Astronomy Links

These links were collected mainly from postings to the ASTRO Mailing List,
the VIDEOASTRO Mailing List and the History of Astronomy Mailing List (HASTRO-L )
Searchable archives of Astronomy Related Mailing Lists are available here.

If you are a Telescope Maker, make sure to visit my ATM Link pages
Do you want to get into tracking satellites? Try my Satellite Related Links page

Sites dedicated to the Beginner                            
• SKY Online's Tips for Backyard Astronomers
• Sky & Telescope's Expert Advice for Backyard Stargazers
• Amateur Astronomy resources from beginners to advanced
• Cosmic Voyage - The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers
• The Astronomy Cafe - Lots of information and Q&A's for beginners
• Dan Murry's excellent Information Center for New Star Gazers
• MMA's Lecture notes for scholars - useful info for beginners
• Short Astronomy Pieces by (Prof) Doug O'Neal - very nice short introductory articles
• Roy Clarke, The Salopian Web - Catering for the complete beginner through to the expert stargazer
• FAQs for the sci.astro newsgroup
• South African Astronomical Observatory's FAQ pages
• So! You Wanna Buy a Telescope! - A Guide to Purchasing Your First Telescope
• Geoff Chester - Good telescope related notes for beginners
• The Telescope Review Web Site by Ed Ting - Lots of commercial telescopes reviewed
• The Solar System in Pictures - Over 50 pages with over 200 spectacular pictures
  Periodicals and breaking News sites
• Astronomical Picture of the Day / (mirror site) Updated daily
• IAU Circulars - Astronomical Headlines Latest Astronomical discoveries
• Universe Today - Space Exploration News from around the Internet -:
  • Today's news
  • This Week's
• Astronomy Today - articles, news, skyguides and much more
• Spaceflight Now - Up to date Space and Astronomy related news
• Sky & Telescope Weekly News Bulletin Updated on Fridays
• Jack Schmidling Productions - Astro-Photo of the week Updated on Mondays
• The Cosmic Mirror - Very up-to-date sky-news page
• Jay Respler's SKY VIEWS- Day by day account of the (northern hemisphere) sky - Updated monthly
• Qué tal in the Current Skies - An Earth in Space Monthly Astronomy Newsletter
• SAAO's THE SKY TONIGHT- Monthly skycharts and "What's Up" Info for Southern Lats.
• African Skies - Publication of the WGSSA Updated ~bi-annually
• Extensive list of Electronic Publications for Astronomers
  South African Astronomical Sites
• Professional institutions
  • SAAO - South African Astronomical Observatory
  • SALT - Southern African Large Telescope, presently being constructed at Sutherland
  • SAGOS - South African Geodynamic Observatory, Sutherland of GFZ (GeoForschungsZentrum)
  • HARTRAO - Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • Boyden Observatory, Bloemfontein and Friends of Boyden
  • University of Cape Town (UCT) - Astronomy Department
  • Peter Dunsby, UCT - Relativity and Cosmology
  • UNISA (University of South Africa) Astronomy Department
  • WGSSA - Working Group on Space Sciences in Africa includes back copies of African Skies
  • Astrosoc - Rhodes University Astronomy Society
  • Ian Glass, Infrared Astronomer, Instrument maker, Historian and Writer
• ASSA - Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
• African Astronomical History Symposium, 8 & 9 November 2005
  • Bloemfontein Centre ..... see their SpaceTides Newsletter
  • Pretoria Centre
  • Johannesburg Centre
  • Natal Midlands Centre
  • Harare Centre
  • Double Star Section - Director, Chris de Villiers
  • Solar Section
• Webcams
  • SALT webcams - live coverage of SALT (Southern African Large Telescope) being built
  • Sutherland ConCam (CONtinuous CAMera) - Live fisheye view of the night sky from Sutherland
• Planetaria
  • The Johannesburg Planetarium
  • Iziko planetarium at the South African Museum, Cape Town
• Public and Amateur observatories
  • The UNISA (University of South Africa) Observatory
