Useful Astronomy Resources
Astronomy Applets & Applications
(Celestial poles applet)
(A selection of useful Java applets)
(More applets, including one for drawing night sky star charts)
(Lunar phases applet)
(Moon phase applet – Northern hemisphere)
(Powers of 10 applet)
(Excellent commercial astronomy program for the Mac & IBM)
(Free astronomy programs for IBM)
(Free astronomy programs for the Mac)
(Windows program that designs a sundial for your location)
(Equation of time utility)
(Some useful introductory exercises)
Useful Websites
(Space weather – News and information about the Sun-Earth system)
(A website that provides the information you need to observe satellites such as the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, spectacular events such as the dazzlingly bright flares from Iridium satellites)
(The Astronomical Society of Australian)
(Melbourne astronomical society)
(A German site that contains numerous links providing information re some of the history of astronomy)
(Stargazers to Starships – quite a useful site that covers a lot of astronomical physics)
(A useful site for calculating declination)
(A site for calculating sunrise and sunset times for a known location)
(A calculator for sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset)
(Sunrise and sunset times for Melbourne)
Sundials
(A sight for designing a vertical gnomon sundial for any location combined with equation of time correction curves)
(The North American Sundial Society – lots of good sundial links)
(Sundial construction site, including a hand dial (NH though))
(Another good sundial construction site with explanations)
(Windows program that designs a sundial for your location)
(A site that explains the difference between solar and clock time)
(Equation of time information compared to a sundial)
(Article on measuring time)
(Calculating the length of the solar day)
(Greenwich Observatory site)
Aboriginal Astronomy
(Indigenous Astronomy web-links page)
(A book about Australian Aboriginal Cosmology)
(Aboriginal astronomy by Paul Curnow)
(The Sky in the World View of Indigenous Australians by Dieter B. Herrmann, Berlin)
(Aboriginal moon phase rock carving at Ngaut Ngaut, SA)
DVDs & books
Astronomy 2008 Australia – Your guide to the night sky.
By Ken Wallace, Glenn Dawes and Peter Northfield
Quasar Publishing
This yearly magazine costs $24 and it provides a wealth of information on a month by month basis.
Solar Max (dvd)
(Solarmax is a 40-minute documentary that tells the story of humankind's struggle to understand the sun from pre-history to today)
Longitude (dvd & book)
A dramatised adaptation of Dava Sobel's best-selling book, starring Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons. Longitude is the fascinating story of John Harrison (Gambon), who in the 18th century believed he could make a clock that would work on board a ship - and so solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.
I have found the next three books to be interesting, thought provoking and useful!
Sun, Moon & Earth
By Robin Heath
2006
ISBN 1904263461
Astronomy – A Self Teaching Guide
By Dinah L. Moche
1978
ISBN 0471017647
Planets, Satellites & Gravity
By Burford, Forbes, Latz & Storer
1972
FOSP.S8
ISBN0858590379
Sundials, Their Theory & Construction
By Albert E. Waugh
1973
ISBN 0486229475
Sundials – How To Know, Use And Make Them
By R. N. Mayall
1938
With the exception of Sun, Moon & Earth the other books are, to the best of my knowledge, out of print. This doesn’t mean that they are unobtainable! Try abebooks.com or eBay. This is how I got the sundial books.
Planetarium
Starry Messenger
Steve Fleming is an astronomer who has taught VCE Physics and been an education officer with the H.V. McKay Planetarium. Currently he lectures in Astronomy at La Trobe University and provides the following services to schools and community groups:
•Daytime illustrated interactive presentations covering Astronomy and Space Key Learning Areas of the Victorian Curriculum.
•Evening guided tours of the night sky that will inspire students, teachers and families.
•VCE Physics- Astronomy topics. I can help you with presentations and night viewing.
•The Science of toys, asession that introduces children to concepts of Science through the magic of toys.
I am very grateful to Steve for his encouragement, suggestions and willingness to review the activities and material that I prepared for this workshop. Thanks Steve!
The Physics Teacher
Some of the activities in this workshop were based on articles taken from The Physics Teacher, a monthly journal published in the USA. I have scanned the articles and the following is a list of their file names.
TPTvol30Dec92p558.jpgA Simple Method Of Measuring The Length Of The Sidereal Day
By Brian Monson
TPTvol32Feb94p126.jpgMoon Watch
TPTvol32Feb94p127.jpgBy William P. Lovegrove
TPTvol33Feb95p115.jpgWatching The Earth Spin: A Determination Of Midday
TPTvol33Feb95p116.jpgBy Richard Hansgen
TPTvol34Jan96p058.jpgSunrise Surprise – sunrise and sunset times
TPTvol34Feb96p094.jpgObservations Of The Sidereal Day
By Charles A. Eckroth
TPTvol34Sep96p351.jpgThe Varying Lengths Of Solar Day
TPTvol34Sep96p352.jpgBy James Brimhall
TPTvol34Sep96p353.jpg
TPTvol34Sep96p354.jpg
TPTvol34Sep96p355.jpg
TPTvol34Sep96p360.jpgBringing The Moon Into The Classroom
TPTvol34Sep96p361.jpgBy Laurence A. Marshall
TPTvol36Jan98p040.jpgTesting Kepler’s Laws Of Planetary Motion
TPTvol36Jan98p041.jpgBy Harold Cohen
TPTvol37Feb99p113.jpgConstructing A Portable Sundial
TPTvol37Feb99p114.jpgBy Michelle B. Larson
TPTvol37Noc99p476.jpgConstructing A Celestial Calendar Wheel
TPTvol37Noc99p477.jpgBy Sarah M. Cousineau
TPTvol38Mar00p179.jpgHow Big Is The Moon?
TPTvol38Mar00p180.jpgBy Michael C. lo Presto
TPTvol39Mar01p187.jpgAn Astronomy Angulator
TPTvol39Mar01p188.jpgBy Michael Zeilik
The Australian Scout Handbook – 1973 Edition
The Scout Handbook was used for the article on using the Southern Cross to tell the time at night.
And now for something completely different….
The lyrics to Monty Python’s Galaxy Song. There are numerous copies of PPT presentations and Quicktime movies on You Tube based on this song that could be used as part of an introduction to astronomy.
The Galaxy Song – Monty Python
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough...
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the "Milky Way".
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go 'round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
(Animated calliope interlude)
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!
Eric Idle