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Far reaches of cyberspace

Web sites offer amateur astronomers up-close look at the planets and beyond

Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 14, 2007 at midnight

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Stargazers with a hankering to learn more about the night sky should turn their gaze toward cyberspace.

The Internet can be a valuable resource for amateur astronomers.

We checked with space gurus at the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, the Denver Astronomical Society, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to get some recommendations. And we received a galaxy- full.

Many sites offer out-of-this world images as well as information about planets, stars, nebulae and more.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - - is a particularly popular cyberspace destination.

"It's got an interesting picture every day. Besides the picture, they give a little bit of background," says Keith Gleason, manager of CU's Sommers- Bausch Observatory.

Sky & Telescope magazine's Web site - - serves up tips on what to look for in the current night sky, plus a primer on stargazing.

Astronomy magazine's site, , provides an introductory section on astronomy and a special section for kids.

To learn about NASA space-exploration missions, visit and click on Missions.

There, for example, you'll learn about NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons mission and new data the spacecraft has generated during its flyby of Jupiter.

"NASA does an extremely good job with all their missions," says J. Michael Shull, professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at CU.

Wayne Green, president of the Denver Astronomical Society, also offered this advice to wannabe stargazers: "Do not buy a telescope."

At least not immediately.

Instead, first hang out with a local astronomy club in your area. Denver (), Boulder () and Longmont () have such organizations.

"They'll help you get acquainted with the night sky," Green said.

With that information in hand, you can decide what telescope is best for you - without spending too little or too much money.

Best Web sites to gaze into space

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

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• A new astronomical picture every day. Archive lists photos back to 1995.

HUBBLESITE

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• Ball Aerospace & Technologies engineer Walter Whitehead, who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, calls it the "best" Hubble site. Download full-resolution images.

VIRTUAL REALITY MILKY WAY PANORAMA

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• Whitehead calls this a "way cool!" 3-D interactive views of Milky Way galaxy.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE GALAXY

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• Another pick from Whitehead, who notes its "excellent write-ups" on topics ranging from our solar system to theories about the universe.

ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE

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• Nine maps of the universe. First shows nearest stars 12.5 light years from the sun. Others expand out, reaching the scale of the visible universe 14 billion light years from the sun.

SPACEWEATHER.COM

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• Need current weather conditions in space, such as solar wind speeds? Or perhaps you want to know where to look for sunspots. Here's your site.

INTERNATIONAL DARK-SKY ASSOCIATION

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• "It lets people understand what hinders our view of the stars," says Aaron Reed, schedule coordinator at the University of Denver's Chamberlin Observatory.

CELESTIA

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• Free space-simulation software lets you explore the universe in 3-D.

MARS EXPLORATION ROVER MISSION

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• The "favorite" of Steven Lee, curator of planetary science at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Updated daily with images.

MAKE YOUR OWN STAR FINDER

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• Marta Lindsay, collection manager for the space science department at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, calls it "fun for the whole family."

SKYMAPS.COM

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• Another Lindsay pick offering free downloads of evening sky maps.

ROBERT GENDLER

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• Connecticut physician Rob Gendler offers astronomy primer, images and essays.

RUSSELL CROMAN

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• Texas-based chip designer Russell Croman displays his astronomical photos.

NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

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• NOAO oversees observatories such as Kitt Peak National Observatory. Image gallery.

WIKISKY.ORG

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• Detailed sky map using data from astronomical survey called Sloan Digital Sky Survey.



Break out your thinking caps — Spock ears, if necessary

It's time for some stargazing. Name these telescopic views.

Name that sphere. Name that galaxy. Name that bright blur. Name that big blob.

1. That sphere . . .

isn't Mars, as you might have guessed. It's the moon.

A total lunar eclipse created the moon's red hue. The lunar surface, completely immersed in Earth's shadow during the total eclipse phase, remained illuminated by sunlight. A dusty atmosphere reddened and refracted the sunlight into the dark shadow region. Taken near Wildon, Austria, the picture also captures stars in the constellation Leo.

2. That galaxy . . .

is the bright, spiraling M81. Similar in size to the Milky Way, the galaxy we live in, M81 lies 11.8 million light-years away in the northern constellation Ursa Major. A galaxy, in case you're wondering, is a large system of stars and interstellar matter, typically containing several million to some trillion stars. And a light-year, which astronomers use to measure astronomical distances, is simply the distance that light can travel in one year.

3. That bright blur . . .

looks like a comet but actually was the explosion of a malfunctioned Russian rocket booster. The Feb. 19 explosion created more than 1,000 pieces of space junk, which was tracked through dark skies over western Australia. The rocket booster, called the Breeze-M, sat atop a Proton rocket carrying an Arabsat-4A communications satellite. The malfunction left the satellite in the wrong orbit and the Breeze-M floating in space.

4. That big blob . . .

is a planetary nebula. For the more advanced stargazer, it's the Cat's Eye Nebula, one of the first planetary nebulae to be discovered. A planetary nebula forms when sunlike stars gently eject their outer gaseous layers, forming amazing and confounding shapes. Observations suggest the ring structure seen in the Cat's Eye was created when it ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1,500-year intervals.

Photos from Astronomy Picture Of The Day, Hubblesite

or 303-954-2467