astronomy

• astrophotography
• photographing the moon
• comets
• observing and photographing meteors
• observing and photographing aurora borrealis and aurora australis
• a brief history of astronomy
• My astrophotography gallery
• my Flickr astrophotography gallery
• astronomy and telescope general knowledge index
• Melbourne's weather
• photography and camping main index page

• Canberra Astronomical Society current phenomena
• latest astronomy news online:
  • Astronomy Now
  • Astronomer Online
  • current comets
  • USNO website
  • USNO solar eclipses
  • Kronk's comet and meteor website
  • space weather forecast
  • asteroid occultations
• need to see what the cloud cover is like, even at night - for Australia, check infra-red images
• solar eclipses:
  • 29th April 2014 annular eclipse - eastern Australia near sunset
    • path (pdf)
  • 23rd October 2014 partial eclipse - mainly northern America
  • 21st August 2017 total eclipse USA:
    • eclipse path crossing USA and local city viewing circumstances

this week (Sky and Telescope)

Night Sky Views for various horizon directions.  
The Planets this month          Looking West after Sunset          Position of Jupiter's Satellites
Plan your dark sky viewing, or lunar viewing, using the Phases of the Moon chart for 2003.

Anticipate weather conditions with information from the Bureau of Meteorology -
Today's satellite images              Forecast using Prognostic Chart

The website www.skymaps.com provides a monthly high quality printed all-sky star map and further information.

Current planetary data All the information you could want for the planets.
Current Solar data Plenty of data regarding the sun including “Astronomical twilight”
Current Lunar data A page full on information on the moon including phase dates for the current cycle

• Astronomical Society Victoria - dark sky viewing site at Heathcote 90min from Melbourne
• Astronomical Society of Melbourne - dark sky viewing site east of Pakenham
• Astronomical Society NSW
• Ice in Space - Australian & NZ amateur astronomy site and forum
• South-east Queensland Astrofest star parties
• Melbourne Scienceworks Planetarium website
• Melbourne Swinburne Astronomy Online - Astronomy courses
• Satellites over Melbourne
• Anglo-Australian Observatory ( AAO )
  • The Anglo-Australian Observatory operates the Anglo-Australian and UK Schmidt Telescopes at Siding Spring, Australia, and a laboratory on the same campus as the ATNF in the Sydney Suburb of Epping.
• ATNF - Australia Telescope Compact Array ( ATCA, Narrabri )
  • The Paul Wild Observatory, near Narrabri, is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), and operated by the CSIRO; the Officer-in-Charge is Dr Graham Nelson. The Narrabri site contains the Australia Telescope Compact Array, which consists of five antennas located along a 3-km railtrack, and a 6th antenna 3 km further to the west.
• ATNF - Australia Telescope National Facility ( CSIRO )
  • CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) is an organisation that supports and undertakes research in radio astronomy. It operates the Australia Telescope, the collective name for a set of radio telescopes in New South Wales. These telescopes are used, individually or together, to study objects in the Universe ranging from the remains of dead stars to entire galaxies.
• ATNF - Parkes Observatory ( ATNF Parkes )
  • The CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility operates a group of radio telescopes collectively known as the Australia Telescope. The ATNF Parkes Observatory consists of a 64m telescope which is used as an independent instrument, and networked with other Australian and international radio telescopes for VLBI.
• Automated Patrol Telescope ( APT )
  • The Automated Patrol Telescope (APT) is a wide-field CCD imaging telescope, which is operated by the University of New South Wales at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia.
• Grove Creek Observatory, Australia ( GCO )
  • Grove Creek Observatory in NSW Australia, specializes in CCD imaging and research. Accomodation is available for visiting amateur astronomers.
• Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory ( Tasmania )
• Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories - Observing facilities ( MSSSO )
  • The Australian National University runs the following telescopes: 2.3m at Siding Springs ; 74in at Mount Stromlo ; 50in at Mount Stromlo ; 40in at Siding Springs ; 24in at Siding Springs.
• Muriwai Beach Observatory NZ
• Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey ( SUMSS )
  • SUMSS is a deep radio survey of the entire sky south of declination -30 degrees, made using the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope, operating at 843MHz and recording right-circular polarization.
    SUMSS matches (approximately) the resolution and depth of the NRAO-VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). The principal data products are mosaics which cover a 4×4 degree square on the sky. The centres of the mosaics mirror the NVSS centres in the north. The resolution is 45“ x 45”/sin(dec), and the rms noise limit varies from 1.3 to 2mJy/beam (lower toward the south celestial pole).
    The survey began in March 1997 and will take eight years to complete. SUMSS is suported by funding from the Australian Research Council.
    The primary reference for a description of the survey is: Bock, D., Large, M. and Sadler, E.
• Woodridge Observatory Eltham, Vic - the Southern Cross stars

