TOURBUS: Tuesday, October 1, 1996

DRIVER: Bob Rankin

TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP:
Astronomy on the Internet
(or "Geeks in Spaaaaaaaaace!")


Today's Bus ride comes to you courtesy of my brother Tom Rankin, a
Computer Programmer by day for IBM, and an amateur astronomer by
night.  Tom is Vice-President of the Mid-Hudson Astronomy Association,
(http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/5679), and author of its web
page.  You can visit Tom's home page at http://www1.mhv.net/~trankin
or e-mail him at trankin@mhv.net.

Tom also does astro-photography, and has captured what he thinks is
the trail of Comet Hyakupasta.  But I've closely examined the film and
well, it looks suspiciously like the home page of today's sponsor...
*---------------------( THE NOODLES ARE COMING!! )-------------------*
The Flying Noodle has a cool collection of gourmet pastas and sauces.
Mention The Tourbus and we'll take $5 off your first order over $20.
*--------------------( http://www.flyingnoodle.com )-----------------*

---Snip---
An Introduction to Astronomy on the Internet

The sources of Astronomy information on the Internet are too numerous
to even list in the space I've been given.  Many Universities,
observatories and other organizations, both amateur and professional,
exist on the Web. This became very obvious when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
crashed into Jupiter a few years ago.  Data came pouring in almost
instantly from all over the world, (even Antarctica!), and flooded the
net with great images of the impact.  There were movies, simulations,
graphs, images and text, each describing this monumental event in a
unique way. I noticed a few of the same images on TV one night that I
had already seen on the Net!  The same type of thing happened when
Comet Hyakutake appeared in the sky last March.

Astronomy can be conveyed with either images or words.  Both are
effective means of communication, and the Internet is perfectly suited
for bringing pictures and data together onto one screen for an even
greater impact.  This article will tell you where to get both graphical
and text-based Astronomy Information on the Internet.  I'll include
some links, and I'll leave some for you to discover yourself.  There's
plenty of search engines for you to explore, and you'll probably find
even more that way than just by reading my article.

Here are some Internet resources for Astronomy that I use regularly:

USENET

There are several newsgroups worth following, my favorite being
sci.astro.amateur.  As the name implies, here is where amateur
astronomers can exchange information and ask questions to enhance their
understanding of astronomy.  Recently, we were discussing the Lunar
Eclipse.  Since the eclipse was largely clouded out where I live, I was
interested in knowing how it appeared to other people.  If you're more
interested in cosmology, try sci.astro.  (Warning! This group is filled
with people who try to 'sell' their own peculiar ideas to anyone who
will listen. This frequently creates a very low signal-to-noise ratio
in this news group, but there is some good to be gleaned from it, if
you know who to ignore).  To keep up with what's going on in the
various space programs, try sci.space.news.  There are other newsgroups
in the sci.space and sci.astro hierarchy; I'll let you check them out
for yourself if you're interested.

World Wide Web

Some of the hot spots on the Web for Astronomy right now are:


The Hubble Space Telescope News Page, located at
  http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Latest.html contains both text and images of the latest discoveries made by the HST, not to mention the
  best of past discoveries.
The Galileo Space Probe Home Page, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo
  is updated every day with amazing images and other data from the
  Planet Jupiter and its moons.
The Comet Home Page, http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/ where you can find
  the latest information on Comet Hale-Bopp and many other Comets.
ASTRONOMY Magazine, http://www.kalmbach.com/astro/astronomy.html is the web version of this hard copy Magazine.  It's updated every
    week with astronomy news.

Sky & Telescope Magazine, at http://www.skypub.com/news/news.html
    is a magazine for the more technically advanced reader, but the
    Home Page is written so that anyone can understand it.

The Nine Planets, located at
  http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/billa/tnp/nineplanets.html is an
  excellent introduction to the solar system (covering much more than
  just the nine major planets).  I should know, I helped edit this
  Page!

For a listing of many Astronomy Clubs and other related organizations
  on-line, check out AstroNet, at http://www.rahul.net/resource/regular/clubs-etc/clubsetc.html

If you're looking for a used telescope, or if you have equipment
  you'd like to sell, try ASTROMART, at http://www.astromart.com.  Every time I've used it, I've received LOTS of responses!


Software

There are thousands of astronomy software programs available on the
net.  Check the FTP and shareware sites and search for 'astronomy'. One
of my favorites is called SkyMap, which is shareware. It even has a
Home Page.  I'll leave finding this one to you, but I know that Yahoo,
at http://www.yahoo.com can direct you to it.
---Snip---

Thanks, bro!  See you all next time!  --Bob

=======================================================================
                  Sick and Tired of TechnoBabble?
   ----->  "Doctor Bob's Painless Guide To The Internet"  <-----
 ...explains it all in 145 painless pages.  So don't be a Dummy...
         Visit http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin for details!
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