Resources

Astronomy News & What's Up?

• Space News at Live Science
• Near-Earth weather at NASA Space Weather
• Night-time forecast at Clear Sky Clock
• Sky & Telescope's Sky at a Glance
• Astronomy magazine website

Astronomy Image Archives

• Astronomy Picture of the Day
• NASA Planetary Photojournal
• NASA Human Spaceflight Gallery
• Hubble Space Telescope Gallery
• Hubble Heritage Project
• NASA Image Exchange
• NOAO Image Gallery

Astronomy Web Tool Kit

• Phases of the Moon
• Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
• Planetary Atmospheres
• Energy Levels and Spectral Lines
• Craters and Surface Ages
• Density of the Terrestrial Planets
• Magnitude Calculator

Free Astronomy Software

• Celestia, cosmic 3-D simulator
• Google Earth shows the night sky
• Google Mars: explore the Red Planet
• Stellarium, a planetarium program
• Orbiter, space flight simulator
• Heavens Above: track a satellite

Observatories in Arizona

• Kitt Peak National Observatory (west of Tucson, open to visitors)
• Lowell Observatory (in Flagstaff, open to visitors)
• Discovery Channel Telescope (near Flagstaff, under construction)
• Mt. Graham International Observatory (near Safford, guided tours)
• Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (south of Tucson, guided tours)

Arizona Science Centers & Planetariums

• Dorrance Planetarium at Arizona Science Center (downtown Phoenix)
• Challenger Space Center (Peoria, AZ)
• UofA Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium (Tucson, AZ)

Local Astronomy Clubs

• East Valley Astronomy Club
• Saguaro Astronomy Club
• Phoenix Astronomical Society

Other Astronomy Sites in the Southwest

• Meteor Crater (east of Winslow, AZ)
• Very Large Array (western New Mexico, on US Highway 60)

Missions to the Solar System

• Solar Dynamics Observatory (Feb 2010 - present)
• Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (Dec 1995 - present)
• MESSENGER to Mercury (Mar 2011 - present)
• Magellan at Venus (1989 - 1994)
• Venus Express (May 2006 - present)
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (June 2009 - present)
• LCROSS Impactor (impacted Oct 9, 2009)
• Mars Global Surveyor (1997 - 2006)
• 2001 Mars Odyssey (Oct 2001 - present)
• Mars Express (Dec 2003 - present)
• Mars Exploration Rovers aka Spirit & Opportunity (Jan 2004 - present)
• MSL Curiosity rover (arrival Aug 2012)
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (Mar 2006 - present)
• Mars Phoenix Lander (May - Nov 2008)
• Dawn to Vesta and Ceres (en route to Ceres)
• Galileo at Jupiter (1995 - 2003)
• Juno to Jupiter (arrival 2016)
• Cassini at Saturn (July 2004 - present)
• New Horizons to Pluto (flyby in Feb 2015)
• The Voyagers to outer Solar System (1977 - present)
• Chronological List Of All Missions (1957 - present)

Space-based Observatories

• Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
• Fermi Space Telescope
• Chandra X-Ray Observatory
• GALEX: Galaxy Ultraviolet Explorer
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Kepler Planet-hunting Mission
• Spitzer Space Telescope
• Herschel Infrared Observatory
• Wilkinson Microwave Observatory
• Planck Microwave Observatory