OBSERVING GALAXIES

http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/observing-resources/10_Observing_Galaxies.pdf

Geologic Atlas of the Moon

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/usgs/

Mercury Map Catalog

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mercury_maps/

Hickson Catalog of Compact Groups of Galaxies

A Complete Observing Atlas of All 100 Groups pdf

http://www.biophysik.uni-freiburg.de/Reiner/ATM/pdf/Hickson.pdf

Bag All the Messier Objects in One Night

Bag All the Messier Objects in One Night PDF

HomeMade Telescope

Apollo Mission Lunar Photography Index Maps

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/apolloindex/

OBSERVING STAR CLUSTERS

http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/observing-resources/08_Observing_Star_Clusters.pdf

Telescope Simulator

http://www.telescope-simulator.com/index.php/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=57

Our small world

How to Buy a Telescope : Telescope Buying Guide: Refracting Telescopes

Lunar Earthside, Farside, and Polar Charts (LMP) Series

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LMP/

Deepsky Observer's Companion

The complete "Deepsky Observer's Companion" observing guide can now also be downloaded as a 640K PDF file.

The names of the moon

January: Old Moon, or Moon After Yule
February: Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, or Wolf Moon
March: Sap Moon, Crow Moon or Lenten Moon
April: Grass Moon, or Egg Moon
May: Planting Moon, or Milk Moon
June: Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon
July: Thunder Moon, or Hay Moon
August: Green Corn Moon, or Grain Moon
September: Fruit Moon, or Harvest Moon
October: Harvest Moon, or Hunter’s Moon
November: Hunter’s Moon, Frosty Moon, or Beaver Moon
December: Moon Before Yule, or Long Night Moon

Mars Guide 2007

old Mars Guide

http://www.starrynight.com/sntimes/2008/01/wwwgfx_cur/MarsGuide2007.pdf

Discover the deepsky for yourself presented by the ASSA Deepsky Observing Section

Learn the constellations, while discovering the deepsky for yourself, with this free workbook

Lunar Chart (LPC-1)

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LC1/index.html

Find a Galaxy

Off the Deep End

10 Challenging Observing Projects
http://www.observers.org/GSSP/GSSP_2007.html

Lunar Shaded Relief (LSR) Series

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LSR/

Lunar Map (LM) Series

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LM/

2 Nice Mars Maps

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mars_maps/

HQ Lunar Chart (LAC) Series

Aeronautical Chart Information Center, United States Air Force
1:1,000,000
Mercator and Lambert Conformal Conic

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LAC/

Wall Murals from Hubble

Make a wall of your home into a picture window onto the universe.

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wall_murals/

Cool Cosmos

A place for kids
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/index.html

GSSP collection of lists of things to observe

GSSP Variety Pack Descriptive file

Paul Alsing

PDF PDF

30MB file.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Moon

A guide to telescopic observations of the moon
by Akkana Peck, with help from many contributors

http://www.shallowsky.com/moon/hitchhiker.html

Free software for Moon observation or survey

http://ap-i.net/avl/en/start

USNO Moon Phase Calculator

USNO Moon Phase Calculator

BINOCULARS: An Essential Tool for Backyard Astronomers

PDF
http://www.skynewsmagazine.com/PDF/binoculars.pdf

Digital Astrophotography References PDF

http://www.stargazing.net/david/ccd/ccdref.pdf

Simple Guide to Backyard Astronomy using Binoculars or a Small Telescope

http://www.carolrpt.com/astroguide.htm

Planisphere v2.0

Make your own planisphere. Download a free program from Jan Tosovsky website. (link..)

SAC'S 110 Best of the NGC Guide Book

http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/Book_110BestOfNGC.htm

NAVY Data Services

Rise/Set/Transit/Twilight Data

• Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day
• Table of Sunrise/Sunset, Moonrise/Moonset, or Twilight Times for an Entire Year
• Rise/Set/Transit Times for Major Solar System Objects and Bright Stars
• Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year

Phases of the Moon

• Dates of Primary Phases of the Moon
• Fraction of the Moon Illuminated
• What the Moon Looks Like Today

Eclipses and Transits

• Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
• Solar Eclipse Computer
  Computes circumstances for selected solar eclipses at any given location.
• Lunar Eclipse Computer
  Computes circumstances for selected lunar eclipses at any given location.
• Recent and Upcoming Transits of Mercury and Venus
• Transit Computer
  Computes circumstances for selected transits of Mercury and Venus at any given location.

Positions of Selected Celestial Objects

• Altitude and Azimuth of the Sun or Moon During One Day
• Topocentric Configuration of Major Solar System Bodies
  Provides tables of low precision topocentric position data for the Sun, Moon, and major planets.
• Geocentric Positions of Major Solar System Objects and Bright Stars
  Provides high precision geocentric position data for the Sun, Moon, major planets and selected bright stars.
• Topocentric Positions of Major Solar System Objects and Bright Stars
  Provides high precision topocentric position data for the Sun, Moon, major planets and selected bright stars.

Synthetic Views of the Earth and Solar System Bodies

• Day and Night Across the Earth
  Creates synthetic views of the Earth's surface (in grayscale or color) for any date and time.
• Apparent Disk of Solar System Object
  Creates a synthetic image of the telescopic appearance of the Moon or other solar system object for specified date and time.

