| Miscellaneous |
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Current Moon Phase |
| Courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory USNO |
| Learning How To Read The Night Sky |
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The items below will take you to websites on other servers. |
| When I first started looking up at the night sky I thought, " I'll never be able to sort out all of this". Well, I fooled myself. With a little determination I started in my local library (before I had a pc). I focused primarily on learning how to recognize the constellations. Now that I have a telescope, learning the shapes of the constellations has made my observing sessions much easier. Since you are reading this on YOUR pc, you have access to some wonderful information. I hope I have piqued your interest enough to give observing a try. You don't have to run out and buy a telescope. There are plenty of things to see with the naked eye, plus, you probably have a pair of binoculars lying around that you never use. Binoculars open up a whole new sky for the observer. Knowing where, when and at what time of the year objects are visible is very important. For the beginner, two of the best sites I have found for their simplicity and usefulness are at the links immediately below. Chris Dolan's "The Constellations and Their Stars" and Richard Dibon-Smith's "The Constellations Web Page". Each compliments the other. |
Earth & Sky's Sky Watch Center has sky charts of selected areas of the sky for every night of the year created by the "Starrynights" planetarium program |
| The beginner, especially if he or she is thinking of purchasing binoculars or a telescope would do well to visit these next two links. They are both Yahoo discussion groups and the good people there are more than willing to give tips to beginners on buying their first scope. Moderated by Rod Mollise is The SCT-Users Group dedicated to users of Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes. Moderated by Phil Harrington is Talking Telescopes, a discussion of all types of scopes, eyepieces, mounts and accessories. You may read all you want but if you wish to participate you must register which is only a formality. |
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| This website was chosen as "Site Of The
Week" for October 6th through the 12th 2002 by The Houston Astronomical Society's Webmaster, Steve Goldberg. |