NEWS & EVENTS
Resources for the latest in astronomy and space sciences.
Library of Congress Science, Technology, and Business Division & NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Special Programs Series
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/events/events.html
A list of upcoming programs and links to past program webcasts.
NASA Science
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/
Science@NASA Headline News
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Prepares for Launch of Curiosity
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/index.html
Plans for the Mars Science Laboratory call for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, between Nov. 25 and Dec.18, 2011, and arrival at Mars in August 2012.
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OUR SUN & SOLAR SYSTEM
Living With a Star Program
http://lws.gsfc.nasa.gov
The origins and fate of life on Earth are intimately connected to the way the Earth responds to the Sun's variations. Understanding the changing Sun and its effects on the Solar System, life, and society is the goal of the Sun-Earth connection theme of the Living With a Star Program and Space Weather Research Network at NASA. See also the Space Weather Program
Solar Physics: Marshall Space Flight Center
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov
Formed in the early 1970's in conjunction with the Apollo Skylab Mission.
Solar System – Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar-system/index.cfm
Link to all NASA solar system missions.
STEREO: Studying the Sun in 3-D
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html
STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). This two-year mission, launched October 2006, will provide a unique and revolutionary view of the Sun-Earth System. The two nearly identical observatories - one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - will trace the flow of energy and matter from the Sun to Earth.
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PLANETS & PLANETARY SYSTEMS
Astrogeology Research Program (US Geological Survey)
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov
Data & information section has databases for planetary nomenclature, impact craters on Venus, and regional and global maps and imagery.
Lunar & Planetary Institute
http://www.lpi.usra.edu
A research institute that provides support services to NASA and the planetary science community, and conducts planetary science research.
Minor Planet Center – International Astronomical Union
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/mpc.html
Nineplanets.org
http://nineplanets.org
An overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of the planets, moons and other objects in our solar system.
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NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS (NEOs)
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth's neighborhood.
Near Earth Object Information Center
http://www.spacecentre.co.uk/Page.aspx/6/NEAR_EARTH_OBJECTS/
Part of the UK Government's response to the Report of the Task Force on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects.
Near Earth Object Program (NASA)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov
The NEO Page – Harvard University
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/NEO/TheNEOPage.html
Space Topics: Near Earth Objects
http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/near_earth_objects/
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EXTRASOLAR SYSTEMS
California & Carnegie Planet Search (CCPS)
http://exoplanets.org
Since 1995, our group has discovered 115 Jupiter-like and Saturn-like planets orbiting nearby stars. Our survey began at UCO/Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton in Northern California and has expanded to the world's largest telescopes.
Planetquest (NASA)
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
Searching for Earthlike worlds ...
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SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE (SETI)
SETI@home
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
A scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in
the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI); participate
by running a free program that
downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.
SETI Institute
http://www.seti.org/?pid=1241
A private, nonprofit organization dedicated to scientific research,
education and public outreach. SETI is an exploratory science that
seeks evidence of life in the universe by looking for some signature
of its technology. Online resources include a bibliography of
books and references, an index of scientific papers organized
by author’s last name, and a newsletter archive dating back to 1992.
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DIGITAL LIBRARIES, DATA CATALOGS, ETC.
Aladin Interactive Sky Atlas
http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/aladin.gml
The Sky Atlas allows users to visualize
digitized images of any part of the sky, to superimpose entries
from astronomical catalogs or personal user data files, and to
interactively access related data and information from the SIMBAD,
NED, VizieR, or other archives for all known objects in the field.
Anglo-Australian Observatory Astronomical Images
http://www.aao.gov.au/images/
A unique collection of wide-field astronomical photographs, mostly made with the telescopes of the Anglo-Australian Observatory by David Malin.
Astronomical Applications – US Naval Observatory
http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications
Data services, information on common astronomical phenomena, calendars and time, astronomical and navigational almanacs, special publications, research reports, and software.
Astronomical Data Center (ADC)
http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA has officially determined
that ADC services sufficiently overlap those provided by CDS
and others to allow termination effective Oct. 1, 2002, and is
directing ADC users to other sites, but the Science
Data provides data search, data set lists, author index,
user’s guide, and quick reference.
Astronomy – U.S. Naval Observatory
http://www.usno.navy.mil/astronomy
Data services includes rise, set, transit, twilight data; phases of the moon, eclipses and transits, positions of celestial objects, and more.
HEASARC (NASA)
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov
The High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center is an
archive of astronomy data from extreme ultraviolet, X-ray, and
gamma-ray observatories: Archival data, multi-mission software
and analysis tools, information about current and past observatory
missions, and information for educators and the public. The site
has an extensive links page,
a collection of images,
and a cross-database search engine, the National
Virtual Observatory to search for objects in a particular region
of the sky.
