The Croydon Astronomical Society

This page is rather long so here is an index that will allow you to jump to each section
 

Section

Beginners Start Here !   Links to sites that will give you advice on starting Astronomy & buying Binoculars or a telescope

Astronomy Bookshops    Internet- Postal & Physical

Astronomy Data Sites  for the serious Astronomers  - mostly professional resources

Astronomy Shops   plus Hardware & Holidays a partial list of those in the UK

Educational Links   Sites that hold Astronomical Software - Run Courses

Astronomical Imaging Sites that help you perfect that Astronomical Picture

Interesting Sites  Sites that we find Interesting

Lists of Astronomical Societies  Databases that hold links to UK & World-wide Astronomical Societies

Useful Sites   Sites that will help in pursuing Astronomy for Fun or Reward

Sky Diaries Sites which show Astronomical Events that should be visible from the UK .

Have a look at our Friends page as well there are more links located there !
 

Beginners Start Here !

http://www.popastro.com/ The Society for Popular Astronomy has some links to advice for beginners

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/viewsky.html Advice on starting observing from Jodrell Bank Observatory

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/viewbinos.html Advice on buying & using binoculars from Jodrell Bank Observatory

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/viewtels.html Advice on buying & using telescopes from Jodrell Bank Observatory

http://www.dibonsmith.com/menu.htm Guide for what you can see with the naked eye & Binoculars

To find out what is worth viewing tonight there is a sky diary on the SPA site. In addition the Sky Diaries section of this page has several links you may like to investigate.

Astronomy Bookshops

Earth and Sky :- Lots of titles by Mail Order

Waterstone's :-Have a reasonable selection of books but few text books

Willman Bell (USA) :- Publishers

Cambridge University Press :-

Blackwell's Bookshops -:- London (Charing Cross Road & Oxford)

Dillons the bookstore :- Try the Gower Street London Branch - The best selection of Astronomy Books in London?

Astronomy on the Internet :-

Amazon.co.uk:-Only 1.5 million books to choose from !

Astronomy Data Sites

Access to the ADC Archives :- Access to Astronomy Data & Catalogues

ADS Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstract Service :-

ADS Astronomy Data- Abstracts Page - New :-

ADS Astronomy Data - Home Page:-

APS POSS I Catalogue and Database Access :- Minnesota Automated Plate Scanner - MAPS - scans of the National Geographic-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS I)

Astrophysics Data System :- The Astrophysics Data System (ADS) maintains four bibliographic databases containing more than 4.2 million records: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Physics and Geophysics, and preprints in Astronomy.

CDROM Astronomical Data Sets  :-   NSSDC CDROM DATA sets catalogues

CDS, Strasbourg :-

Comets and Meteor Showers:- news & information - professional & amateur observations -historical research

Data Services :-

Dr. Odenwald's ASK THE ASTRONOMER :-

Fundamental Physical Constants :-

IAU: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams :-

Welcome to IMPReSS:- Shows surveys that contain data for the area of interest

NASA Skyview :-  Virtual 'Telescope'

Physical Constants and Astronomical Data :- Includes a JAVA calculator

Simbad on the Web : Now free for all to use

Solar System Data :-

The Astronomy Thesaurus:-

ua1.0 Catalogue Site  :- PMM Catalogue site: Catalogue UA1.0. This is real inventory of the Schmidt sky survey plates, done from the original plates

VizieR Service:-

WWW NED :-

NCSA Astronomy Digital Image Library :-

ROSAT RESULTS ARCHIVE PAGE  :- The Nine Planets:- Solar System Live :-

Astronomy Shops, Hardware & Holidays

Astronomical Society of the Pacific:-

True Technology  - Aldermaston Berkshire

BC&F :- Now in Tonbridge Kent

COAA Homepage :- Holidays in Portugal

David Hinds Ltd - Astronomical Equipment:-

Field view Home Page :- Holidays in Norfolk

Fibre Optic Spectrograph  :-

Herstmonceux Science Centre:- This was the RGO's home in the 1960's

I. R. Poyser :- Makers of brass refracting telescopes in the traditional style, suppliers of optical components and suppliers of Astronomy Kits for GCSE courses (added 21/4/2006)

Orion Optics   :-Orion Optics Home Page

SCS Astro - Telescopes, Binoculars& CCD Cameras :-

Shutan Camera & Video :-

The Starlight Xpress CCD camera home page  :- As used by the CAS

True Technology :- Binocular & Telescopes

Venturescope Telescopes (Emsworth)  :- Venturescope Telescopes are in Emsworth Hampshire

Widescreen Centre  :- Astronomical Suppliers - Dorset Street London W1 - they now have two web sites at:

    Astronomy & Telescopes - TelescopesDirect

    Photography & 3D - WidescreenCentre

Educational Links

Distance Learning Courses

External Education Courses are on our Education Page use the link to jump there.

