Astronomy Books

I have lots of these resources and they are so much easy to access than all the online stuff. Living in New York City, I get two hours of "forced" reading time every day when I ride the subway back and forth to work.

If you are looking for these books, the best option might be to simply borrow them from your local library if you can, or try interlibrary loan if they don't. Here in NYC, I can get a lot of books via the library since the NYC library system is huge even though my local branch has very little. Even if you are not in a large city, ask your librarian about getting the book through interlibrary loan. It's definitely the cheapest way to get your hands on the book (and you'll be helping the libraries to continue to justify their funding).

General/Introductory

365 Starry Nights by Chet Raymo, copyright © 1982 Prentice-Hall, published by Simon and Schuster. (The link on the book above will take you to skymaps.com, but you should be able to find this book almost anywhere.) This book has a couple of paragraphs for each day of the year and at least one illustration. It slowly works its way around the sky discussing objects which are visible on the date discussed. However, it is not completely about observational astronomy; there is information on all sorts of things. There is a good description of H-R diagrams and what they mean, historical notes related to famous astronomers, stories related to the mythology behind some of the constellations and more. This is a suitable book for young observers, too.

Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe by Terence Dickinson, copyright © 1998 Terence Dickinson. This is a good general introduction to astronomy as a hobby written by a good amateur. Terence Dickinson the the editor of SkyNews, a bi-monthly Canadian astronomy magazine. He starts out with general information on astronomy and covers the basics of backyard astronomy: the constellations, the night sky season-by-season, and more. There is a chapter on equipment, information on viewing tips (e.g., using averted vision), and what those catalogue numbers mean. In addition to the four general seasonal charts, there are 20 more detailed charts to get you started working through the constellations. It was in chapter 11 that I discovered that you could build a simple device (the barn-door tracker) to let you take long-exposure photos with an ordinary 35-mm camera.

Astrophotography

	Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael Covington is a wonderful book focused squarely on the amateur who wants to learn how to take good astronomical photos. There are chapters on digital processing, including CCD work, but the bulk deals with film photography.
	Wide Field Astrophotography by Robert Reeves is another excellent book on astrophotography which begins with information that beginners (like me) will want. In spite of the later chapters on advanced tools (e.g., Schmidt-cameras), Reeves repeatedly emphasizes what you can do with an ordinary 35-mm camera that you may already have lying around the house. Reeves' web site has some great information on films and how well suited they are for astrophotography.
	Introduction to Webcam Astrophotography: Imaging the Universe with the amazing, affordable webcam is another good book by Robert Reeves. If you also have Introduction to Digital Astrophotography, you will notice some overlap in content. That is probably unavoidable since certain aspects of digital image capture are the same, and some aspects of astrophotography as the same regards of what tools you are using (things like dressing warm and packing carefully). But while some time is spent on deep-sky imaging, the main focus of this book is on the use of the webcam to take high-resolution lunar and planetary images, a use I can also recommend. Like Reeves, my first attempt to take images of the moon using a Philips ToUCam Pro 740k came out better than anything I had ever managed to do with film. In fact, I've tossed out my black-and-white film I was using for lunar photography. If you're just getting started, this is a useful book in large part because it concentrates the body of knowledge in a single place. There is little here you can't find on the web, but having it all in once place and well organized can be a big help.
	Introduction to Digital Astrophotography - Imaging the Universe with a Digital Camera is yet another fine book by Robert Reeves. This book focuses on the use of digital cameras, both DSLRs and point-and-shoot types and how their use changes some of the rules-of-thumb used by film photographers. Even if you were never a film astrophotographer, you'll find plenty of useful information in the book. Reading this made me antsy to get back out and do some more imaging, something that time hadn't allowed in a while.

Buying A Star?

It is difficult to say enough bad things about this practice---not about the buying part, but rather the selling part. Technically, none of the places that purport to sell you a star/star name are actually doing so. What they are selling you is the right to have your name and your star name published in a book which is registered withe U.S. Copyright Office. Uhm, most books that are published are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Oh yes, and they will give you a nice piece of fake parchment with your star name as a receipt. If you are looking for a novelty gift, that's all well and good and I don't want to stop you. But if you think you were about to buy (or perhaps already bought) anything with some official standing, read anon....

