Magic Moments to explore- (note: you may have to cut and paste some of these links into your web browser…if they do not open up easily)

Ravitch answers Gates

By Valerie Strauss

In a paean to Bill Gates, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter calls Diane Ravitch the Microsoft founder’s “chief adversary.”
It’s the world’s richest (or second richest) man vs. an education historian and New York University research professor.
Gates, through his philanthropic foundation, has invested billions of dollars in education experiments and now has a pivotal role in reform efforts. Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration’s education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.
In the Newsweek piece, Gates poses some questions aimed at Ravitch. I asked her to answer them. Below are the questions Gates asked, in bold, and the answers, in italics, that Ravitch provided in an email.

Bill Gates: “If there’s some other magic way to reduce the dropout rate, we’re all ears.”
Ravitch: “Here’s the sad truth: There is no magic way to reduce the dropout rate. It involves looking at the reasons students leave school, as well as the conditions in which they live. The single biggest correlate with low academic achievement (contrary to the film Waiting for Superman) is poverty. Children who grow up in poverty get less medical care. worse nutrition,, and abuse. They are more likely to have relatives who are incarcerated. They are more likely to live in economic insecurity, not knowing if there is enough money for a winter coat or food or housing. This affects their academic performance. They tend to have lower attendance and to be sick more than children whose parents are well-off.
“The United States today has a child poverty rate of over 20%, and it is rising. This is a national scandal. The film compares us to Finland, but doesn’t mention that their child poverty rate is under 5%. Mr. Gates, why don’t you address the root causes of low academic achievement, which is not ‘bad teachers,’ but poverty. It won’t involve magic, but it would certainly require the best thinking that you can assemble. And if anyone can afford to do it, surely you can.
I don’t mean to suggest that schools as they are now are just fine: They are not. Every school should have a rich and balanced curriculum; many don’t. Every child should look forward to coming to school, for his or her favorite studies and activities, but those are the very studies and activities likely to lose out to endless test preparation. Schools need many things: Some need more resources and better conditions for teaching and learning; all need a stable, experienced staff. Teachers need opportunities for intellectual growth and colleagueship. Tests should be used diagnostically, to help students and teachers, not to allocate bonuses and punishments. Teachers, principals, administrators, parents, and local communities should collaborate to create caring communities, and that’s happening in many places. I know that none of this is the “magic way” that you are looking for, Mr. Gates, but any educator will tell you that education is a slow, laborious process that requires good teachers, able leadership, willing students, a strong curriculum, and willing students. None of that happens magically.”

or maybe it does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!P.Suchmann

These are some of my favorite links, many pulled from Listservs over the years. Please let me know if they are helpful. I will be glad to add to this list from your suggestions and develop this page into the “best of the best” for teachers…..enjoy the surf…the water is fine!

education

Ask me about my Earthwatch experience…it was amazing!!!

www.edutopia.org Just an amazing and useful site….

WWW.TED.COM –In my opinion-the best site on the Internet today!

www.movingwindmills.org (everyone should read “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”by William Kamkwamba (Did you see him on the Daily Show?)

www.Greenglovevideo.com My “Magic Moment” music video! Ask me about how much fun this project was– we used www.edmodo.com and www.epals.com also. It won first place in the Town Of North Hempstead 2010 music video competition!

http://earth2class.org/curr_units/index.php. The best resource on the net for new Earth Science teachers.

www.operationsplash.net –get involved -L.I. wages war on pollution!

www.Engineering.com –great games..check them out and assign them to your students. (www.greenglovevideo is hosted here also-check out their other videos!)

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html —-the very best site for Optical Illusions….enjoy!

http://www.tvkim.com/watch/269/kims-picks-blink-and-youll-miss-this-trick-

www.saveamericasforests.org –Learn about the Yasuni Rainforest in Ecuador–Avatar -the movie, for real!!!! (tell them Pete sent you)

My favorite astronomy Links:

http://www.keckobservatory.org/

http://www.planet-science.com/wired/index.html?page=/wired/magicbox/index.html

http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~pgore/astronomy/astr101/ancient.htm

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/history.php

http://www.batesville.k12.in.us/physics/phynet/mechanics/newton1/Copernicus.html

http://www.fullspate.net/archive/relativity.html

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/astronomy/49772

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/kepler.html

http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/www/yp_history.html

http://www.physlink.com/Education/History.cfm

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/grbhist.html

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/

http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sgravity.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/28327/main/exploration/people/ptolemy.html

