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 Astrophotography ~ As I write this, Thierry Legault is in the news with his pictures of the space shuttle Atlantis pulling the Hubble space telescope from orbit on a recent repair mission, as both pass in front of the Sun. While you’re there look around the rest of his website though, the space imagery is among the best you’ll discover anywhere… |
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| Aurora Galleries ~ I have never seen an aurora, but keep telling myself
that along with the midnight sun, it is something of my duty to
witness one of these for myself. The pictures in the
Spaceweather.com aurora gallery are simply stunning, and while many now
enter the serious aurora season, new pictures are being submitted thick
and fast. |
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| Birthday Stars ~ Here perhaps is a new approach to finding meaning in the stars. Light travels at 186,000 miles a second or about 5,878,630,000,000 miles in one light year. Bash in your birthdate to pinpoint the star you can see tonight if you’d want, the light of which left the same day you arrived and has journeyed your lifetime just to reach you now… |
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| Brightest Stars ~ Here is a list of the brightest stars, out of the 5000 or so visible to the naked eye, depending on your location and eyesight. Click on the link under Proper Name, to find out everything conceivable about each star, from an astronomical perspective anyway. Remember too the stars that look brightest, are probably really planets… |
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| Celestial Observer ~ Otherwise known as CalSky, when it comes to astronomical observing this site is hard to parallel. To get some idea of its scope try following the Calendar link, then enter your location, level of experience, the stars, planets, lunar phenomena and other criteria that you’re after, choose a time frame and hit calculate. Stunning… |
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| Ceres ~ Last in a series that in early 2009, highlights the five dwarf planets named so far, here’s the astronomy around Ceres, initially called an asteroid and discovered in 1801. As goddess of the harvest and cereals especially, Ceres seems suited to the rulership of Virgo, leaving Mercury to Gemini only, as it probably ought to be… |
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| Chandra X-ray Observatory ~ The Chandra X-ray Observatory orbits at an altitude of 139,000km or a third of the distance to the Moon. Since 1999 it has been NASA’s flagship mission for X-ray astronomy and numbers among the world’s greatest observatories. Try checking out the photo galleries and added information on the constellations especially… |
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| Chiron
Shrinking! ~
After recent revelations about Xena being much smaller than first thought,
it is sobering to realise that this is not the only minor planet with
rapidly diminishing dimensions. Early work put Chiron’s diameter at up
to 400km, by 1998 this was down to 170km and in May 2006 it is thought to be 142km tops, according to the latest from Wikipedia… |
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| Cometography ~
Comets have always inspired awe and wonder. This site is for all those
who have ever been gripped by such phenomena. You’ll find comprehensive
information regarding comets that are currently visible, periodic comets,
memorable comets and comet researchers and discoveries. An excellent resource. |
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| Constellation
Mythology ~ A commendable contribution to the worldwide Web comes
from Legg Middle School in Coldwater, Michigan. They are proud of their
planetarium and have produced this wonderful guide, for information
on the history and mythology of each of the eighty eight astronomical
constellations. |
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| Constellation Photos ~ This site has pictures of the constellations from the northern hemisphere with their figurative outlines drawn on top of them. I do wonder how anybody saw these representations in the sky originally and hugely admire those able to locate them consistently now, especially from their own backyards like these two people can… |
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| Corot ~ Launched on 27 December 2006, the Corot space mission is searching for telluric exoplanets, meaning planets outside the solar system that are like the Earth, or exoEarths, to you and me. They expect by
observing thousands of stars, that “tens” of new Earths will soon be earmarked for the next property boom. |
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| Current
Impact Risks ~ Can anyone remember a time when
there wasn’t an asteroid about to hit the Earth? It’s a perennially popular
subject for the media everywhere, but here you’ll find the true facts
and all the latest data. Again a part of NASA’s Near Earth Object program,
making a speciality of this sort of thing! |
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| Dawn Mission Home Page ~ With the launch of the Dawn mission to the protoplanets (their word!) Ceres and Vesta scheduled for July 7, 2007 this extensive site from NASA answers every question you could possibly have, plus a whole bunch more. Just don’t hold your breath though. Rendezvous with Vesta is scheduled for 2011, with Ceres for 2015… |
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| Dawn - Voyage to the Giant Asteroids ~ And I thought Ceres wasn’t an asteroid anymore… Looks like even NASA has a hard time keeping up with the latest changes in nomenclature. Anyway, let’s hope they have a clearer idea about where they’re going, because the robotic probe Dawn is off to Ceres in July 2007 and will be taking in Vesta along the way. |
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| Digital Images of the Sky ~ A collection of stunning celestial imagery from those who appreciate and wonder about the beauty of space, rather than aiming to crash rockets into bits of it or send animals to perish out there. The time-lapse movies of intriguing nightscapes and celestial phenomena are fascinating, also the section on the constellations too… |
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| Dwarf Planets ~ You’ll remember, back in August 2006, when Xena became
Eris, Pluto ceased to be a planet and Ceres ceased to be an asteroid, and
all three became the first dwarf planets. That would be that you’d
think, except that at the time of writing, there are six known objects beyond Neptune bigger
than Ceres, and their classification remains unclear… |
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