Interesting Sites on the Web
Basic Astronomy Texts
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Chaisson's Textbooks on Astronomy
These are hypertext books at the introductory level and they cover a lot
of the material we will cover in class. Highly recommended.
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Nick Strobel's Astronomy
pageAn excellent introduction to astronomy. Highly recommended.
The newest version has a Javascript interface, so select "Textbook"
and be warned that your "Back" button may not get you out of this site
after you've entered the site.
Star Charts and Observing Guides
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Skymaps.com Evening sky maps
for each month of the year. Not as flexible as the next link, but a quick
and easy way to see what's up.
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Sky Charts from YourSky
Make a star chart by choosing the date of interest and the direction in
the sky. Shows planetary positions, constellations, and nebulae. There
are also links to a freeware (!) planetarium program for Windows, Homeplanet
that I haven't tried yet, but looks very interesting.
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Planisphere
A downloadable planisphere(PDF format). This requires access to a Xerox
machine after you've gotten the templates.
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Sky
Watchers PageInformation and useful links.
Magazines on the Web
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Sky and Telescope MagazineOne
of the oldest (and best) amateur astronomy magazines in the world. Oriented
to the amateur astronomer who is interested in theory and observation,
it contains astronomy news, articles, essays, monthly star maps, planetary
positions, telescope making hints, and just about anything else of interest.
Solar Images
Current
Solar Imagesdaily images of the Sun and corona at various wavelengths
(including X-ray images).
Observatories
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STScI/HubbleThe Hubble Space
Telescope site with many photos. Amazing stuff.
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W. M. Keck Observatory
The largest fully mobile optical telescope in the world, now twinned, on
top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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