Welcome to the SAAO’s Stargazers page, where hobbyists and amateur astronomers can find information on celestial objects and events, and learn about free tools, apps and resources for astronomy.
Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
ASSA aims to encourage astronomy in southern Africa by connecting both amateur and professional observers and sharing current knowledge and information within this community. ASSA is open to all, and provides a wealth of up-to-date information for hobbyists on its website.
Whats Up – January 2021
The Last Quarter phase of the Moon falls on the 6th of January, at 11h37. The New Moon occurs on the
22 Jan, 2021
Other useful sites for amateur astronomers:
Stellarium: open source planetarium
African Starlore art for Stellarium
Universe Awareness (UNAWE) South Africa: inspiring children through astronomy
UFO Research of South Africa
Open Source Physics: physics teaching resources
‘Celestia: real-time 3D visualisation of space
Virtual Moon Atlas: a Moon explorer
Skychart: free software to draw skycharts
NASA eclipse tracker
NASA Spot the Station International Space Station tracker
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
PhET Interactive Simulations: physics simulations for learning
World Wide Telescope: view the skies from your computer
Heavens Above: live sky charts
Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (UAP): common misidentifications