SUNSET: 
Links for Observing & More!
Observing Guides Anthony Mallama's Lunar Eclipse Page Astra's Star Gate Astronomica Langrenus Astronomical League Youth Resources Astronomy with a 60-mm Refractor Atmospheric Optics Aurora Page Astronomy and Astromicroscopy Binary Stars Ray Cash's Deep-Sky Page Comets and Meteor Showers Ben Crowell's BinoSky Deep-Sky.org Denis Fell's Astro Page Dennis Ward's "The Silicon…
Online Astronomy Newsletters & Web Portals
AmSky AstroNews Astronomibladet (Danish) Astronomie.com (German) Astronomy Education Review The Cosmic Mirror Dave's Astronomy Magazine The Lunar Observer Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter MeteoriteTimes.com North American Skies Regulus! Royal Astronomical Society of Canada SPACE.com SACNEWS ScienceWeek Skylights Universe Today
Astronomy Blogs & Podcasts
Blogs SkyandTelescope.com's Blogs Above the Clouds Aditi's Astro-Area Astronomy Blog Astroprof's Page A Voyage To Arcturus Kaustav Bhattacharya's Astro London boyruageek James Butler's Astro Diary Centauri Dreams Clear Skies on Demand Varun Khetarpal's Explore Universe Space Blog Rob Kosinski's Dirty Skies Megan's Blog Ian Musgrave's Astroblog NYC Nova Hunter Observing…
Online Star Charts
SkyandTelescope.com's Interactive Sky Chart AstroImage AstroViewer Hawaiian Astronomical Society's Storybook and Deepsky Atlas Heavens Above National Geographic's Star Chart Nearest and Brightest Stars in VRML Sky View Café Project DeepSkyMap StarGazer Java atlas Starchart Map Server Skymaps.com Weather Underground Sky Chart
Magazines and Journals
Amateur Astronomy Magazine Astronomical JournalAstronomical Review Astronomie Heute (German language) Astronomy Education Review Astronomy Now Astrophysical Journal and Astrophysical Journal Letters Australian Sky & Telescope Coelum (Italian language) EurekAlert! science research news server Icarus Journal of the British Astronomical Association Mercury Meteorite! Nature The Planetarian Popular Astronomy Publications of the…
Professional Research Links
American Astronomical Society (AAS) American Meteor Society Astrophysical Institute of the Canary Islands Berkeley Illinois Maryland Association (BIMA) Brown University Planetary Geology California Space Institute Canadian Space Agency Meteorites and Impacts Advisory Committee Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) High…
How can I polar align in the daytime?
I want to see a planetary transit. How can I polar align my telescope in the daytime? One good way is to use the Sun. Carefully level your mount with a bubble level and set the polar axis to the latitude of your site. Hang a weighted string from the…
How do I clean eyepiece lenses?
Very carefully — and not often! Here are some tips to help you keep your optics clean.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
My Place in the Dark
Twenty weekends and countless trips to the building-supplies store later, I'd done it — I had an observatory to call my own.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
An Observatory with Sails
After working at Sky & Telescope for nearly a decade I got the chance to build the observatory I'd always wanted.
My "Flapping Roof" Observatory
By day my observatory looks like an ordinary (if rather grandiose) garden shed. At night the roof sections go down and back up. They "flap" like a bird's wings.
A Scale of Seeing
Amateurs long have recorded the seeing quality in their observing logbooks on a rather subjective scale of 1 to 10, with 1 hopeless and 10 perfect.
Choosing Your Astronomy Equipment
A Pupil Primer: How Big Should a Telescope's Exit Pupil Be?
Image brightness, magnification, and why the old ideal of a 7-millimeter exit pupil is not so ideal at all.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
Accurate Polar Alignment with Your Telescope
Long-exposure astrophotography requires an accurately aligned equatorial mount.
Light Pollution In The Night Sky
Light pollution has become so pervasive that it compromises the view of the universe for an estimated 90 percent of Americans.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
8 Backyard Observatory Mistakes to Avoid
Here are a few potential problems that you might not see on your blueprints.
Choosing Your Astronomy Equipment
Binocular Basics: Glossary of Binocular Terms
Exit pupils. Eye relief. Image stabilization. What matters most for astronomers? Our expert explains it all.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
Collimation Tools
Three tools are commonly used to collimate Newtonian reflectors.
Freeware from Sky & Telescope
Handy — and free — observing and optics utilities.
Astronomy Software: Public Domain, Freeware, and Shareware
Dozens of free or inexpensive computer programs can aid your observing or simply allow you to explore the sky.