  • People's Observatory - Port Elizabeth
  • Lamont-Hussey Observatory, Naval Hill, Bloemfontein
  • The World's View Observatory, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal
  • KwaZuzulwazi's Astronomy Interest Group of the Durban Natural Science Museum
  • Aloe Ridge Observatory, Krugersdorp
• Buying Telescopes, etc.
  • Telescope SA - The Premiere site for Telescopes, Binoculars, Astonomy and related accessories in South Africa
  • Lynx Optics, South Africa
  • Commercially Noyes Photo Chemist, Kenilworth
• Amateur home-pages
  • Francois du Toit, Port Elizabeth - Astronomy, Astrophotography and Equipment
  • Skywatch - Astronomy in South Africa by Chris de Villiers
  • Meteorites and Impact Craters in Southern Africa
  • Johann Lochner - Insluitende 'n Afrikaanse Sterrekunde werf
  • Mauritz Geyser, Pretoria - eta Carina home page
  • Danie Malan - Lots of local ATM resources
  • Sarel Wagner - Cookbook CCD and Foucault Tester
  • Gerhardus Koekemoer from Johannesburg - 8" Newtonian-Dobsonian
  • Julio Costa, Johannesburg - Astronomy section of his Hobbies and interests page
  • Simon Walsh, Zimbabwean Amateur - Comet and Variable Star pages
  • Chris Stewart's "Total Solar Eclipse 2001" Page
  A few Excellent Astronomy (Link) Databases
• Yellow Pages
  • The StarPages - Astronomy Yellow Pages on the WWW .. also .. here
• People Lists
  • Search engine for astronomy related persons, institutes, or addresses
  • Huge database of addresses, websites, etc. for astronomers - amateur or professional
  • G.A.M. links - Lists Websites & e-mail addresses of Amateurs worldwide
  • Comprehensive list of WWW pages of Historians of Astronomy
  • SJSU Virtual Museum - Fact sheet and photo on most famous Scientists
• Link Pages
  • Tybee Evans - very useful amateur and professional links
  • Sky and Telescope magazine
  • ARVAL - very comprehensive astronomy link database
  • Hot Star homepage - huge number of astronomical resources
  • Cosmic Link: Links to the Cosmos - Comprehensive links website
  • Expanding Universe - a classified search tool for amateur astronomy
  • Mike Boschat's Astronomy Page - Hundreds of alphabetically arranged astronomical links
  • Nights of the Blue Planet home page - Links
• Archives
  • IAAC Deep-sky observations Archive
  • NIX (NASA Image Exchange) - Online Photo Database
  • APML (Astro-Photography Mailing List) Archives
  Online Astronomy Tools
• Sky and Telescope's Interactive Skychart
• HORIZONS - Online Ephemeris Generator for Planets, Asteroids, Comets, etc.
• MICA - Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac - Online positional astronomical calculations
• Your Sky - Interactive Planetarium - Produce a Sky Map, Horizon View or Virtual Telescope for any location
  ... North American URL ... European URL
• The Lab - Interactive applications showing the Galilean Moons of Jupiter
• Java Application showing the positions of the Moons of Jupiter
• Time and Date.com - On-line Time Zone, World Clock and Calender generator
• Calculate the Date of Easter and produce a Calendar for any year
• Another Easter Sunday and Ash Wednesday calculator
• 'Sunniness' - Calculate the illumination of a room by the Sun,Moon or other celestrial object
• JPL's Information site on all known bodies orbiting the Sun
  Astronomical Software
• "Hallo northern sky" free planetarium program - Highly recommended
• Comprehensive list of Planetarium Software
• Astronomical software and screensavers
• (Lunar) Occultation Timing related software
• LOW - Lunar Occultation Workbench (freeware)
• Robert Stekelenburg's excellent VideoAstrophotography site including the freeware program AstroStack
• WhatUSee - Field Of View calculator program for your CCD camera, film camera and eyepieces
  Finding Charts & Skymaps
• DSS - Digital Sky Survey - Polomar Skymaps down to Mag 21, also here
• Bill Arnett's IMO charts for estimating limiting magnitude
