Astronomy Resources

This page provides a basic list of media to help you pursue your particular interests in astronomy. You can scroll through the entire page, or click a media type below to go directly to that section.

• Institute for Astronomy newsletter (current research and astronomy events)
• Web Sites
• General
• Netcasts
• Celestial News Stories
• Organizations
• Telescopes and Observing Resources
• Cool Images
• Software
• Planetarium Programs
• DVDs
• Periodicals
• Books
• General Astronomy and Cosmology
• Observing Guides

Web Sites

General

• http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu The Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at UH Manoa manages this Planetary Science Research Discoveries site containing the latest research on meteorites, planets, and other Solar System bodies. The site also provides links to other astronomy and space flight resources, plus classroom activities for earth and space sciences.
• http://www.astronomy.com The online version of Astronomy magazine, plus much more, including introductory material, best viewing for current month, and multimedia gallery.
• http://skytonight.com Online version of Sky & Telescope magazine, including stargazing basics, telescope buyer's guide, and interactive observing tools.
• http://www.heavens-above.com Enter your location for a customized whole sky chart, satellite and ISS tracking, or sun and moon data, among many other features.
• http://www.space.com Space news, games, entertainment, and science fiction.
• http://www.absoluteastronomy.com Where to ask an astronomy question.
• http://www.refdesk.com/space.html Everything astronomical, from "the single best source for facts on the web."
• http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/astroweb.html AstroWeb is a gold mine of links, listed by category, including organizations, observing resources, data resources, and more.

Netcasts (Podcasts)

• http://www.amos.indiana.edu/library/audio.html Indiana University's Moments of Science presents two-minute audio programs on various science topics. This is a good place to start if you are new to netcasts.
• http://www.astronomycast.com Bloggers Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and Pamela Gay (SIUE/Slacker Astronomy) discuss an astronomy topic every Monday. You can access archived episodes and subscribe to future episodes.
• http://astronomy.libsyn.com Astronomy a Go Go! provides multimedia offerings. You can download PowerPoint presentations that accompany the talks.
• http://www.jodcast.net/amp/index.html Astronomy Media Player (AMP) brings together a range of astronomy netcasts and reformats them so that you need only one player. This site is still experimental and may not work with all browsers.
• http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html Podcasting News provides information about software you may need to install on your computer to receive podcasts.

Celestial News Stories

• http://www.nature.com/nature//podcast/index.html Nature magazine.
• http://www.newscientist.com/podcast.ns New Scientist magazine.
• http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/podcast.html CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks.
• http://www.si.edu/research/spotlight News from The Smithsonian.
• http://www.sciencemag.org Science magazine.
• http://www.sciencefriday.com National Public Radio's Science Friday program.
• http://www.sciam.com/podcast Scientific American magazine.

Organizations

• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/ Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai'i
• http://www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/ Bishop Museum Planetarium, with a planetarium schedule, astronomical events in Hawai'i, monthly skywatching column, and more.
• http://www.hawastsoc.org/ Hawaiian Astronomical Society, which promotes amateur astronomy in Hawai'i, sponsors star parties, rents telescopes, and more
• http://www.nasa.gov/ National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Telescopes and Observing Resources

• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/ Mauna Kea Observatories
• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/haleakala/ Haleakala Observatories
• http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/home.html Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), a wide-field imaging facility being developed by IfA to detect Earth-approaching objects
• http://hubblesite.org/ NASA's Hubble Space Telescope
• http://cas.sdss.org/dr5/en/ Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a project to make a map of a large part of the universe
• http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Skyview is a virtual observatory on the Internet sponsored by NASA.

Cool Images

• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/images/ IfA's Science and Image Archive
• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/tully/outreach/ Large Scale Structure of the Universe
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Astronomy Picture of the Day
• http://nightskylive.net/index.php The Night Sky Live
• http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html Planetary Photojournal: NASA's image access home page
• http://seds.org/images/ SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) archive of images
• http://bcs.whfreeman.com/universe6e/cat_110/ann_menu.htm?v=category&i=01110.03&s=00110&n=01000&o=%7C02000%7C01000%7C#ch1 Animations and video to accompany the astronomy textbook Universe 6th ed. by Freedman and Kauffman
• http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Animations/Animations.html Animations prepared by the Minor Planet Center at Harvard University

Software

Planetarium Programs

• Starry Night http://www.starrynight.com/ Probably the best virtual planetarium program (Mac and Windows).
• Deep Sky http://www.deepsky2000.com/ Focuses on preparing for observing sessions (Windows).
• The Sky http://www.bisque.com/Products/TheSky6/ For serious amateurs and professionals (Mac and Windows).

