Astronomy Courses

An updated list of astronomy courses with online components is maintained by Dr. Reggie L. Hudson in conjunction with the course "Survey of Astronomy" offered by Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida. The URL is http://home.eckerd.edu/~hudsonrl/chn/sitescol.html. This is a good place to start when seeking a college-level astronomy course web site.

• ASTR 111, Modern Astronomy I, George Mason University
• ASTR 113, Modern Astronomy I, George Mason University
• ASTR 113, Modern Astronomy II, George Mason University
• ASTR 228, Foundations of Cosmological Thought, George Mason University
• Astronomy Courses, University of Oregon
• Astronomy Program, University of Alabama
• SEDS, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona

Interesting Astronomy Web Sites

1. General Interest Sites
• PhysLink.com - Astronomy Education
• University of California, San Diego, Center for Astrophysics and Space Science
• European Association for Astronomy Education
• Astronomy Picture of the Day Educational Links, NASA
• Astronomical World Wide Web Resources, Space Science Telescope Institute
• Virtual Center - History of Science and Technology
• Astronomical Data Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2. The Solar System
   • Planet Earth has numerous sites of interest. Below is a sample of some of the more interesting ones.
   • A Global View From Space - A NASA site showing current views of Earth as seen by various earth-observing satellites.
   • Space Calendar - A NASA site providing a guide to space-related activities and anniversaries for the coming year, which includes over 1000 links to important homepages.
   • Planet Diary - A world-wide guide to natural phenomena and environmental events.
   • International Space Station is a site devoted to the international program to launch and assemble a space station by the year 2002; site also includes information about the proposed program of the station.
     • International Space Station
   • Mar Pathfinder Mission has been a most successful and spectacular space mission. The following sites provide current information on the mission and data received.
   • NASA's Official Site
   • Mars Pathfinder Images
   • Past Missions to Mars
   • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Future Mars Mission
   • CNN Destination Mars 1997
   • The Nine Planets is a multimedia tour of the Solar System developed by Bill Arnet. This site is very interesting and intended for the non-specialist interested in astronomy.
     • The Nine Planets
   • Views of the Solar System
     • Views of the Solar System
   • Several comets in recent years have provided some of the most fascinating displays seen in twenty or so years. The following is a source of information about comets and how to find them.
     • Sky Online Comet Page
   • Jupiter: The latest news from the Project Galileo mission to the planet Jupiter can be found on JPL's World Wide Web site given below. On December 7, 1995, an instrumented probe was the first Earth object to enter the atmosphere of a Jovian planet.
     • http://jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/
     • See also the link to Sky & Telescope magazine.
   • Saturn's rings were seen approximately edge-on in September 1995. Two sites to explore are:
     • http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/saturn/
     • http://ringside.arc.nasa.gov/www/rpx/rpx.html
3. The Sun
   • Daily images of the Sun in different wavelengths can be found at the following site:
     • http://umbra.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/latest.html
4. Stars
   • Guide to Stars and Galaxies - A comprehensive multimedia guide to stars and galaxies produced by Bradford Technology Limited, UK. The guide has been converted from a popular PC CD-ROM Earth and the Universe (with permission), is rich in graphics and audio, and is nicely done.
     • Guide to Stars and Galaxies
   • Black holes are still one of the most perplexing objects in the universe. Sky & Telescope has an article called "A Black Hole User's Guide" in the May 1996 issue (page 92), which gives you access to some downloadable software. This issue also contains an article entitled "Black Holes in Binary Stars" on page 38. In addition they provide a number of interesting Web sites about black holes (links are given below):
     • Ted Bunn's Black Hole Frequently Asked Questions
     • Robert J. Nemiroff's Visual Trips to Black Holes and Neutron Stars
     • Researchers in Relativity Group "Spacetime Wrinkles"
   • A brown dwarf, an elusive type of an object which is "not-quite a star," has been unambiguously detected for the first time. The brown dwarf, called Gliese 229B (GL229B), is a small companion to the cool red star Gliese 229, located 19 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lepus. Estimated to be 20-50 times Jupiter's mass, GL229B is too massive and hot to be classified as a planet, but too small and cool to be a star. At least 100,000 times dimmer than Earth's Sun, the brown dwarf is the faintest object ever seen orbiting another star.
     • http://www.stsci.edu/Latest.html
     • NASA Press Release: Brown Dwarf Discovered