• Sky-views from anywhere on Earth - updated monthly
• PAS Constellations - Skymaps pluusefulll info on all the Constellations
• Astronomy Boy - Very nice site, particularly for beginners - Very nice Constellation Portraits
  Astrophotography, including Video and CCD
• Mike Bessell, MSSSO - Some of the most stunninastronomicalal images you will ever see - Highly recommended
• The Hubble Heritage Project - Large collection of some of the best Hubble Space Telescope pictures"
• António Cidadão's excellent Astrophotography Pages - Including Quickcam modificatiotutorialal / Alternative URL
• VIDEOASTRO - Home Page of the Video Astrophotography E-Mail Discussion Group
• Jim Ferreira, List Manager of VIDEOASTRO - Video Capture Astrophotography home page
• Steve Wainwright - Video Integration including the shareware program AstroVideo for doing your own drift-scanned images
• Robert Stekelenburg's excellent VideoAstrophotography site including the freeware program AstroStack
• Colin Bownes' Quick Cam pages - including the freeware program VEGA
• QCUIAG homepage - QuickCam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group
• Interesting mix of astronomy information and self taken CCD images by Anthony and Christopher Seal
• Catching the Light - Amazing site on processing of deep-sky astronomical photographs, tips and techniques for astrophotography
• Image processing tutorials for webcam pictures
• Ron Wodaski's Magic CCD Calculator - All sorts of CCD camera related calculations, on-line!
• WhatUSee - Field Of View calculator program for your CCD camera, film camera and eyepieces
• Very useful astronomical on-line FOV (Field of View) Calculator
• Pat Stoker - Nice links on videoastrophotography and digital picture enhancement
• "Sharper Images Through Video" - Nice hands-on tutorial on videoastrophotography
• David Ratledge's step-by-step guide to Astrophotography for beginners
• Step by step, fully illustrated tutorial for processing CCD images by Gregg Ruppel
• IRIS - free CCD image processing software and some very good image processing tutorials
• Thierry LEGAULT - HIGH RESOLUTION CCD IMAGING - Lots of info on improving resolution
• The AUDINE project, a CCD camera for everybody! Build your own astronomical CCD camera
• Chris Schur - Complete series of lecture articles on Astrophotography
• Sveinung Vegum's Telescope and Astrophotography pages
• William McLaughlin's CCD & Film-Astrophotography pages ... Alternative Page
• Scotty Henderson's List of Interesting Web Sites for Learning All About Video Fundamentals
• Lots of QuickCam link sites
  Asteroids
• Minor Planet Center (MPC)
• IOTA - The International Occultation Timing Association (Asteroid)
• Sky and Telescope's Asteroid page - latest dicoveries and viewing tips
• Edward Bowell's Asteroid Orbital Elements Database
• HORIZONS - Online Ephemeris Generator
• IAU Circulars - Astronomical Headlines
• The Earth Impact Database - complete database and pictures of all known impact craters on the Earth
• Asteroid Dionysus (3671) has a "moon"!
  • ESO Press Release
  • The Dionysus Occultation Page / mirror site
• Images from the NEAR spacecraft of Asteroid 253 Mathilde
  • First spacecraft images of Mathilde
  • Mathilde Homepage
• Earth's co-orbiting Asteroid 3753 Cruithne
  • Illustrated article by the discoverers
  • Announcement by Nando.net
  Comets
• Sky and Telescope's Comet page - latest dicoveries and viewing tips
• Daniel Green - International Comet Quarterly & Comet Handbook
• Charles Morris' Comet Observation Home Page - Latest images and info on new comets
• HORIZONS - Online Ephemeris Generator
• British Astronomical Association - Comet Section
• IAU Circulars - Astronomical Headlines
  Meteors
• The International Meteor Organization
• History and predictions for the Leonid Meteor storm - peak 17-18 Novembeannuallyly
• Press releases of Optical & Infrared detected fireballs by Satellite
• IAU Circulars - Astronomical Headlines
  Transits of the Sun by Venus and Mercury