LISTSERVS and general links for all teachers:

http://www.teachervision.fen.com great links for all subjects

http://www.cln.org/lists/home.html teachers listservs

http://external.oneonta.edu/mentor/listserv.html Oneonta listservs

http://serc.carleton.edu/k12/listservs.html K-12 science listservs

http://www.efn.org/~acd/medievalpage.html

Regents Earth Science resources :

http://mrsciguy.com/resources.html

http://climate.nasa.gov/

http://www.earth2class.org

http://www.nestanet.org

http://www.davinci-center.org

http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/

http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/state/

http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/

www.museumoftheearth.org

http://virtualfieldwork.org

http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/overview.cfm

http://climate.nasa.gov/esw2010/

http://www.nscsd.org/webpages/gflick/earth.cfm

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/islands-space/

http://www.amnh.org/education/teachers/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor&utm_content=130688370&utm_campaign=October2010

www.Mrhatten.com

http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach

http://www.strategies.org/education/index.aspx?sub=education&sub2=scholars&sub3=scholars2011

www.83science.com

http://webs.cmich.edu/resgi /

http://sciencebhakta.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/science-magic-tricks-you-can-do-at-home/

http://csc-s-maps-q.csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/

http://www.regentsearth.com/ES%20links.htm

http://www.newyorkscienceteacher.com

http://www.newyorkscienceteacher.com/sci/pages/esl/es-bi.php

http://sciencereviewgames.com

http://reviewgamezone.com/teacher-info.php

http://moviesheets.com

http://reviewearthscience.com

http://www.greenlocal175.com/urgenews.html environmental information

www.revealingscience.com environmental information

http://timetree.org/ evolution

The Arts and Sciences:

Cut out this amazing dragon and have your kids assemble it…..awesome indeed!

http://www.moillusions.com/2006/03/dragon-illusion.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aIJV5aQR68&feature=fvst SETI@home for your computer

http://www.teachersource.com/Density/Density/PolyDensityKit.aspx magical density demo

htttp://prezi.com/

http://www.storyofmovies.org/

http://tools4teachingscience.org/

http://www.atpm.com/9.08/design.shtml

http://www.billyriggs.com/

http://www.moillusions.com

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/japanese-rice-crop-art.shtml video of rice fields

http://prezi.com/

http://www.storyofmovies.org/

http://tools4teachingscience.org/

http://www.atpm.com/9.08/design.shtml

http://www.billyriggs.com/

http://www.devorahsperber.com/thread_works_index_html_and_2x2s/index.html amazing art with spools of thread-inverted optically.

http://www.hemmy.net/2007/09/23/rice-field-art/ amazingart in the rice fields of Japan

http://brain.mada.org.il/illusions-e.html

http://www.museumspot.com/categories/generalguides.htm

http://www.playauditorium.com

http://vimeo.com/categories/art

http://usa.autodesk.com/

http://students.autodesk.com/

http://www.kidsites.com/sites-edu/science.htm

Music and video

http://www.flixxy.com Best on the web -SAFE

http://vispo.com/jig

http://pandora.com free music genome project

LISTSERVS and general links for all teachers:

http://www.teachervision.fen.com great links for all subjects

http://www.cln.org/lists/home.html teachers listservs

http://external.oneonta.edu/mentor/listserv.html Oneonta listservs

http://serc.carleton.edu/k12/listservs.html K-12 science listservs

http://www.efn.org/~acd/medievalpage.html

www.crayonphysics.com TRY THIS FOR FREE AND THEN PURCHASE IT..YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS WILL LOVE IT…….

Simple Magic Tricks

Simple tricks with paper, scissors, a ruler, a pencil and a coin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jBUwH-TfqQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W21Zw9y9joA&feature=watch_response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgPWg4RX3gQ&feature=watch_response

Math links:

http:/www.squarecirclez.com

http://www.insidemathematics.org/index.php/home

http://mathforum.org/alejandre/magic.square.html

http://www.engineering.com/GamesPuzzles/tabid/82/Default.aspx

http://mathartfun.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/index.html

http://www.cut-the-knot.org/collection.shtml

Card Tricks:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mismag822&annotation_id=annotation_51523&feature=iv

http://www.youtube.com/user/andyfieldmagic

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=calibus71&annotation_id=annotation_558736&feature=iv

http://www.thecardtrickteacher.com/card-trick-video.php?v=5751

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_616795&v=HUQ3eSzX5L8&feature=iv UK

_________________________________________________

“Think” Newspaper–The Newspaper that makes Learning Fun!

www.thinknewspaper.net

What is Think?