For a more extensive listing of programs by platform, see

• http://www.hawastsoc.org/software.htm
• http://astro.nineplanets.org/astrosoftware.html

DVDs

• Cosmos: The Complete Collection. 2000. 7 DVDs. A digitally restored, remastered, and enhanced version of the original Carl Sagan TV series.
• The Planets: Box Set. 2000. 4 DVDs. The BBC series as aired on A&E.
• From the Earth to the Moon: The Signature Edition. 2005. The epic HBO miniseries.
• Nova: Origins. 2004. 2 DVDs. The four-part miniseries about the beginnings of the universe as aired on PBS's Nova.

For a more extensive list, plus descriptions, see

• http://www.skymaps.com/store/cat08.html

Periodicals

• Astronomy (monthly). Excellent articles on astronomy and telescopes, plus lots of ads concerning telescopes and observing equipment. Kalmbach Publishing Co., emailcustomerservice@kalmbach.com.
• Sky & Telescope (monthly). Emphasis on enhancing your observing experience, plus articles on current research and discoveries, and equipment, book, and software reviews.. Sky Publishing Corp. http://www.shopatsky.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1041.
• Discover (monthly). Articles on scientific subjects, including astronomy. Buena Vista Magazines DCRcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com.
• Na Kilo Hoku (quarterly IfA newsletter) This publication is mailed to all Friends of IfA.

Books

General Astronomy and Cosmology

• Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Broadway Books 2003. The witty Bryson's long but quite readable book about the universe. A good grounding for beginners. Includes an extensive bibliography.
• Croswell, Ken. Magnificent Universe. Simon & Schuster 1999. Maybe the best coffee-table book of astronomy.
• Corfield, Richard. Lives of the Planets. Basic Books, Perseus Books Group 2007. A sweeping tour of our solar system, from the Sun to beyond the Kuiper Belt.
• Danielson, Dennis. The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking. Perseus Publishing 2000. The universe as described by big thinkers from biblical times to the present. Lasting rewards to the patient reader.
• Ferris, Timothy. The Whole Shebang: a State of the Universe(s) Report. Simon & Schuster 1997. A well-written and accessible report on the current state of cosmology by one of today's foremost science writers. Extensive notes and an excellent glossary.
• Fraknoi, Andrew; Morrison, David; and Wolff, Sidney. Voyages Through the Universe. Saunders College Pub. 2000 with update 2001. One of the best college textbooks (some editions come with CDs). Recommended for serious readers.
• Greene, Brian. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Vintage Books 1999. String theory explained in understandable terms.
• Greene, Brian. The Fabric of the Cosmos. Vintage Books 2005. Science magazine calls this "the best exposition and explanation of early twenty-first century research into the fundamental nature of the universe." Describes space, time, the Big Bang, string theory, and M theory.
• Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversay Edition . Bantam Books 1998. An updated classic with new chapters on worm holes and time travel.
• Hawking, Stephen. The Universe in a Nutshell. Bantam Books 2001. An update to Hawking's Brief History, with many illustrations. This will challenge your mind.
• Kuhn, Karl F. and Koupelis, Theo. In Quest of the Universe, 4th ed. Jones & Bartlett 2004. A comprehensive introduction to astronomy designed for non-science majors.
• Rees, Martin. Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others. Helix Books 1997. Covers many theoretical topics in an easy to read format. Extensive notes plus suggested list for further reading.
• Singh, Simon. The Big Bang. Harper Perennial 2004. One of the best, most readable guides to cosmology. Great for non-scientists. Excellent glossary.

Observing Guides

• Dickinson, Terence. 1998. Nightwatch: a Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe. Firefly Books. 3rd edition revised and expanded for use through 2010 with foreword by Timothy Ferris. "A complete first book of astronomy."
• Rhoads, Samuel E. 1996. The Sky Tonight: a Guided Tour of the Stars Over Hawaii. Bishop Museum Press. Star charts plotted from Hawaii's latitude.
• Tirion, Wil and Roger W. Sinnott. 1998. Sky Atlas 2000: Sky Publishing Corp. Probably the most popular atlas of star charts.

[Home] [Activities] [Astronomy Resources] [Become a Member] [Application Form] [Contact Us]

Copyright 2007 by Friends of the Institute for Astronomy