Links to Other Worlds
Before you zoom off to other corners of the cosmos, perhaps you'd like a guide to several fun places that will stir the imagination and engage your interest. These places are some of the other worlds I like to visit from time to time, and they aren't that far away. (Scroll down for a full list.)
What's the current weather in outer space? Click here. What's the current phase of the Moon? Look here.
Read and hear a daily installment of StarDate, featuring the radio talent of Sandy Wood, who also lends her voice to the audio descriptions to Celestron's personal planetarium known as Sky Scout. This nifty device makes a great stocking stuffer!
And here's talent of a musical sort. If you're interested in instrumental music to accompany your nightly stargazing, or just want to hear good keyboard solos, check out the piano melodies of a rising star, Giselle Bonfaire, right here. One listen to a sample and you'll want to buy her music CD.
Find something new in the cosmos, such as news about outer space or about America's civilian space program, every day at Space.com, which also produces the planetarium program known as Starry Night.
Read what others are saying about mysteries of the cosmos and wonders of the night sky at Astronomy.com.
Listings for observatories, telescopes, space art, planetariums, amateur activities, astronomy education, and more, all here.
A really cool set of cosmic pix new every day from this website known as Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Need to know the exact time? Visit the U. S. Naval Observatory at this website here. There you will also find weekly sky updates, storm warnings, and all things of importance both meteorologic and oceanographic.
If you're really, really, worried about radioactive fallout from damaged reactors, cosmic rays from outer space, or background radiation from Mother Nature herself, then click on this to check on real-time radiation levels in your area.
Perhaps the kids will enjoy their own website here with all sorts of fun activities for the youngsters and their teachers.
Of course, you shouldn't stare at the Sun, but here is the safest place to do it. See the latest images from SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in outer space.
It's coming! This year marks the second transit of Venus, the crossing of that planet across the face of the Sun as seen from Earth. It's a rare event, but we're fortunate to have the chance to view two within our lifetime. The last transit was visible at dawn on June 8, 2004; the next will be visible at sunset on June 5, 2012. To learn more about this, visit this site hosted by the Astronomy Club of Akron. More info later at Sky Roundup.
Have you seen the International Space Station moving brightly across the sky? Go to this website to find the date, time, and where to look to see $100 billion of spacecraft in orbit. At that price, it ought to be bright!
Links to other worlds include insights to our own world and how it can work. At this link, here's a fresh insight from businesswoman Mona Pearl and a look into the complicated world of doing business, that is, how to grow globally, in overseas markets. Check out her new book on the subject.
If you'd simply like to visit my website for artwork alone, then click here and browse my growing online gallery.
If you'd like to get started with your own website and sell your own photographs, sketches, paintings, and drawings, then click on the box (below) to get underway. It's fast and easy to do, and you can make money at it as well!
A good time for all
Hey, look at this! A great day for astronomy in the Midwest!
On Saturday, August 20, 2011, the Geauga Park District opened its new educational facility known as Observatory Park. Located in Montville Township in northeast Ohio, the 1100-acre facilty features the headwaters of the mighty Cuyahoga River, scenic trails and sprawling woodlands, a central plaza for observing the changes of seasons and the time of day, sculpture depicting Moon phases and the constellations, a visitors center with its own digital planetarium, an observatory with a roof to open to the skies, and outdoor pads and power for amateur telescopes.
What's especially noteworthy is that Observatory Park is now designated as a premier dark-sky site for astronomical observing and educational advancement.
Additional features in the coming months will include a hiking trail to the planets, a large research-grade observatory (at an adjacent site), and replicas of the base of the great pyramid at Giza, Egypt, and huge henge stones for sighting the heavens.
Not only did the fine folks of the Geauga Park District open the new Observatory Park, they also threw a birthday bash, to celebrate their 50 years of bringing the natural world, earth and sky, to their patrons and the visiting public.
Here's a link to their official announcement. Here's also a link to the article about the opening of Observatory Park as featured by Sky and Telescope Magazine.
Take a look (below) at the festivities from that fine Saturday.
On Saturday, August 20, 2011, the Geauga Park District opened its new educational facility known as Observatory Park. Located in Montville Township in northeast Ohio, the 1100-acre facilty features the headwaters of the mighty Cuyahoga River, scenic trails and sprawling woodlands, a central plaza for observing the changes of seasons and the time of day, sculpture depicting Moon phases and the constellations, a visitors center with its own digital planetarium, an observatory with a roof to open to the skies, and outdoor pads and power for amateur telescopes.
What's especially noteworthy is that Observatory Park is now designated as a premier dark-sky site for astronomical observing and educational advancement.
Additional features in the coming months will include a hiking trail to the planets, a large research-grade observatory (at an adjacent site), and replicas of the base of the great pyramid at Giza, Egypt, and huge henge stones for sighting the heavens.
Not only did the fine folks of the Geauga Park District open the new Observatory Park, they also threw a birthday bash, to celebrate their 50 years of bringing the natural world, earth and sky, to their patrons and the visiting public.
Here's a link to their official announcement. Here's also a link to the article about the opening of Observatory Park as featured by Sky and Telescope Magazine.
Take a look (below) at the festivities from that fine Saturday.
There's more to learn about this distinctive venue known as Observatory Park. Click here to learn more. Plan to visit soon.