ASTRONOMY 101: Principles of Astronomy

Figure Caption: Cat's Eye nebula (HST WFPC2 image).

Course Textbook Web Page: The Essential Cosmic Perspective by Bennett et al.
From J. Bennett: Hints on How to Succeed in College Classes (lead author of your textbook)


Some images from SDSU's Mt. Laguna Observatory

Some useful websites to help explain specific astronomy topics:
NASA's Space Weather Bureau (SpaceWeather.com)
How Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth
What are constellations? by C. Dolan @ U. Wisconsin Madison
The Constellations and their Stars by C. Dolan @ U. Wisconsin Madison

Animations/java applets for specific astrophysical concepts:
A blackbody curve applet from Mike Lee @ Davidson College
Kepler's Laws animation by Ming Zhu @ U. Toronto
Epicycle animation also by Ming Zhu
Parallax, Doppler effect, eclipses, etc. from a large collection of applets written by Rob Scharein

On-line Astronomy Notes:
Astronomy Notes: A great set of astronomy notes by Nick Strobel.
"Time Scales" from Strobel's Astronomy Notes.
The Nine Planets (by Bill Arnett)
Note and on-line quizzes at "The Solar System in Pictures" from A. Botha.
Two comprehensive course WWWeb pages from the Astro Dept, Univ. of Tennessee:
(1) Astronomy 161: The Solar System
(2) Astronomy 162: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology
A Survey of Intro Astronomy Class Web pages by R. Hudson @ Eckerd College.

What's Visible in the Heavens tonight?
"This Week's Sky at a Glance" from Sky and Telescope
SkyMaps.com provides a current star chart and celestial events calendar each month.
Sky Calendar from Space.com
The Night Sky by the Univ. Manchester/Jodrell Bank Observatory
The Sky This Week from the U.S. Naval Observatory
Sky & Telescope Magazine's 10-page guide to getting started in observing the heavens: Sky & Telescope: Getting Started (.pdf); It includes a Moon map and star charts for different times of the year, as seen from the Northern hemisphere. See the web page Getting Started in Astronomy PDFs for more info on the file. Copyright 2003 Sky Publishing Corp.
NASA's Eclipse Home Page
PBS Seeing In The Dark has an on-line star chart software called Your Sky Tonight. Software from the textbook is faster and more complete, but this works too. Hint: click on the "horizon facing south" link at first to get things oriented most easily.

Some interesting/useful/fun websites:
SDSU Astronomy Dept. & Mt. Laguna Observatory
Astronomy Picture of the Day
"Hubble Site" (way cool HST images and info)
Hubble Space Telescope "Heritage Project" (more great HST images)
NASA Space Science photo gallery (plus latest images from spacecraft)
PBS's Seeing in the Dark website, and the fun Birthday Stars page.

Some Interesting Current Events Websites:
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission
The Cassini-Huygens Mission
"Xena" or 2003 UB313, a new planet larger than Pluto (from Astrobiology Magazine).
A tenth planet beyond Pluto: 2003UB313 from co-discoverer Mike Brown @ Caltech
More on 2003 UB313 from The Planetary Society.
The most distant object in the Solar System: Sedna announced 2004 March 15.
President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program from the White House.

NASA missions and more useful websites:
NASA/JPL PhotoJournal
A Solar System Simulator
NASA "Liftoff to Space Exploration"
NASA's "Imagine the Universe: black holes" (intro astronomy topics)
Voyager ("I'm not dead yet!")
"What Have We Done For You Lately? NASA Connections to Everyday Life"

ESO (European Southern Observatory) VLT site (cool photos & press releases)
Near-Earth Objects: There are hundreds of potentially hazardous asteroids - are we gonna get clobbered?
McDonald Laser Ranging
Windows to the Universe (Univ. of Michigan)
Satellite image of pacific & western US (enhanced IR)
The Green Flash (Andrew Young)

Some astronomy & science organizations:
Sky & Telescope Magazine
Astronomy Magazine
StarDate (online version of the world-wide radio program)
Universero (= StarDate in Spanish)
Astronomical Society of the Pacific: ASP
American Association of Variable Star Observers: AAVSO
Association for Women in Science: AWIS
Variable Star Network: VSNet (a great amateur astronomer research site from Japan)
US Naval Observatory Master Clock

Figure Caption: The globular cluster "M5", observed at SDSU's Mt. Laguna Observatory.

A large set of general astronomy related sites from my Astr310 Astrobiology course website

Fun Units of Measure

This page was last updated on 2008 Feb 27