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Special Section:
Life on Mars?

Sites of the Week for October 1997

Week of October 6, 1997

Astronomy News and Links

Astronomy News and Links provides a comprehensive list of links with the latest news about a wide range of astronomy topics. The site includes recently-updated links to news about spacecraft missions and discoveries in fields of astronomy from the solar system to cosmology. The site has information in English and German. A good place to turn to look for more information about the latest news in astronomy!

http://home.t-online.de/home/SWeimer/astro.html

Sputnik: First Artificial Satelllite

Still looking for more information about Sputnik after last Saturday's 40th annniversary? Check out this Web site by Michael Wright, who has provided some background on the launch and its historical significance. There's also a good collection of links to other sites with information about Sputnik.

http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/sputnik.html

Week of October 13, 1997

Cassini: Voyage to Saturn

This site, the official Web site for the Cassini mission, has plenty of information about the spacecraft and its journey. You can read about Saturn itself, the spacecraft's plans at Saturn, flight operations to and at Saturn, and more. If you're concerned abour Cassini's RTGs, you can check out their section on nuclear safety, which includes copies of environmental impact reports in PDF format. Check it out before or after this Wednesday's launch!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/

Expanding Universe

Expanding Universe is defined as a "classified search tool for amateur astronomy." In fact, the site is a detailed list of astronomy Web sites in a a variety of disciplines, from general astronomy to the solar system to cosmology, all organized like library books according to the Dewey Decimal system. This site is a good first place to turn when you're looking for online information about a specific astronomical topic.

http://www.mtrl.toronto.on.ca/centres/bsd/astronomy/index.html

Week of October 20, 1997

Meteorite Central

If you're looking for information about meteorites, a natural place to start is Meteorite Central. Here you can get basic information about these vistors from elsewhere in the solar system. A Classified section offers users the opportunity to buy and sell meteorites. Other sections focus on fireballs, comets, and Mars life (evidence for which was found last year in a metoeirte from the planet). A mailing list keeps people up to date on the latest meteorite news.

http://www.meteoritecentral.com/

Vargas Home Page

Webmaster Stefano "Vargas" Padovan has a dream about keeping all the universe on his laptop. Laptop's don't have the storage capacity for something quite as vast just yet, so instead he's assembled a list of links to online astronomical catalogues. This is an extensive list of catalogues for all aspects of astronomy, from basic star charts to lists of radio and high-energy objects. A very useful resource for amateur and professional astronomers!

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7444/

Week of October 27, 1997

Iridium Flares

Some of the most intriguing phenomena observered in the sky recently are sudden, brief flashes of light, bright enough at times to outshine Venus, the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. These flashes have been traced to spacecraft in the Iridium global communications satellite constellation. The flashes of light appear to be sunlight reflecting off the highly-polished aluminum main antennas of the spacecraft. This site, part of the larger "Visual Satellite Observer Home Page", has more information on this interesting phenomenon and how to determine when one might be visible in your area.

http://www.satellite.eu.org/sat/vsohp/iridium.html

Planetary Photojournal

Over the last 35 years, American spacecraft have imaged every planet except Pluto in great detail, as well as dozens of moons, asteroids, and comets. These images are brought together in one site at JPL's Planetary Photojournal. You can choose the planet or moon you want to see, and from what missions you want the images. The site then displays the desired images, which can also be viewed in greater detail in a wide variety of formats. The images here come directly from the original spacecraft data, and often look much better than identical versions elsewhere on the Web.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/