)
Olympus instruction books online

Organizations

Universities — more than 6700 of them, in 176 countries at last count.
Observatories — index to many, including
2MASS AAO ESO Gemini HST JAC Keck NOAO NRAO SDSS SOHO Subaru Swift Yohkoh
Large Telescopes—comprehensive list of the world's largest, with links.
NASA, including Ames Astrobiology Institute Goddard HST JPL Missions (past, present, & future)
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
American Astronomical Society (AAS) — the leading professional society in the USA.
Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) — for professionals, amateurs, teachers, and others.
Berkeley Cosmology Group — good material on dark matter, cosmology, etc.
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies — at the National Air and Space Museum.
International Astronomical Union (IAU) — the leading professional society on Earth.
International Dark Sky Association — dedicated to sound lighting practices and preserving dark skies.
International Occultation and Timing Association (IOTA) — to encourage and facilitate the observation of occultations and eclipses.
The Meteoritical Society — to promote the study of extraterrestrial materials and their history.
The National Space Society — promotes change in social, technical, economic, and political conditions to advance the day when people will live and work in space.
The Planetary Society — founded by Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray.
The Royal Astronomical Society — in London since 1820.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada — includes both professionals and amateurs.
The SETI Institute — now privately funded, the search for extraterrestrial life goes on.
The Spaceguard Foundation — international group devoted to protecting Earth from asteroids.
Physics & Astronomy Forums — newsgroups of all kinds

Polar Alignment

Drift method polar alignment reference card (for people familiar with the method, who want a brief memory aid)

Power

Bill Darden's FAQ on Deep-Cycle 12-Volt Batteries

Satellites & Space Station

Click here for the Java Applet for real-time tracking of the space shuttle and space station
http://www2.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/sat/vsohp/orbsoft.html - Satellite tracking shareware and freeware

Sky Publishing

Sky & Telescope: This week's sky: moon, planets, phenomena visible with the unaided eye
Sky & Telescope: This month's star chart and commentary
Sky & Telescope: This month's events (comets, eclipses, occultations)

Software

TheSky

Starry Night Very nice planning tool. I Recommend the Pro version for anyone who can afford it.

SkyMap Pro

AstroCalculator (actually several useful computational tools) by Joe Cahak

Virtual Moon Atlas (freeware, nice!)

Astronomical Data Center (catalogues and data online)

SIMBAD (comprehensive object catalogues and references to astronomical literature)

Digitized Sky Survey (Palomar images of the whole sky)

Consolidated Lunar Atlas on line

ftp://ftp.seds.org/pub/software/pc/stars - Students for the Exploration and Development of Space at U of Arizona.

http://www.w3.org/pub/DataSources/bySubject/astro/software.html

Space Flights

Click here and find the location of current manned space flights and orbits!

Star Charts

Click here to get a star chart for your location at any time and date
Heavens Above: the sky from your exact location, including man-made satellites
Skyhound: what's in the sky this month
AstroViewer — Display a sky map and see what’s up.
The Constellations — The Munich Archive Astromaps with images, maps, and star descriptions.
The Constellations — includes mythology as well as astronomy.
The Constellations — a slightly different version of the myths.
Monthly Star Maps — from the Science Museum of Virginia. Unlike others, these show the planets.
Skywatcher's Diary — from Abrams Planetarium.
This Week’s Sky at a Glance — from Sky & Telescope.
Sun and Moon rising & setting times, phases, eclipses, seasons, occultations, etc. — from USNO.
The Phase of the Moon—now or at any time — from USNO.
Solar System Simulator — images, movies, orbits, and more.

Technical

Ian Turner (portable domed observatory, megapixel CCD camera, other advanced equipment and techniques)
Brad Wallis and Robert Provin (authors of noted advanced astrophotography handbook, A Manual of Advanced Celestial Photography). Adaptive optics and other new techniques.
Astrophysical Data System — abstracts of articles in technical journals.
Astroweb: Astronomy and Astrophysics on the Internet
Science: Astronomy — from Yahoo.
Astronomical Survey Projects — Links to a great many sky surveys now underway in all wavelength bands.
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space — gateway to many sources, including the Messier Catalog.
The Net Advance of Physics: Astronomy and Astrophysics — lecture notes and more at various levels.
Webstars: Astrophysics in Cyberspace — from HEASARC
Basics of Radio Astronomy
Infrared Astronomy — from NASA’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.
SkyView — images of any part of the sky at wavelengths from radio to gamma-ray.
High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) — images, descriptions, and data from x-ray and gamma-ray astronomy satellites.
The Interstellar Medium — educational site from the University of New Hampshire.
The James Webb Space Telescope — Plans for the Hubble’s successor are underway.

Time

What time is it? — current time in 538 cities around the world
WWV
Atomic Clock
Siderial Time
Solar Time

Web Cam Astrophotography

Vasu Jagannathan's digital camera and webcam astrophotography with a 3.5-inch telescope