Dates

• Earth's Seasons - Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion 2000-2020
• Spring Phenomena, 25 BCE to 38 CE
• Julian Date Conversion

Celestial Navigation

• Celestial Navigation Data
  Provides computed altitudes and azimuths and other data for an assumed position and time.
• Navigational Star Chart

Miscellaneous

• Astronomical Almanac Online
  Provides complementary data to the printed Astronomical Almanac.
• International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) - Important links relating to the implementation of the ICRS
• Occultations of Stars by Asteroids (International Occultation Timing Association)

How to Use Telescopes : Tools to Aid Telescope Viewing

stuff i find

400 Years of the Telescope - HD Trailer

IYA2009 Galileo Observing whit a New Technology Telescope International Year of Astronomy 2009

The Star of Bethlehem

a pdf on The Star of Bethlehem

The Denver Observer's Seat

I made this seat after reading this its the best seat i have
http://www.denverastrosociety.org/dfiles/carlson/denver_chair.html

WAA Trailer 1 from NSC Creative on Vimeo.

love it

Just a heads up out there looking for people to blog here

email me if you want in LQQKEY@comcast.net

Galaxy Zoo

Galaxy Zoo, where you can help astronomers explore the Universe

https://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Downloadable Observing guides.

The Local Group – Galaxies
Selected Small Galaxy Groups
Selected Galaxy Trios
Selected Shakhbazian Galaxy Groups
Abell Galaxy Clusters
Globular Clusters
Planetary Nebulae

got the info from here FaintFuzzies.com

Telrad Messier object charts

Pdf
http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html

Astro Helper

Free software to help the Dob users find DSOs in seconds not hours.
http://casazza.net/astrohelper/

Tonight's Sky

This site will help you plan you observing sessions by helping you find objects of interest in your sky.

http://www.tonightssky.com/MainPage.php

Juplet

The "Juplet" Java applet shows the positions of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, their shadows, and the great red spot

http://www.shallowsky.com/jupiter.html

Cool IPhone App

StarMap
http://star-map.fr/

The Caldwell Catalogue Telrad® Finder Charts

Caldwell Catalogue Telrad Charts

Make your own planisphere

make your own planisphere This is cool

Observing list generator for amateur astronomers

Observing list generator for amateur astronomers

Galaxies and Galaxy Clusters
Open and Globular Clusters
Bright and Dark Nebulae
Planetary Nebulae
All objects within a Constellation
The Herschel 2500 Objects by Constellation
Double Stars by Constellation

New search tool

Wolfram Alpha
a powerful new search tool geared at science, math and other data searches

Spezify
another visual search engine currently in beta, is quietly emerging

Freebase
a lesser known but ambitious project to organize data, also continues to grow

Viewzi
a visual search engine with really promising features continues to get better

Meade Telescope Serial Command Protocol

Meade Telescope Serial Command Protocol PDF

How to Build a Dobsonian Telescope

How to Build a Dobsonian Telescope
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/raycash/manualv2.pdf

Cartes du Ciel Sky Charts

This program enables you to draw sky charts, making use of the data in 16 catalogs of stars and nebulae.
In addition the position of planets, asteroids and comets are shown.

http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/

Deep Sky catalogs

BEST OBJECTS IN THE NEW GENERAL CATALOG
Historical Deep Sky Object List
ARVAL Catalog of Guide Stars
ARVAL Catalog of Bright Open Clusters
The ARVAL Catalog of Bright Globular Clusters
The ARVAL Catalog of Bright Galaxies
The ARVAL Catalog of Bright Nebulae
The ARVAL Catalog of Bright Planetary Nebulae
Messier Catalog, ordered by Season
The Jack Bennett Catalog
Southern Sky Binocular Club
Binocular Deep Sky observing beyond Messier

Estimating Limiting Magnitude

found this nice website
http://obs.nineplanets.org/lm/rjm.html

WorldWide Telescope

WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world. Experience narrated guided tours from astronomers and educators featuring interesting places in the sky.


http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/Home.aspx

Worldwide telescope from Jesse Pickard on Vimeo.

Stellarium

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.

http://www.stellarium.org/

Free Beginners Star Atlas in PDF mag 4

intended to beginners for binocular observations, sky reviews, and wide field astrophotography
Format: A4
Charts number: 6
Stars: < 6 - 6,15m
Objects: < 8,75 - 9m
Dec. range: +90° - -90°
Software used: Cartes Du Ciel, Inkscape, Open Office, CutePDF (all freeware)

Download:

http://www.eproject.ru/beginners_star_atlas1.pdf (184kb)
http://www.eproject.ru/beginners_star_atlas2.pdf (184kb)
http://www.eproject.ru/beginners_star_atlas3.pdf (188kb)
http://www.eproject.ru/beginners_star_atlas4.pdf (182kb)
http://www.eproject.ru/beginners_star_atlas5.pdf (173kb)
http://www.eproject.ru/beginners_star_atlas6.pdf (204kb)

http://www.eproject.ru/catalog.pdf (65kb)

FREE* Sky Maps Each Month

download latest issue

Some nice handbooks

Observing Challenges
all should download this

TriAtlas free

TriAtlas

one word "nice"

free logs

Deep Sky Observation Form
Observing Log
Log and Sketch Template
Camera log
Telescope Checklist
Observation sheet 1
Observation sheet 2
Observation sheet 3
Caldwell Object Log
The Simple Observing Log
The Ultimate Messier Object Log
The Overlooked Objects Log

The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project

free star atlas

StarHopping 101

StarHopping 101

30 minute video describes how to

Star Hopping Guide to the Messier Marathon

this is a good guide

Free star Charts

Free PDF Star Charts for the SFA Observatory

Download SFA Star Charts ^[PDF]

Online tools for astronomy

If you know of some more tool that would help this list post a comment

Moon's Phase
Astronomical Sky Calender
Daily Almanac
Hourly Airmass Tables
Object Seasonal Observability
Planetary Positions
Hartmann mask gen

This is the start

I would like this blog to be all about telescope big and small. Let me know if you would like to publish on this blog by sending me your email.

The Night Sky This Week

This is a simple but very useful site which gives clear information on planetary cycles and notable sky events, including details on the most important asteroids, comets, and meteor showers.

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/about/