A free, sponsor-supported monthly newspaper distributed in the classroom to more than 150,000 kindergarten-8^th-grade students in New Jersey, which is now available on Long Island. (tell them Pete Suchmann sent you)

_____________________________________________________

How magic changes our expectations about autism.

Kuhn G, Kourkoulou A, Leekam SR.

Department of Psychology, School of Social Science, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK. gustav.kuhn@brunel.ac.uk

Abstract

In the vanishing-ball illusion, the magician’s social cues misdirect the audience’s expectations and attention so that the audience “sees” a ball vanish in the air. Because individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are less sensitive to social cues and have superior perception for nonsocial details compared with typically developing individuals, we predicted that they would be less susceptible to the illusion. Surprisingly, the opposite result was found, as individuals with ASD were more susceptible to the illusion than a comparison group. Eye-tracking data indicated that subtle temporal delays in allocating attention might explain their heightened susceptibility. Additionally, although individuals with ASD showed typical patterns of looking to the magician’s face and eyes, they were slower to launch their first saccade to the face and had difficulty in fixating the fast-moving observable ball. Considered together, the results indicate that individuals with ASD have difficulties in rapidly allocating attention toward both people and moving objects.

PMID: 20855904 [PubMed - in process]

_____________________________________________________

For those with time——-

Magic Moments waiting for you…worth checking out…..

Share This:

Dear Peter,

The December 2010 issue of The Population Educator is now available on-line at http://www.populationeducation.org. Click on “Free Newsletter for Teachers” to download the PDF file.

This issue entitled, “New Teaching Resources for a World of 7 Billion”, features our new educational resource, World of 7 Billion. You will find new resources and activities to use in your classroom, as well as a list of conferences where we will be presenting.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to see the file. The program is available free for download at www.adobe.com.

To unsubscribe, please reply to this message and write “unsubscribe” in the body of the message.

Please feel free to write to us at any time with questions or feedback.

Thank you,

Lauren Carlson

Population Connection

www.populationeducation.org

2120 L Street, NW Suite 500 | Washington, DC 20037

Recently I posted the curriculum for the Original Egg Game on YouTube. It’s a great way to see the egg-splorations* in action. My hope for those of you who have not seen the DVD is that this adds value to your egg-sperience*. Now that children and adults seem to be so web based, this ten minute workshop (funshop) may provide inspiration for classrooms and famlies to break out their eggs and boards and try the different methods of play. Happy holidays to all… Thanks for your support!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HhfJsD_u98

–Enjoy,

~eggman*

Erich Jonas, founder.

The Original Egg Game tm.—Tell him Pete sent you—great game!

http://www.egggame.com

406.270.2005

http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html

http://cosmictimes.gsfc.nasa.gov/teachers/

http://cosmictimes.gsfc.nasa.gov/

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/cosmic-times-hot-off-presses.html

Don’t miss out on opportunities available from NASA. Check the link for All Grade Levels, as well as the opportunities links listed in your grade level. Check this page often for new additions.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/current-opps-index.html

All Opportunities (listed in order of expiration)

NASA Space Settlement Design Contest (Grades 5-12)
Design a space colony! Space colonies are permanent communities in orbit, as opposed to being on the moon or other planets. Designing a space colony involves physics, mathematics, space science, environmental science and many other disciplines. This contest is for 11-18-year-old students from anywhere in the world. Individuals or teams may enter. Grades 6-8, 9-10 and 11-12 are judged separately, except for the grand prize. Submissions must be received by March 15, 2011.

2010-2011 NASA Future of Flight Art Contest (Grades 9-12 and Higher Education)
NASA’s Future of Flight Art Contest invites students to imagine what spaceships, rockets or aircraft will look like 100 years from now. High school and college students from all areas of study may enter. Team entries are accepted, but team size is limited to eight students. Entries will be accepted in the following categories: two-dimensional art, three-dimensional art, digital (including music and video) and literature (poetry and short stories). Entries are due April 15, 2011.

