General Astronomy Links

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: “Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. “
• Ask the Space Scientist: Answers to frequently-asked questions about astronomy.
• HubbleSite: Pictures, news items, and lots of information from the Hubble Space Telescope.
• The Chandra X-ray Telescope is an orbiting observatory that (as its name suggests) views the universe in X-ray light. The kinds of images produced by Chandra are very different than those made by Hubble, but they reveal a universe invisible to us if we only use ordinary visible light.
• On a similar note, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory site reveals the universe visible through radio waves.
• The Space Calendar is a calendar of current and future astronomical events, with important historical events featured as well.
• Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines’ websites post regular articles with astronomy news, aimed at a general audience.
• Bad Astronomy is a blog devoted to debunking myths, hoaxes, and common misconceptions surrounding astronomy. For example, a persistent myth is that NASA faked the Moon landing; Bad Astronomy debunks this myth in a step-by-step fashion.

Solar System Exploration

• Solar System Exploration: Photos of and information about planets and other Solar System objects, from NASA’s archives.
• Cassini-Huygens Mission has been exploring Saturn and its moons. This site catalogs pictures and news items relating to the discoveries by those probes.
• Phoenix Mars Mission chronicles the life of the robotic probe that confirmed the presence of water beneath the surface of Mars in the summer of 2008.
• The Mars Exploration Rovers, nicknamed “Spirit” and “Opportunity”, have roamed over the surface of Mars for several years, looking for signs of water and possibly life.

Black Holes, Cosmology, and Other Adventures Beyond Our Solar System

• Gravity’s Relentless Pull is a Hubble site discussing many aspects of black holes, objects whose gravity is so strong that nothing getting too close can escape, not even light.
• The WMAP satellite has been measuring the tiny temperature fluctuations in the early universe, that gave rise to all the stars, galaxies, and planets we see today. This site covers a lot of ground in cosmology (the study of the universe) to help you understand why the Cosmic Microwave Background is so important in understanding the history and evolution of our universe.
• Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars. We know of more than 300 exoplanets today, with more being discovered every month.

Suggestions for other links?  Please send them to the planetarium director!