Historical Lunar Data Archive
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/LunarConsortium
A variety of data selected from a collection of data commonly referred to as the Lunar Consortium Data, consisting of products derived from Apollo, Lunar Orbiter, Galileo, and Zond 8 missions. Select data collected from Earth-based observations are also included as part of this collection.
HyperLeda
http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr
Consists
of a database and tools to process data according to the user's
requirements. The scientific goal which motivates the development
of HyperLeda is the study of the physics and evolution of galaxies.
Originally LEDA, created in 1983, it became HyperLeda after merging
with Hypercat in 2000. At present the database contains about 3
million objects, out of them 1 million are certainly galaxies (with
a high level of confidence).
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
http://adswww.harvard.edu
The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System is a digital library for physics, astrophysics, and instrumentation, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant. The ADS maintains three bibliographic databases containing more than 7.7 million records. For details, read the description and review in Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship (ISTL) by Leith B. Woodall.
NASA Extragalactic Database (NED)
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu
Built around a master
list of extragalactic objects for which cross-identifications
of names have been established, accurate positions and redshifts
entered to the extent possible, and some basic data collected.
Bibliographic references relevant to individual objects have
been compiled, and abstracts of extragalactic interest are kept
on line. Detailed and referenced photometry, position, and redshift
data, have been taken from large compilations and from the literature.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory – Imagery Gallery
http://images.nrao.edu
This gallery contains a collection of astronomical images taken with NRAO instruments, as well as photographs of NRAO telescopes and facilities.
National
Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) (NASA)
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
Located at the Goddard Space
Flight Center, sponsored by the Office of Space Sciences, the NSSDC is a permanent archive for space science mission data. Resources for the public include a photo
gallery, a planetary image archive,
chronology of lunar and planetary exploration,
planetary fact
sheets, and more.
National Solar Observatory Digital Library
http://diglib.nso.edu
Online archive of major NSO data sets.
Planetary Data System (NASA JPL)
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov
Archives and distributes scientific
data from NASA planetary missions, astronomical observations,
and laboratory measurements. Site links to seven university/research
center science teams, called discipline nodes. These nodes specialize
in specific areas of planetary data. The contributions from these
nodes provide a data-rich source for scientists, researchers
and developers.
Regional Planetary Image Facility
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/library/RPIF/index.shtml
An international system of planetary image libraries, was established in 1977. These facilities maintain photographic and digital data as well as mission documentation and cartographic data. Each facility's general holding contains images and maps of planets and their satellites taken by solar system exploration spacecraft.
Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/CDS.html
The Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center (CDS) is a data center dedicated to the collection and worldwide distribution of astronomical data and related information. It is located at the Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, France. The CDS also hosts the SIMBAD astronomical database, the world reference database for the identification of galactic objects, and VizieR, the most complete library of published astronomical catalogues and data tables available.
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OBSERVATORIES & TELESCOPES
Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO)
http://www.aao.gov.au
Operates the Anglo-Australian
and UK Schmidt telescopes on behalf of the astronomical communities
of Australia and the UK. The astronomical images page
is a unique collection of wide-field astronomical photographs.
Australian Telescope National Facility
http://www.atnf.csiro.au
Supports Australia's research in radio astronomy. It is administered by the CSIRO, Australia's national scientific research organisation and is funded by the Australian Government. The ATNF operates the Australia
Telescope which consists of the Compact Array at Narrabri and
the Parkes and Mopra radio telescopes. These telescopes can be
used together as a long baseline array for use in Very Long Baseline
Interferometry.
Carnegie Institution for Science - The Observatories
http://obs.carnegiescience.edu
Includes the Giant Magellan Telescope, the twin Magellan telescopes and the DuPont and Swope telescopes; located on Cerro Las Campanas, Chile. The Publications & Library
Services page offers members preprints of recent journal articles,
organized by subject.
European Southern Observatory
http://www.eso.org/public/
The ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal
Observatory (Atacama, Chile) is the world's largest and most
advanced optical telescope. ESO also releases
images of observed objects to the public.
The European Virtual Observatory
http://www.euro-vo.org/pub/
The EURO-VO project aims at deploying an operational Virtual Observatory (VO) in Europe. The Virtual Observatory is an international astronomical community-based initiative. It aims to allow global electronic access to the available astronomical data archives of space and ground-based observatories, sky survey databases. It also aims to enable data analysis techniques through a coordinating entity that will provide common standards, wide-network bandwidth, and state-of-the-art analysis tools.
HubbleSite.org (NASA)
http://hubblesite.org
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public
Outreach, the site provides news from
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, an image gallery,
and a reference
desk page with links to an FAQ, a glossary, and a facts and
figures page. Content and image-rich pages.