• Buying A Star FAQ is maintained by Jim Craig and has some useful information what you can and can't do. There are also useful links to other information (including the links below) on star naming.
• Star Names provides a short explanation by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the official keeper of real star names about how stars are and are not named.
• The International Planetary Society also has information on star naming practices.

Buying A Telescope

The first thing you have to know is that there is no one-size-fits-all telescope. Believe me on this one — every amateur out there would love to have a single telescope that covers everything they'd ever like to do but it simply doesn't exist. It's kind of like having the one perfect lens for your camera; there are some very good general purpose zoom lenses that will do most of what you want to do, but none will ever fit every occasion. But the good news is that there are some telescopes that will cover a wide range of types of observing.The second thing you have to know is that, like most other things, you get what you pay for. There are a few pricier brands, but the profit margin in the telescope business is nothing like it is in, say, the luxury car business where you are paying for the name. With telescopes, that name came from a history of good quality. Since there are several buyer's guides written by amateurs or sponsored by astronomy-related companies (not of which sell telescopes), I'm not going to try to cover the whole topic. Instead, here are a few sites to get you started.

• Telescope Buyer's FAQ by Dennis Bishop, another amateur.
• How to buy a telescope: accessories, gadgets, constraints sponsored by space.com.
• Telescope Buying Guideby planetarium.net.
• The Heretic's Guide to Choosing and Buying Your First Telescope by Michael J. Edelman, another amateur.

Clubs and Organizations

I'm not going to try to give an exhaustive list of clubs since, as far as I know, there is no such thing. There are resources at by the Sky and Telescope, Astronomy, and SkyNews web sites with larger lists. This is merely clubs which are relatively local for me. So, if you are in the New York City area, this will be of interest, otherwise check with one of the above sites.

• Amateur Observers' Society of New York — An active, friendly club which meets in Freeport, NY and observes at Robert Moses State Park both on Long Island.
• Astronomical Society of Long Island — An active club which meets at the New York Institute of Technology and also observes at Robert Moses State Park. I have met with them once for an observing session, which is not really the best time to meet people as I am quite certain that I would never recognize any of the people there (except, of course, for Barlow Bob).
• The Rockland Astronomy Club — Sponsors of the annual Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) and the Summer Star Party. Having been to both events, I can tell you this is both an active and a friendly club.
• The Astronomical League — Okay, so this isn't a local club, but there is still a lot of useful information to supplement whatever you can get through your local club. If you belong to a local club, you may already be a member of the Astronomical League!
• The Astronomical Society of the Pacific — One of the oldest amateur societies with a definite bent toward the semi-professional. They sponsor activities to connect amateurs and professionals with each other and to connect both with educators.

General Interest

These are interesting sites I like that may not fit into any particular category.

• Students for the Exploration and Development of Space — Don't let the name fool you; there is a lot here. SEDS was started in 1981 by Peter Diamandis while at MIT (and while we were roommates, little did I know...) but didn't really kick off as a major organization until 1987 or 1988. The SEDS web site has all sorts of resources including information on all the Messier and NGC catalogue objects, information on the constellations. How well these are covered varies considerably; e.g., Hercules has a very nice section whereas Lacerta barely gets an acknowledgement.
• NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day — Each day a difference image or photograph along with a brief explanation and links to more information.
• Jack Schmidling's Astronomy Picture of the Week — Not in the same class as the NASA site, but he doesn't have the same budget either!
• Linux Astronomy. If you are a Linux bigot, er user, like me, this is a handy reference co-authored by the author of XEphem.

Imaging and Astrophotography

Some of these really cross multiple categories, but that is to be expected. I'm focusing on picture-taking these days, but I've got other stuff on the web site and these sites are the same way. Also, astrophotography once meant film, but now the term is used for anything that results in pretty pictures following the general trend in photography where a digital camera still produces photographs. I think the trend is more that imaging is a bit more technical or even science related, but who knows where the language will go.

