Maps in the night sky
Start your search into space with charts, globes and a look at some constellations. How have cultures around the world talked about the night sky?
The solar system
Travel through the solar system, starting at the sun, past the inner planets and all the way to the outer planets. Beware of the comets, asteroids and meteorites you might meet on the way.
Exploring the night sky
What do astronomers need to look at and measure the night sky? What will help you find your way around?
Life and death of stars
Who was Joseph von Fraunhofer? See the life story of stars—from birth in a nebulae to death in a supernova, pulsar and black hole.
Beyond the solar system
What do the Milky Way and other galaxies look like? What shape is the universe? How did it all start? Are we alone? Also contains links to Australian observatories.
Maps in the night sky
Astronomy picture of
the day
(http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html)
American
Library Association great websites for kids on astronomy and space
(http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=cfapps/gws/displaysection.cfm&sec=27)
A description and illustration
of the Southern Cross by sixteenth-century explorer Andrea Corsali
(http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms7860-1-s3)
Explore
space with NASA (requires flash)
(http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html)
Astronomy for kids: Fun With Astronomy
(http://www.kidsastronomy.com/)
Where are the constellations?
A
chart of the current night sky at Sydney Observatory
(http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/blog/?cat=10)
An introduction to
the constellations (links to night-sky photographs)
(http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/const.html)
An
interactive map of the constellations
(http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/java/Canes_Venatici.html)
Stories from other cultures
Aboriginal astronomy
(http://library.thinkquest.org/C005462/index2.html)
Astronomy
of ancient cultures: Follows the links to learn about astronomy of the Mayans, the North
American Indians, the Incas, Islamic Arabs, Chinese, Indians
(http://www.starteachastronomy.com/archaeoastronomy.html)
The solar system
Travel through the solar system
Solar
system missions
(http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/missions/missions_index.cfm)
A Guide to the Solar System
(http://www.onlineuniversity.net/science/earth-science/the-solar-system/)
Tours through the solar system
Kids Astronomy -
The Solar System
(http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm)
The Ten Best of
the Nine Planets
(http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/billa/tnp/express.html)
Sun spotting
The
next solar eclipse over Australia will be in 2012
(http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/astronomy/upcoming_sky_events.asp)
Solar eclipses around the world
(http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/)
Ever wondered what the sun’s surface
looks like?
(http://www.thesurfaceofthesun.com/)
Build a sundial (from the British Sundial
Society)
(http://www.sundials.co.uk)
Explore the inner planets
Kids astronomy
(http://www.kidsastronomy.com)
Explore Mars
(http://www.kidsastronomy.com/mars_explorer.htm)
Surface of
Mars, close-up
(http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/narrowangles.html)
Explore the outer planets
Virtual solar
system
(http://www.nationalgeographic.com/solarsystem/splash.html)
ESA astronomy for kids
(http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/index.html)
NASA’s Voyager missions to the outer planets
and beyond
(http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/)
Kepler Mission
(http://kepler.nasa.gov/)
ESA Corot
(http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/COROT/SEM7G6XPXPF_0.html)
Find out more about asteroids, meteors and comets
Create
your own virtual comet (requires flash)
(http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/comets/comet_model_interactive.html)
Asteroids
(http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/asteroids.html)
NASA Stardust collects
samples from a comet’s tail
(http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html)
Comets and Meteor Showers
(http://www.onlineuniversity.net/science/earth-science/comets-and-meteor-showers/)
Exploring the night sky
Inside the astronomer’s toolkit
Who invented the telescope?
(http://www.kidsastronomy.com/telescopes.htm)
History of the Telescope
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_telescope)
What about
binoculars?
(http://www.islandnet.com/~yesmag/how_work/binoculars.html)
Interviews with Australian Astronomers
John Storey(http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3702230)
Warrick Couch(http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3701838)
Michael Bessell(http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3566297)
Brian Boyle(http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3598035)
Matthew Bailes(http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3807244)
Lister-Staveley-Smith(http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3995662)
More astronomers’ measurements
The facts
about magnitude
(http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=569)
Resources to help you find your way around Australia’s night sky
The Southern Cross
(http://www.windows.ucar.edu/the_universe/crux.html)
A
chart of the current night sky at Sydney Observatory
(http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/blog/?cat=10)
Life and death of stars
See more nebulae
Joseph von Fraunhofer’s
life and work
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_von_Fraunhofer)
What can
scientists learn from a spectrum?
(http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/how_l1/spectra.html)
Find out more about the life story of stars
Ask an astronomer
(http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=38)
NASA overview of the
life cycle of stars (older readers)
(http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101stars.html)
Life
cycle of stars in animation (large download, and requires Flash)
(http://www.ioncmaste.ca/homepage/resources/web_resources/CSA_Astro9/files/multimedia/unit2/star_lifecycle/star_lifecycle.html)
Supernovae, black holes and pulsars
Jocelyn Bell talks about
her discovery of pulsars
(http://www.bigear.org/vol1no1/burnell.htm)
What does a black hole look like? The Hubble Space Telescope has been able to give us a close-up
view of some distant black holes:
Black
hole in a far-distant galaxy
(http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/47/)
Black
hole galactic cannibalism
(http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1998/14/)
Beyond the solar system
The Milky Way and other galaxies
Stars and
galaxies: the Milky Way
(http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEM536WJD1E_OurUniverse_0.html)
Interacting
Spiral Galaxies
(http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/45/image/a)
More about the Doppler effect
Record the Doppler
effect for yourself (uses an electric shaver)
(http://www.weatherwizkids.com/doppler_effect.htm)
A story of the universe
The big
bang
(http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMSZ5WJD1E_OurUniverse_0.html)
Australian dreamtime
(http://www.dreamtime.net.au/creation)
Creation mythology: Egyptian
(http://members.aol.com/egyptart/crea.html)
Continue your search for ET
Australian SETI initiative
(http://www.geocities.com/australian_seti)
SETI Institute
(http://www.seti.org)
Codes and
decodes—yelling across the solar system
(http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/st5xband/st5xband.shtml)
For older readers
Ask an astronomer
(http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=62)
The long and technical
Wikipedia discussion
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_of_the_universe)
Is
the universe shaped like a soccer ball?
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2003/10/soccerballuniverse.html)
Proof the universe is
flat
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/727073.stm)
Is the universe
really like an expanding balloon?
(http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=651)
The International
Astronomical Union (IAU) has voted to demote Pluto to a ‘dwarf planet’
(http://www.iau.org/public_press/themes/pluto/)
More about
dwarf planets (Wikipedia)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet)
About extrasolar planets (Wikipedia)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasolar_planet)
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