The James Webb Space Telescope
http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/
The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA's next orbiting observatory and the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. A tennis court-sized telescope orbiting far beyond Earth's moon, Webb will detect infrared radiation and be capable of seeing in that wavelength as well as Hubble sees in visible light. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA)
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter blasted off from Cape Canaveral in 2005, on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory(NRAO)
http://www.nrao.edu
Designs, builds
and operates the world's most sophisticated and advanced radio
telescopes. Watch the video (MPEG) to learn more about NRAO and
radio astronomy. The browsable and searchable Image
Gallery contains a collection of astronomical images taken
with NRAO instruments, as well as photographs of NRAO telescopes
and facilities.
National Solar Observatory (NSO)
http://www.nso.edu/
Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
SOHO: Solar & Heliospheric Observatory
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html
SOHO is a project of international collaboration between the European Space Agency and NASA to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind. Launched on December 2, 1995, the SOHO spacecraft carries twelve instruments. Large radio dishes around the world which form NASA's Deep Space Network are used for data downlink and commanding. Mission control is based at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Spitzer Space Telescope
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/index.html
Studying the universe in infrared.
Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory
http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/eng/index.php
Hosts teaching and research
activities, and the services of the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center (CDS).
U.S. Naval Observatory
http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO
Provides a wide range of astronomical data and products, and serves as the official source of time for the U.S. Department of Defense and a standard of time for the entire United States.
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ORGANIZATIONS
American Association
of Variable Star Observers
http://www.aavso.org
The AAVSO at Harvard College Observatory
coordinates variable star observations made largely by amateur
astronomers and it is the world’s largest association of variable
star observers in existence. The web site offers a subject
index to their journal,
online versions of the AAVSO Observing
Manual in HTML and PDF, a variable star chart database and
more.
American Astronomical Society (AAS)
http://www.ass.org
Established 1899, is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. Publishers of The Astronomical
Journal and The Astrophysical Journal, the society’s
web site offers resources to members.
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
http://www.aura-astronomy.org
A consortium of 34 U.S. institutions and 7 international affiliates: universities, and educational and other non-profit institutions that operate world-class astronomical observatory centers.
International Astronomical Union (IAU)
http://www.iau.org
Promotes and safeguards the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. Members are professional astronomers all over the world, at the Ph.D. level or beyond and active in professional research and education in astronomy. It is the official star naming entity, and provides a guide on the subject of naming astronomical objects
Planetary Society
http://www.planetary.org/home/
The world's largest space-interest group, is dedicated to inspiring the public with the adventure and mystery of space exploration.
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ONLINE JOURNALS
The Astronomer Online
http://www.theastronomer.org/
For the advanced amateur; the aim is to publish all observations of astronomical interest as soon as possible after they are made. Subscription is modest and provides access to much content.
The Astronomical Journal
http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881
Online archive to 1998; free full-text access in multiple formats.
Astronomy.com
http://www.astronomy.com/Magazine.aspx
Electronic version of print magazine, gives table of contents of current issue, and downloadable PDF format author, title, subject indexes of issues from 1973-2000. Free resources online include Astro for Kids. Other material requires subscription and/or registration.
Astronomy Education Review
http://aer.aas.org/
The leading international research journal in its field and publishes papers across the breadth of astronomy and astrophysics. Hosted on the American Institute of Physics’ Scitation platform. AER is freely available and accessible to all. Complete digital backfile to 1996.
Astronomy Now Online
http://www.astronomynow.com/
Has a news archive, Spaceflight Now which provides online abstracts and full-text of all articles to 1999.
Astrophysical Journal
http://m.iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X
The leading international research journal in its field and publishes papers across the breadth of astronomy and astrophysics.
Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
http://www.aavso.org/ejaavso
The electronic version of the Journal of the AAVSO. The eJAAVSO consists of papers that have been refereed, edited, and accepted for publication in the paper edition of the JAAVSO.
Sky & Telescope
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/
Sky & Telescope an excellent list of astronomy web sites, downloadable software programs, articles on SETI, searchable archive, and a lot more free content
OTHER EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
100 Hours of Astronomy
http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/all-content/educational
Websites and other resources that may be of interest to students, instructors, and informal educators
Astronomy & Astrophysics Tracer Bullet
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/astronomytb.html
A comprehensive bibliography of resources in astronomy.
AstroWeb
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/astroWeb/astroweb.html
A collection of pointers to astronomically relevant Internet resources, maintained by the AstroWeb Consortium
Buying Stars and Star Names
http://www.iau.org/public/buying_star_names/
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/
Globe at Night
http://www.globeatnight.org/
Annual global sky observation that brings people outside to observe the constellation Orion.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics – Education & Outreach
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/education/
NASA Missions
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html |
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