Stars
by Sarah Teasdale
Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still,
And a heaven full of stars
Over my head,
White and topaz
And misty red;
Myriads with beating
Hearts of fire
That aeons
Cannot vex or tire;
Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill,
I watch them marching
Stately and still,
And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty.
Analemma over Keppel Henge,
Photo by Steve Irvine
How the Sky Moves
These links contain useful explanations:
Planetary motions (advanced wierdness)
Retrograde motion
Sidereal vs. solar days
Sidereal vs. synodic months
Solar vs. sidereal day
Seasonal motion
Precession
Motions of the Moon
Planetary motions
Text pages:
White
Black
14-15
9-10
15-16
10-12
17
20-21
17-19
13-16
23-26
31-34
Is it a bird? A plane? A comet?? NO! They are runaway child stars! Read more about it here.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Sahai (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
What's up?
The University of Michigan's "Saturday Morning Physics" have a few lectures on astronomy. Check out when.
U of M is also offering a series of evening lectures on Astronomy topics ranging from new telescopes to black holes to the "end of the universe". Here are some links to the dates and details: Astronomy lecture series and Eyes on the Universe.
Sky Online
From the makers of Sky & Telescope magazine, this site
is updated often with information of interest to amateur sky watchers.
Check out the News Bulletin, and What’s Up in the Sky for starters.
Have you checked out Google Sky?
Watch this video: Five years on Mars
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. Why?
Cruithne: Co-orbital object of Earth
Animations of 2002AA29
and Here
are more!
Near Earth
Asteroids
Are there potentially hazardous asteroids heading our
way?
Find out at Spaceweather.com.
Names of Full Moons
What is a Blue Moon?
Why is this here? How did Spam save the world?
Sign up for Space.com's email service. It's a great site, delivering interesting news almost every day. Print out your thank you screen, add your name and turn it in for extra credit.