Discovery

Astronomy Resources

An Internet connection provides access to an extensive world of resources and contacts for learning about or teaching astronomy. This is one area where the Web excels. One search engine revealed 167,000 sites, with over 2,000,000 references to NASA. Here are a few to start you off:

• http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/ ;-- the Solar System
• http://gnn.com/ ;-- general astronomy
• http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/astroweb/education.html ;-- astronomy education
• http://windows.engin.umich.edu/ ;-- astronomy education
• http://www.seds.org/ ;-- general astronomy
• http://podac-www.jpl.nasa.gov/Edudoc.html ;-- NASA astronomy education
• http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasa_online_education.html ;-- many NASA links
• http://k12.cnidr.org/ ;-- science and technology including astronomy

Computer Software

There's a range of good, easy-to-use software on astronomy available, whether you're an enthusiast or a teacher looking for material to support the Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond Strand of the science curriculum. Some is commercially available in computer stores, while shareware can be obtained from various shareware distributors (check your phone book), off the Internet or from BBSs or online services such as Compuserve. Software can help demonstrate concepts that you can only otherwise talk or read about or can help substitute for a trip to an observatory. Some useful cheap material is available on CD-ROM and can be found by shopping around or looking in the "bargain" racks or sale bins at computer stores.

Distributed as a shareware program, Skyglobe is a fast, easy to use, planetarium-type astronomy program. You can easily set it to display the night sky at any date (past, present or future), time and location. You can look in any direction and any elevation. It is possible to alter the number of stars displayed, to display the planets and to show objects such as nebulae, galaxies and lines illustrating the constellations. Other features include labelling stars, demonstrating the movement of the sky (in real time or sped up), an excellent Find command for locating celestial objects, and the ability to handle daylight saving. One of the beauties of Skyglobe is that it will run on an old 286 with CGA screen. It can be obtained from the sources suggested above; Carter and Auckland Observatories sell it for about $15.

The excellent Redshift CD-ROM allows the user to explore the solar system and to investigate many of its more interesting features. You can observe planetary orbits in 3D or view planets, moons, comets, nebulae and galaxies. There is a large amount of geological detail available on Mars, Venus and the Moon and you can easily print charts that show the location of stars and constellations. Redshift is capable of taking the user on narrated, guided tours or you can choose any of the interactive tutorials for assistance. Unlike many packages these days, this one has a comprehensive user's guide.

Redshift is readily available for around $132 retail. The CD-ROM will run on both Mac and Windows. On a PC it requires Windows 3.1 or better running on a 386SX, double speed CD-ROM, sound card, 256 colour screen, 8Mb of RAM and 2.5Mb of hard drive space. In the Macintosh world at least an LCII is required, with System 7 or better and QuickTime 2.0. Power Macs need System 7.1.2 or above.

Books/Magazines

Useful book lists are available from either Carter Observatory or from the Auckland Observatory.

ASTRONOMICAL! by Ormiston Walker; J. Weston Walch, 1995; 144 pages.

Written by a New Zealander and published in the US, this book that has about 40 good, basic activities that could be used successfully with a variety of age groups, using simple ideas and readily available items.