• The 1882 Transit of Venus: Observations from Wellington, South Africa ... in Afrikaans
• Very comprehensive page on Venus Transits - includes a Java Applet to do your own predictions
• Good tutorial explaining the theory behind Transits of Venus
• Steven van Roode's very comprehensive Transit of Venus pages (Dutch)
• TRACE mission coverage of the Mercury Transit of 15 November 1999
  • Animations
  • Colour Images
  • More images
  Sun Images, Aurora & Eclipses
• SpaceWeather.com - Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment - Current solar image
• Large collection of the most recent solar images from various satellites and observatories
• Kitt Peak, Vacuum Solar Telescope - Most Recent Images
• Daily images of the Sun from the Big Bear Solar Observatory
• MWLT - Mees Solar Observatory - Daily updates
• SOHO - Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite
• The INTER-SOL Programme (ISP) - Volkssternwarte Paderborn e.V, Germany
• Space Environment Center - Daily H-Alpha images of the Sun
• SpaceWeather.com - Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment - including daily solar image
• Tri-Valley Stargazers - Live H-alpha filtered view of the Sun
• National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak - Live image of the Sun
• Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope, Sacramento Peak - Live Flare Patrol Image
• Auroral Activity Observation Network - Current auroral activity sighting reports from around the world
• Eclipse Home Page - Your ultimate resource for online information about eclipses
• THE AFRICLIPSE WEBSITE - Information on past, present and future Elcipses over Africa
• Paul D. Maley's Occultation, Eclipse & Satellite Tracking pages
  Lunar images
• The Lunascan Project - Nearside directory & Lunar Sections - Large collection on Lunar Images
  Variable Stars                                                        
• AAVSO - American Association of Variable Star Observers
• BAAVSS - The British Astronomical Association Variable Star Section
• VSNET - The Variable Star NETwork - Japan
• CBA - Center for Backyard Astrophysics
• Konkoly Observatory - IBVS - Information Bulletin of Variable Stars
  Deep-Sky, Messier, NGC, etc. Catalogs
• SEDS - Images & background data of all 110 Messier objects
• Southern "Messier list" equivalents (all with SEDS links for pictures and info)
  • Best Sky Objects from SAAO Latitude (34 South) - composed by John Caldwell
  • The Jack Bennett (former South African comer hunter) Catalogue of 130 Southern Deep-Sky Objects
  • Astronomical League's Southern Sky Binocular Club - list of 73 (non-Messier) Southern Deep Sky objects, observable with 7x50 binoculars
  • The Caldwell Catalog: - 109 Deep-Sky Delights for Backyard Observers, by Patrick Moore and the Editors of Sky & Telescope
  • Lacaille's "Catalogue of Nebulae of the Southern Sky" - Lacaille's 3 lists of 14 nebulous objects each
  • Lacaille's "Catalogue of Nebulae of the Southern Sky" - Lacaille's 3 lists of 14 nebulous objects each
  • Dunlop 100 - 100 (Southern) highlights from the Dunlop catalogue
  • Glen Cozens from New South Wales, Australia, has compiled a list of 110 DEEP-SKY HIGH LIGHTS
• DSSM - Messier Image database from the DSS (Digital Sky Survey)
• DOC - Deepsky Observer's Companioavailablele from:
  • Auke Slotegraaf's home page
  • mirror site 1
  • mirror site 2
  • mirror site 3
• Non-Messieobjectxt index - sorted by catalog number
• Non-Messieobjectxt index - sorted by object type
• Interactive NGC Catalog Online
• NGC Images on the Net
• Astronomical Image Library
• Bert's visual deep-sky astronomy site
• Planetary Nebulae Observers Homepage
  Home Pages
• IAU Circulars or their Astronomical Headlines
• IOTA - The International Occultation Timing Association (Lunar)
• IOTA - The International Occultation Timing Association (Asteroid)
• ASTRO Mailing List Members Mugshots
• Astronomy & Geophysics Magazine