• Astronomy Boy — Jeff DeTray has some wonderful pictures of constellations he has taken with his barn-door tracker. His site is full of tips on how to construct your own tracker.
• AstroCam — Focuses on the use of webcams for astronomy. Need specs on what your webcam can do? If anyone associated with astrocam has used one, you'll find it here.
• Christian Buil — This is home to Iris, information on building a spectrograph, a CCD camera, and more.
• Astronomy and Webcam Adapter — Steve Mogg's webcam adapters let you plug the webcam right into the eyepiece holder for prime focus imaging.

Magazines

These are links to publications which, as general astronomy resources, will have links of their own. Since astronomy is their business, you may get the quickest return on your time by seeing what they have first.

• Sky and Telescope — Publishers of Sky and Telescope magazine, one of the big two here in the United States. This is my favorite but some of my friends prefer Astronomy, so who knows which you will like. One of my reasons for liking this is the tear-out star maps which always have some commentary on interesting things to observe. You can treat them as project sheets (I do). In that past couple of years, Sky and Telescope has reorganized so that it is more hemispheric-neutral, and the tear-out maps have the southern skies on one side and the northern on the other. That's great for the folks in the southern hemisphere, but I was disappointed because I had been using their "Small Scope Sampler" page (which was on the back of the tear-out map) at the telescope. I can't do that anymore.
• Astronomy is another big magazine here in the USA and the first one to which I ever subscribed in the mid 1970s using my allowance. More recently, I was getting both Sky and Telescope and Astronomy, but there is a moderate amount of duplication (same news stories, no surprise there) and I ended up selecting only Sky and Telescope. Some of my friends have similarly had to choose between the two and ended up choosing Astronomy, so you might want to read several issues of both before choosing one or the other.
• Nightsky is another publication by the Sky and Telescope folks but aimed squarely at the novice by eliminating much of the jargon and taking more space to explain the basics. If you are thinking of getting a gift for yourself, a child, or a friend who has expressed an interest in astronomy, this magazine should be on your short list.
• SkyNews — Publishers of SkyNews magzine, the biggest (only?) Canadian astronomy magazine. Terrence Dickinson is the editor and David Levy is a regular contributor. The magazine is bimonthly (6-times per year) and is pretty short compared to the big two. The sky charts are not as nice as those of either Sky and Telescope or Astronomy but every now and then they print a "photo-realistic" sky chart in the centerfold which is worth the subscription. Mine are a bit warped from being used under dark skies on dewy nights but I love them.
• Amateur Astronomy is a labor of love by Tom Clark, its chief (only?) editor. The articles are definitely of a less-polished variety than the "professional" magazines, but if you are handy with your hands and are thinking of ways to modify your telescope or build some handy gadget, the back-issues provide a wealth of information. I've been backfilling my collection for just that reason, simply to have the resource available, even if I have too many thumbs.

Mailing Lists and News Groups

The utility of these will depend on your own interests. In my case, I've started trying to use a webcam for some pictures, and I own Starry Night Pro for both the MacOS and the Windoze, so I either subscribe or monitor these mailing lists. At this point, it is nearly impossible to keep up with the number of lists. Your best bet is to go to Yahoo groups and search for astronomy groups. The QCUAIG group below migrated to Yahoo some time ago (years ago now) and there are groups there for astronomy in general, groups related to specific equipment, groups on imaging with commodity equipment (got a digital camera?) and more.

• Starry Night — Discussion of the Starry Night family of planetarium programs. Sales information is available through space.com
• QuickCam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomical Group — Discussion of using webcams and videocameras for astronomical imaging. See also the QCUIAG web site for information including the QCUIAG FAQ.
• Astro-Photography Mailing List is a list used by astrophotographers who swap information on tricks of the trade. If you are interested in this hobby, have a look through their archives at the above link.

I used to read sci.astro.amateur regularly, but at some point, the volume just got too high for me to follow. I occasionally still drop in and browse, but the advent of spam harvesters that pull email addresses from new posts has made the cost of posting just too high for me.

• sci.astro.amateur
• alt.binaries.pictures.astro
• sci.astro.ccd-imaging

Software

Astronomical software comes in a lot of flavors for a lot of different uses. I've tried to break this down into sections based on how the software is used.  It is very difficult to keep up-to-date on any of this. Packages which I mention may have been orphaned and ones which didn't exist when I wrote this may have matured and become popular. So think of this more as a place to find some search terms for hunting the web.