2010-2011 Green Aviation Student Competition (Higher Education)
The Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project invites undergraduate and graduate students to submit a well-documented design paper for a 200-passenger aircraft that produces less noise, fewer emissions and is more fuel-efficient than current models. Participants, either teams or individuals, must be enrolled full time in an accredited college or university. International students may participate but are not eligible for cash prizes or student internships. Entries are due May 2, 2011.

2011 Space Tech Engineering Design Challenge (Higher Education)
Students are invited to design a technology that will help further space exploration and development. Designs may relate to autonomous operations; entry, descent and landing; human factors; power/propulsion; or robotics (not related to in-situ lunar samples). The contest is open to any full-time student enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution in the United States. A notice of intent is requested as soon as possible. Final entries are due June 1, 2011.

Solar System Ambassador Events for Summer and Fall 2010 (All Grade Levels)
Kick off the school year with presentations by NASA Solar System Ambassadors at local venues — libraries, schools, state parks, museums and more — across the U.S. Themes planned for these public events include “Telescope 101,” “Night Sky Tour,” “Saturn: The Ringed Planet Up Close and Personal,” and “Why Isn’t Pluto a Planet Anymore?” Events are planned throughout the summer and autumn. Visit the Solar System Ambassadors website for a calendar of events.

NASA Explorer Schools Registration Open (Grades K-12)
Register today to take part in the new NASA Explorer Schools project. NES offers multiple pathways for participation and recognition for middle school (grades 4-8) and high school (grades 9-12) classrooms. The project requires no application process. Project materials are freely available to all types of schools. Participants may be individual educators, teams of educators or whole schools. Participants have access to NASA opportunities and are recognized for innovative use of NASA educational resources and demonstration of best practices in STEM education.

Fly Your Face in Space (All Grade Levels)
NASA wants to launch a picture of you on one of the remaining space shuttle missions. After registering at the Face in Space Web site, you’ll be able to upload an image that will be put on a disc and flown aboard a shuttle on a future mission. After launch, participants will be able to print a commemorative certificate signed by the mission commander. From the Face in Space site you can also check on mission status, find NASA educational resources, and follow the crew on Twitter or Facebook.

Send Your Name to Mars (All Grade Levels)
NASA invites you to submit your name to be included on a microchip that will be sent to Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, scheduled to launch in 2011. The Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or still is, an environment able to support microbial life. Participants can print a certificate of participation and view a map showing where other contributors are from.

Hubble 3D Movie Blasts into IMAX® and IMAX® 3D Theatres (All Grade Levels)
Treat your students to the ultimate field trip! Through the power of IMAX® 3-D, journey through distant galaxies to explore the mysteries of our celestial surroundings, accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult tasks in NASA history, and experience never-before-seen 3-D flights through Hubble imagery. Classroom activities inspired by the film are available for downloading. Exclusive IMAX engagements began on March 19, 2010.

“From Earth to the Universe” Exhibit (All Grade Levels)
“From Earth to the Universe” is a collection of astronomical images that showcase the most dramatic views of the universe. The images represent the incredible variety of astronomical objects that are known to exist — planets, comets, stars, nebulae, galaxies and the clusters in which they congregate — and are being exhibited in over 250 locations throughout the world in 2009 and 2010. Over 60 countries are scheduled to host a FETTU exhibit.

Rock Around the World (Grades K-4)
Mars scientists are asking students from around the world to help them understand the red planet. Send in a rock collected by you or your classroom from your region of the world, and we will use a special tool like the one on the rover to tell you what it’s made of. Then everyone can compare their rocks to the ones found on Mars.

Student Opportunity: Odyssey of the Mind (Grades K-12)
The Earth Observing System Project Science Office is sponsoring an Odyssey of the Mind Long-Term Problem — Earth Trek. Teams will design and build a small vehicle that will visit four locations. Each time it leaves a location, the vehicle will look different. After leaving one of the locations, it will appear to be a group of vehicles traveling together. The team’s performance will incorporate the visits to the locations, the environments and the changes in appearance of the vehicle.