• The Silicon Sky
• The Nine Planets, a Multimedia Tour of the Solar System
• Educational Activities and Projects
• Izzy's Skylog - Devoted to backyard astronomy and the art of observing
• StarLore - your Webside guide to the galaxy! - Visibilty maps, including the Southern Hemisphere
• Austin Astronomical Society
• Amateur Astronomer's Notebook
• MAA - The Munich Astro Archive
• AAS - American Astronomical Society
• The American Association of Amateur Astronomers
• Sci.Astro.Amateur Web page - Gallery, Members Websites, FAQs, etc.
• Space Telescope Science Institute and HST Public information
• Chris Dolan - Very nice Constellation page and Astronomical Java implementations
• Arunah Hill Natural Science Center - owns 13" Fitz Refractor
• Bill Arnett - Huge number of astronomical resources
• SkyView - The Internet's Virtual Telescope
• Observatorio ARVAL - Andres & Arnaldo
• Marquette Astronomical Society
• Jack Schmidling Productions
• Dale Ireland
• Greg Crinklaw - CapellaSoft
• Ian & Shari Porter - Australia
• Dave Lane - St. Mary's University, Canada
• SJI - San Juan Capistrano Research Institute
• SEDS - Students for the Exploration and Development in Space
• Spider's Home Page
• Sirko Molau - German Aerospace Research Establishment, Berlin
• View the Southern Skies From Felipe Mac-Auliffe's viewpoint in Chile
• The Dr. Richard Feynman Observatory - lots of Astronomy and Telescope related stuff
• UK Astronomy Technology Centre
  Astro Humor
• Astro Jokes
• Astro Humor page
• Astronomy "Quotes" - Collection of Funny Astronomical Stories
  Science and Christianity
• Science and Christianity - Allies or Enemies?
• The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA)
• "Debunker" sites
  • Good general debunking site
  • Debunking Planet X
  • BadAstronomy.com
  • Apollo Moon Hoax debunker discussion
  Astronomical History
• HASTRO-L (History of Astronomy) Mailing List Archive
• IUHPS-IAU Joint Commission on Astronomy - Newsletters
• Electronic Newsletter of the History of Astronomy Mailing List
• History of Astronomy Home Page
• The Antique Telescope Society - for antique astronomical telescopes, binoculars, books, etc.
• Virtual Museum of Measuring Engines - Detailed history of measuring methods of yesteryear
• The history of the telescope & the binocular - by Peter Abrahams
• Henry Fitz, American Telescope Maker - by Peter Abrahams
• Commission 41 (History of Astronomy) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU)
• Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick - University of Bonn
• Comprehensive list of WWW pages of Historians of Astronomy
• Peter Nockolds - The Inspiration of the Heavens in Literature
• Newton and the Moon - dissertation on Newton's Lunar Theory
• James Q. Jacobs - also known as Arhaeogeo
• Dr. Joseph S. Tenn's History of Astronomy links
• Austin Astronomical Society - Astronomical History links
• Leos Ondra - stellar astrophysics, history, modern observations, current concepts and education
• Biographical Index to Sky & Telescope (Nov. 1941 - Oct. 1997) - from the author's (Kevin Krisciunas) page
• Biographical Index to Sky & Telescope (Nov. 1941 - Oct. 1997) - from Skypub's page
• MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
• Celestial Cartography
• The History Ring
• US Naval Observatory Library - Online library catalog
• U.S. Library of Congress
• U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
• The Emilio Segrè Visual Archives - Searchable photo collection
• SJSU Virtual Museum - Fact sheet and photo on most famous Scientists
• FAQ's on the Christian, Hebrew, Islamic, French Revolutionary, Maya and Chinese calendars
• Benno van Dalen's Computer Programs for Research in the History of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy
• "A Slip in Time": Computing Back-Calculated Gregorian Calendar Dates

                          

Home

Site Map

CoSaTrak

Telescope

Historical

Pictures

Software

Links

Guestbook