• Astronomy Now
• The Astronomer
• CCD Astronomy
• Sky and Telescope
• Astronomy Magazine
• Amateur Astronomy Magazine
• Astronomy throughout the Net
• Amateur Telescope Makers Journal

• Get your longitude and latitude at Heaven's Above
• Bad Astronomy - common misconceptions
• Eric Weisstein's world of astronomy 
• The International Dark Sky Association - light pollution issues
• visual astronomy - can you see it? - plus Optimum Detection Magnification (ODM) tool
• British Astronomical Association
• Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers
• Telescopes & Astronomy Sth Aust - good website for explaining telescopes, etc
• Astropix - very good astrophotography site
• Planetary Society
• Astro-movies of the solar system - some great little videos
• Astronomy for Kids
• What is astronomy - more links to astronomy resources

• Astronomy Pic of the Day
• ClearDarkSky
• European Space Agency
• Heavens-Above
• NASA
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
• SEDS
• SETI
• Science @ NASA
• SkyChasers.net
• Space.com
• SpaceWeather.com
• Space Imaging
• Telescope HQ - detailed website all about telescopes with links
• Backyard Astronomer

• Live images from a remote controlled telescope. ( L )
  • This is the first remote controlled telescope by internet with live images and free photos with long exposure. Register for free with a personal password and enjoy the Italian Sky (-1 UT time).

• Astronomical Image Library internet search engine
• CCD Images of Messier Objects ( Messier Objects )
  • High Quality CCD Images of Messier Objects gathered at a variety of observatories by the maintainer . Some amateur CCD images obtained at the Pine Mountain Observatory can be found here as well.
• Comet Observation Home Page
  • Provides information on current (bright) comets including recent observations and ephemeridies. Images and light curves of current and past comets are also available.
• Deep-Sky.Org
  • Deep-sky.Org includes deep-sky images, taken by well known astrophotographers from around the world. It features a large and complete graphical Messier object reference.
• Hubble Space Telescope - pictures
  • Publicly released images from post-servicing observations by Hubble Space Telescope. The images in this directory are in GIF format which supports up to 256 colors (8-bits). They include 30 Doradus, 47 Tucanae, Comet 1993e, Eta Carinae, Mars, M31, M87, M100, NGC1068, NGC2440, NGC6624, NGC7252, Nova Cygni, Orion (incl. animation), QSO1220+204, the Saturn storm, SL-9, SN1987A (with rings), and SN1994I. The images have originally been made available by the Office of Public Outreach of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
  • and Hubble Space Telescope
• NASA
• http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/home_page.htm 
• Blackbird observatory western USA RC scope.bb-obs.com 
• Mt Ewell Observatory western USA RC scope

• My astrophotography gallery
• Rob Gendler - incredible images with 16“ & 20” RC - check out a 1Gb composite of Andromeda
• Naoyuki Kurita - Stellar Scenes Home Page From Japan - Nikon D70
• photoastronomique.net - French astrophotography web gallery
• Gerhard Bachmayer
• See the glory - uses RC telescope in USA
• Starryscapes - Loke Kun Tan - uses RC telescope
• David Dockery USA - uses Meade 10“ LX200 SCT and TeleVue 85mm f/5.6 with Canon 300D & webcam autoguiding
• Astro Endeavours - uses Meade 8” SCT & Canon Powershot G2 camera
• Bomo Canada
• Clark Vision - uses Canon 1D Mark II (and 10D), 300mm & 500mm f/4 lens with 1.4x TC, ST4 autoguider, Losmandy G11 mount.
• Damhof's LX200 10in
• Velatron
• Todd's Texas Star Party pics
• Randolph Rolle
• Ginger Mayfield

• Guide Dog
• K3CCD software
  • can be used for:
    • capturing webcam videos
    • get a quantitative handle on Periodic error as well as alignment tracking errors
• Pix Insight - LE version is freeware - selective Gaussian blur noise reduction