Free Teaching Tools Aligned to State Science Education Standards (Grades K-12)
A series of free curriculum supplements from the National Institutes of Health aimed at promoting science education achievement is now aligned to individual state education standards in science, math, health and English language arts for grades K-12. The ongoing series promotes inquiry-based, interdisciplinary learning. The series currently includes 16 supplements on such topics as genetics, infectious diseases and cell biology. Visit the site to request these free education supplements.

Teacher Opportunity: Fit Explorer Challenge (Grades K-12, Informal Education)
Inspire the nation’s future explorers by joining NASA and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in a variety of exciting physical and hands-on educational activities to encourage students to train like astronauts. Students in grades 3-5 will track their progress, learn the science behind nutritional and physical fitness, and relate physical Earth-based needs to the requirements of exploring in space.

Teacher and Student Opportunity: Ames Education Associates Project (Higher Education)
The Ames Education Associates Program is a unique experiential learning program that provides students or faculty members at U.S. colleges or universities, postdoctoral fellows and active K-12 teachers the opportunity to “experience NASA.” Educational Associates will participate in and contribute to a project at a NASA facility for a minimum of two months, and a maximum of 12. The program operates year round and positions may start and end at any time.

Research Scholarship: NASA Astrobiology Institute (Higher Education)
The NASA Astrobiology Institute Research Scholarship Project offers research-related travel support that enables graduate or postdoctoral students to circulate among two or more NAI teams or participating institutions of the NAI. Requests are accepted on a continuous basis.

Grades K-4

Geography Trivia From Space Contest (All Grade Levels)
During his six-month stay on the International Space Station, astronaut Scott Kelly wants to test your knowledge of the world through a geography trivia game on Twitter. Kelly will tweet a picture and ask the public to identify the place depicted in the photo. The first person to correctly identify the place will win an autographed copy of the picture. Kelly plans to continue posting contest photos until he returns from the space station in March 2011.

Grades 5-8

Grades 9-12

Higher Education

2010 NASA Postdoctoral Program (Higher Education)
The NASA Postdoctoral Program provides talented postdoctoral scientists and engineers with valuable opportunities to engage in ongoing NASA research programs. These one- to three-year fellowship appointments are designed to advance NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems and astrobiology. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or an equivalent doctorate degree before beginning the fellowship. Applications are accepted Nov. 1, March 1, and July 1.

Informal Education

Teacher Opportunity: Fit Explorer Challenge (Grades K-12, Informal)
Inspire the nation’s future explorers by joining NASA and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in a variety of exciting physical and hands-on educational activities to encourage students to train like astronauts. Students in grades 3-5 will track their progress, learn the science behind nutritional and physical fitness, and relate physical Earth-based needs to the requirements of exploring in space.

and still more—–

Click here: http://www.earthscience-westchester.org/Earth_Science/Upcoming_Events/Entries/2010/12/16_Technology_in_the_Classroom.html

http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/state/

http://www.kidsites.com/sites-edu/science.htm

Online Solar PV Calculator:
SunshineIsFree.org
LIGreenGuide:
LIGreenGuide.org
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reLI Professional Membership:
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Events Calendar:
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Shop for reLI products online at:
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Recycle Holiday Lights by Mail:
holidayleds.com/holidayledscom_christmas_light_recycling_program
LIPA’s Solar Hot Water Rebate
lipower.org/residential/efficiency/renewables/solar-hotwater.html
Find A Solar PV Contractor:
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Become a reLI Member:
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reLI relies on your support! Without financial support from our generous donors, we could not advocate for clean, renewable energy for Long Island. Please make a $10, $35 or $50 donation today to help us continue our mission to move to clean, reliable fossil fuel-free energy in 2011. You can make a donation online via PayPal by clicking here: RenewableEnergyLongIsland.org/join.cfm or you can print this form and mail a check for your contribution: http://www.renewableenergylongisland.org/membershipform.cfm.