Weather Information

Astronomy Forecast

In November 2001, Doug Tanaka posted a message on sci.astro.amateur about the Clear Sky Clock. The underlying forecast is done by Canadian Meteorological Center (or jump straight to the astronomy forecast). The result is two measures of interest to every astronomer: what kind of cloud cover will I have and how transparent will the sky be.

If you find this image, or the underlying forecast maps, useful please drop Allan Rahill an email. He needs to show his bosses at CMC that his astronomy forecasts are actually being used.

Other Locations

Clock	Preview	Comments/Links
New York City		The greatest city in the world and where I happen to live.
Robert Moses State Park		A park on Long Island used by the Amateur Observer's Society and the Astronomical Society of Long Island.
Narrowsburg, NY		Friend's home on the NY/PA border.
Wawayanda State Park		A park near Highland Lakes. Used by the Rockland Astronomy Club.
Lake Taghkanic State Park		A park used by the Rockland Astronomy Club. Near Jackson Corners.
Hauppauge
West Point		In Orange County
Wilcox Park		In Milan. A site of the Mid-Hudson Astronomy Association (MHAA).

US Government Weather Resources

• National Weather Service, providing current official weather warnings, observations, and forecasts.
• Interactive Weather Information Network, extensive information, including hourly weather reports, state forecasts, warnings and advisories, and more. Includes weather radar and satellite images.
• National Warnings Area, access to all available warnings for the United States from the National Weather Service. If your location is listed here, it is a bad night for astronomy.
• Internet Weather Source, gateway to National Weather Service official warnings and forecasts.

The Usual Places

This is a short list of some major weather information sites. You probably already know some of these. If you want up-to-date weather links, you're probably better off to check with Google or Yahoo.

• INTELLiCast, weather information from around the world, including radar and satellite imagery. Also contains the allergy alert forecasting pollen conditions for cities throughout the U.S.
• USA Today: Weather
• The Weather Channel
• AccuWeather.com, including radar images, satellite images, and 5-day forecasts for around the world and U.S. locations.
• America's Weather, offers forecasts and current conditions for U.S. cities.
• Automated Weather Source, generates true up-to-the-second real time weather data from locations throughout the world.
• Cancellations.com, contains weather-related closings, school cancellations, and delays for organizations and businesses and offers email posting services.
• CBC Weather, provides weather forecasts for Canada and cities worldwide, in-depth reports, satellite images, and more.
• CNN Interactive: Weather, provides access to four-day weather forecasts for cities worldwide, and coverage of the world's top weather stories.
• EarthWatch Weather on Demand, 3-D weather site that offers continuously updated satellite, radar, forecasts, and fly-throughs along with StormWatch advisories, watches, and warnings.
• ITV Weather, provides the latest national and regional weather forecasts for the UK, sports weather, and 5-day European forecasts.
• My-Cast, provides neighborhood level forecasts as well as severe weather information and satellite/radar imagery.
• Snow-Forecast.com, provides global weather reports including snow data and alerts, freezing levels, rainfall, and surface temperatures.
• United States Climate Page, easy-to-use map interface to climatologies (temperature, rain, and snow) for cities throughout the United States,
• USWX, general U.S. weather site, providing NWS forecasts, graphics, and severe weather info for localities in the United States.
• Washington Post Weather, forecasts for cities all over the world. Weather images, historical data, and more.
• Weather by E-mail
• Weather for You, offers independent stations, email reports, current conditions, weather computer, and more.
• Weather Underground, worldwide and national weather conditions and a network of K-12 school observations.
• WeatherClosings, posts school closings, baseball and soccer rainouts, and other weather disruptions.
• WeatherDesk.org, with local radars, weather maps, forecasts, warnings, and satellite images from all 50 U.S. States.
• Wild Weather, includes updates on severe weather around the world, links, and features such as meteorologist of the month.
• WxUSA, information for thousands of US cities.
• Yahoo! Weather, current conditions and forecasts.