   • Embryonic stars emerge from interstellar "EGGS": Recent publication of photographs taken of star formation in the Eagle Nebula (M16) can be found on NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute Web site. However, because of the traffic on that site, I have downloaded the article and the associated pictures. These can be accessed through the second link given below. The first link is the original NASA site.
     • http://www.stsci.edu/Latest.html
     • NASA Press Release: Embryonic Stars
   • Unsual Star Event - A Washington Post article about the detection of intense X-ray and Gamma-ray burst over the Pacific Ocean indicating an unusal star event.
5. Gaseous Nebulae and Interstellar Matter
   • To Be Added Later
6. Galaxies and Structure of the Universe
   • Deepest View of the Universe as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has been made available by Space Telescope Science Institute. The second link below contains the NASA press release and two photographs.
     • http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/96/01.html
     • NASA Press Release: Hubble's Deepest View of the Universe
   • Galaxy Formation: Frank Summers at Princeton University has an interesting site called Galaxy Formation and the IMAX Film "Cosmic Voyage." There are some wonderful supercomputer images of galaxy formation.
     • http:zeus.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8080/Summers/IMAX.html
7. Cosmology and Particle Physics
   • Stephen Hawking's Universe. Web site supporting the PBS program series on important questions in modern cosmology.
   • Cosmos in a Computer. Web site devoted to computational efforts in cosmology.
   • Articles by Dr. Michio Kaku. Want to know about multi-dimensional space? This is a Web site devoted to exotic new concepts in modern theoretical physics and cosmology by one of the leading theorists in the field.
   • Douglas Scott's Cosmology Pages. An interesting collection of Web sites on cosmology.
   • Cambridge Cosmology. Interesting public site on cosmology.
   • Cambridge Relativity. Interesting public site on relativity, black holes, cosmic strings, inflation, quantum gravity, and cosmology.
   • The Official String Theory Web Site. An entertaining, accessible compendium of information about strings and their role in theoretical physics and cosmology.
   • Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astronomy. Web site for the Cosmology Group and the Galaxy Formation Group at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany.
   • Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Web site for the NASA program to measure anisotropy in the cosmic background radiation.
   • Planck Microwave Anisotropy Project. Web site for the European Space Agency's microwave anisotropy project.
   • The Particle Adventure. An interesting tour of the inner workings of the atom and the tools used for discovery. This site introduces the theory of fundamental particles and forces, called the Standard Model, and it also explores the experimental evidence and the reasons physicists want to go beyond this theory.
   • Brief Overview of High-Energy Physics. High-energy physics is the science of the fundamental nature of matter. Studying subatomic particles and forces gives us a key to understanding the simple physical laws that govern the universe. This site is provided by the Fermi National Accelerator Center in Batavia, Illinois.
   • Program of Dialogue Between Science and Religion. If you are interested in the interface between science and religion, you might want to visit this site sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Be sure and visit the pages on Cosmic Questions.
8. Exobiology
   • SETIQuest - A Web site for the magazine SETIQuest which is devoted to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). In addition, there are links to other SETI sites, such as the SETI Institute. This is an excellent site for an extra-credit review. Also check out the December 1998 issue of Sky & Telescope which has several articles on SETI activities.

Astronomy Images

• Space Telescope Science Institute, Electronic Information Service, USA
• Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures, USA
• NSSDC Photo Gallery, NASA, USA
• The Galaxy Catalog, Princeton University, USA

Astronomy Magazines

• Sky & Telescope, monthly, amateur/professional astronomy, US
• CCD Astronomy, quarterly, devoted to digital imaging, US
• Astronomy, monthly, amateur astronomy, US
• Mercury, bimonthly, non-technical articles, US
• Scientific American, monthly, includes many astronomical articles, US
• The Astronomer, monthly, advanced amateur, UK
• Astronomy Now, monthly, amateur/professional astronomy, UK

Observatories and Astronomy Institutes

• Hubble Space Telescope, Baltimore, MD
• National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson AZ
• National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottsville, VA
• Mount Wilson Observatory
• Palomar Observatory Public Site, Pasadena, CA
• US Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.
• Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii
• SETI Institute
• European Southern Observatory
• Royal Greenwich Observatory
• Isaac Newton Group Telescopes, Cambridge, England
• David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto
• Links to Other Observatories

Astronomical Societies and Groups

• American Astronomical Society
• Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Weather

• INTELLiCast, WSI Corporation
• WeatherNet
• Purdue Weather Processor