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Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI)

http://cirm.ca.gov/Stem_Cell_Education_Portal stem cell portal

http://cirm.ca.gov/introductory_lessons stem cell power points and videos

games like fold.it

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/08/17/50-great-sites-for-serious-educational-games/

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/03/03/100-amazing-videos-for-teaching-and-studying-physics/

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/03/07/10-most-valuable-books-in-the-world/

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/03/21/untag-it-social-media-and-the-professional-world/

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/03/23/the-ten-fastest-growing-jobs-you-should-go-to-school-for-today/

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/03/29/make-or-break-teacher-recommendations/

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/03/28/80-essential-blogs-for-the-modern-day-marketing-students/

Websites of Astronomical Interest

Compiled by Dr. Pete Saracino 9/1/10

1. Astronomy Picture of the Day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Its archives goes back to 1995!

2. Earth & Sky

http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching/

This is a great website for learning your way around the night sky. This site uses Starry Night software so you have a “picture” of what you’re looking for – complete with horizon. Each day’s segment is designed to guide your eye to something you can see that night, or the next morning before dawn – a constellation, a star, a planet, or a celestial event, such as an eclipse. It’s like having a knowledgeable friend with you who knows the night sky.

3. Jack Horkheimer’s Star Gazer

http://www.jackstargazer.com/

This is a site where you can view a 1 minute or 5 minute streaming video version of Horkheimer’s weekly television series on naked eye astronomy, “Star Gazer”. Each weekly episode features selected objects for naked eye viewing for the following week. Please note: you’ll need Real Player to use this site.

4. Sky & Telescope’s “This Week’s Sky at a Glance”

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/article_110_1.asp

What the sky is doing on a nightly and weekly basis.

5. Sky & Telescope’s “Observing Almanac”

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/almanac/#

6. Astronomy Magazine’s “The Sky This Month”

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ss&id=84

What the sky is doing on a nightly or weekly basis.

7. Sky Maps for the Monthly Sky

http://www.skymaps.com/

Just what the name says – and for free!

8. More Sky Maps (Orion Telescopes)

http://content.telescope.com/rsc/img/catalog/lc/starcharts/08Aug09StarChart_clr.pdf

9. Heavens-Above.com

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Do you want to witness fly-bys of the International Space Station, Envisat, Hubble Telescope, asteroids, and even comets? Then punch in your home location to find times and maps for your locale.

10. Space Weather

http://www.spaceweather.com/

News and information about the Sun-earth environment including information on Aurora watches, near-earth asteroids, times of transit of Venus, storms on Jupiter, and even the density of the solar wind.

11. Space Weather Center

http://www.spaceweathercenter.org/

12. Inconstant Moon

http://www.inconstantmoon.com/index.htm

A great site for moon exploration. Take a tour each night with maps, photos, explanations, animations, and even music!

13. Windows to the Universe

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/

Space weather, space missions, planets, solar system, astronomy and the universe, myths, art, books, films, history and people, geology, life, physics, images and multimedia.

14. Hubble Heritage Project

http://heritage.stsci.edu/

Great shots from the Hubble Telescope

15. Sky View Café

http://www.skyviewcafe.com/skyview.php

Go to this site and have fun. Read the “Help” page. Really! There’s plenty of good information there and a lot that “Sky View Café” can do! Fascinating!

16. U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department

http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications

Good page for almanacs, software, web services. Great place to obtain precise astronomical data for practical applications, i.e. sunrise and set times; moonrise and set time; sun angle at various times of the day, etc.

17. Astronomy Café

http://www.astronomycafe.net/

This is a website for the “astronomically disadvantaged.” Get your questions about space answered. Learn about a career in astronomy, big bang cosmology, and many other hot topics in astronomy.

18. Multiwavelength Astronomy

http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu//

Awesome website to learn about ALL of the “flavors” of light!

19. Space.com

http://space.com/

A virtual wealth of information about everything having to do with “Space”: latest news, spaceflight, science, technology, spaceviews, nightsky, even entertainment!

20. 2009 International Year of Astronomy

http://www.astronomy2009.org/

Incredible site about the 2009 year dedicated as the “International Year of Astronomy”. This will keep you busy for a long time!

21. The Astronomy of Many Cultures: A Resource Guide

http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/multi.html

A great introduction to the study of astronomy in various cultures. It’s designed to help teachers, students and members of the public learn more about non-traditional astronomies.

22. Traditions of the Sun/Ancient Observatories

http://www.traditionsofthesun.org/

23. Bad Astronomy

http://www.badastronomy.com/bitesize/pantry.html

24. Astronomical Dictionary

http://www.starrynight.com/starrynight_dictionary.html

25. Astronomical Pronunciation Guide

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/lc_pronunciation.html

26. Search for Life (Intelligent and Otherwise)

http://www.seti.org/Page.aspx?pid=235

27. NASA Astrobiology Institute

http://www.nasa.gov/