General

IAU Commission 46    Education In Astronomy - Newsletters & details of IAU projects

UCSB RAAP Labs for the PC :-

Telescopes In Education:-

AstroEd: Astronomy Education Resources :-

Hubble Academy -- Top Level Page :-

Armagh Planetarium Homepage :-

Cosmos in a Computer Map :-

Open University:- Astronomy Group :- The World's premier distance learning centre

PROJECT CLEA HOME PAGE  :-  Download software astronomy exercises

Edexcel Foundation - Home Page:- They organize the GCSE Astronomy Exams

            Link to the Edexcel GCSE Astronomy Paper Specification Page

            Link to Edexcel GCSE Astronomy – related publications

Research Contents Page :-

UC Santa Barbara Astrophysics Home Page :-

Astronomy Homework Help @ GCA7Sky :-

Board of Continuing Education:- Cambridge University Extra mural classes

Lifelong Learning at Oxford University :-  Astronomy & Cosmology Days, Weekends & Evenings

University of Oregon Physics Distance Education and K12 Resources  :-

Imaging Sites

QCUIAG QuickCam (WebCam) and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group

C.O.A.A. Homepage :- Have some software for stacking CCTV camera images

Interesting Sites

Astronomy Picture of the Day  :-  A new picture every day with commentary

Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive  :-  Archive of APOD pictures

APOD Text Search  :-  Search the APOD archive - many good links to additional information

Big Bear Solar Observatory WWW Page :-  Look here for Sunspots & lots more on our nearest star

SOHO - The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory :- See the Sun from a different angle

Solar Images  :- Another view of the Sun

Comet Page at the University of Slovenia

Spectroscopy

Display the spectral lines of selected elements on your computer  A good way to view what the spectral lines of elements are - you can also download the files so that you can run it locally. JPEG images of the spectrum as well ! The spectrum of Carbon is shown below.

 
History of Astronomical Spectroscopy    Look here for some of the History - Don't forget William Huggins did a lot of the work 'just up the road' at Tulse Hill.

 

Bows, Halos, Dogs, Glories & other  Atmospheric phenomena

http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/halosim.htm    - for pictures &  simulator for atmospheric phenomena

Lists of Astronomical Societies & University Departments

UK University Web Sites  :- List of all University URL’s
The BNSC Space Index :-  Astronomy Societies Plus lots of firms involved in Astronomy &Space in the UK

FAS web page :- Federation of Astronomical Societies details & links to most UK Astronomical Societies

SAGAS Home Page :- Links to Astronomical Societies in the South of England

Useful Sites

The Starpages:- Almost all the Astronomy Links you could ever want !

Yahoo! - Science:Astronomy:-

Astronomical information on the Internet :-

Astronomical Internet Resources  :-

Astronomy Now On-Line :- The leading UK Astronomy Magazine

CCD University :-

Jeff Bondono's Home Page:- So many links to Astronomical sites that I had to include it here !

The Astronomer (The TA) an organisation to support committed observers, they will help check your new Comet or Nova sightings !

SCT Collimation - illustration of how to collimate your Schmitt Cassegrain Telescope - It shows a Meade telescope but we can't all be perfect ! - (Does that explain why the images of the final 'perfect' collimation have a break in the bottom showing a problem with the optics ?)

Epsilon Telescope Accessories – look here for camera mounts & other specialised hardware to help your astronomy. They also offer a ‘made to measure’ machining service for that part you always wanted but could not find ( New July 2004 ).

Sky Diaries

The Society of Popular Astronomy provide a detailed  SkyDiary

There is a SkyDiary maintained by The Jodrell Bank Observatory

The Salopian Web has lots of useful astronomy links as well as a sky diary.

Sky & Telescope Magazine have a lot of events linked from their home page - beware some such as solar eclipses & occultation's may only be visible from North America and the Meteor Showers may occur in daylight !

Not really a sky diary but astronomy.com is the web site of the American Astronomy Magazine - if you sign up you can get EMAIL alerts for a lot of items, while a number are related to space weather and useful for the Aurora fans you can also get notification of IAU circulars, I don't know how good this is - you usually have to pay to get notification of IAU circulars but this appears free.

This site - Your Sky is a web based planetarium programme that allows you to see what is visible from your location

Finally you can always use an astronomical yearbook or an astronomical almanac or planetarium programme and work it out for yourself.