Factapedia Blog

1. 100,000 Stars – “An interactive 3D visualization of the stellar neighborhood, including over 100000 nearby stars.”
2. 150 Cool Space Facts – “Here’s 150 cool space facts about planets, stars, solar system, international space station (ISS) and even more interesting facts about the universe.”
3. A Virtual Tour of the Sun
4. AeroSpaceGuide.net – “AeroSpaceGuide – Space information, facts, news and pictures on astronomy, Nasa, outer space, spaceflight, planets, deep space, technology and the universe.”
5. Asteroids: NASA – Current information from NASA.
6. Astronomy Magazine – updated every week with astronomy news.
7. Astronomer Magazine, The
8. Astronomy Picture of the Day
9. Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
10. Astronomy Today – “Here at Astronomy Today you’ll find lots of articles on astronomy, cosmology, space exploration plus regularly updated space news and a monthly sky guide.”
11. The Aurora Page
12. Bad Astronomy – “Examples of mistakes in the media, movies, and on television are found on this searchable site. They are utilized as the method to explain actual science. Author is an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
13. Basics of Space Flight – This is a training module designed primarily to help JPL operations people identify the range of concepts associated with deep space missions and grasp the relationships these concepts exhibit for space flight. It also enjoys growing popularity among high school and college students, as well as faculty and people everywhere who are interested in interplanetary space flight.
14. Caltech Dept. of Astronomy
15. Cassini Mission to Saturn – Cassini is sending back a crop of clear still and animated images of Jupiter. The Cassini is ultimately scheduled to enter orbit around Saturn in 2004.
16. Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Page
17. Discovery of a Planetary Orbit Around The Nearby Star 51 Pegasi
18. EarthSky: Tonight’s Sky – “Updates on your cosmos and world. Beautiful nature images from EarthSky’s global community. Skywatching, moon and stargazing, tonight’s sky.”
19. Earth and Moon Viewer – You can view either a map of the Earth showing the day and night regions at this moment, or view the Earth from the Sun, the Moon, the night side of the Earth, above any location on the planet specified by latitude, longitude and altitude, from a satellite in Earth orbit, or above various cities around the globe
20. Earth from Space – Site presents the NASA Space Shuttle Earth Observations Photography database of over 375,000 images. A clickable map allows you to view landscapes, hurricanes and weather, water habitats, and other geographic features.
21. Explore the Moon – What’s it like to walk on the moon? Join the Apollo astronauts on the surface in this series of stunning 360-degree panoramas, one each from the six successful Apollo moon landings. Shot by the astronauts themselves during their historic moonwalks, these VR images capture the magic and mystery of the moon like no standard photograph can.
22. Galileo Space Probe Home Page, The – updated every day with amazing images and other data from the Planet Jupiter and its moons.
23. Griffith Observatory
24. GRIN: Great Images in Nasa – Site provides a collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest scanned at high-resolution in several sizes. This collection is intended for the media, publishers, and the general public looking for high-quality photographs.
25. Heavens-Above – “Satellite predictions and other astronomical data customized for your location.”
26. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
27. Healthy Planet – NASA Site: “Satellites as sentinels for health & Environment.”
28. Hubble Space Telescope Home Page – Space Telescope Science Institute
29. Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures
30. Hubble Telescope Greatest Hits, 1990 to 1995
31. Human Space Flight: Apollo History – This NASA site offers the history of the Apollo program. The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Details, facts and information about all 11 of the Apollo program space flights, including those flights in earth or lunar orbit and those that actually landed on the Moon.
32. HubbleSite Wallpaper – Over fifty spectacular snapshots by the Hubble Telescope lets you wander the universe from your desktop.
33. Inconstant Moon: multimedia tours of the lunar surface – “Explore the Moon… discover its dramatic features and phenomena – often beautiful, sometimes bizarre, always changing. Inconstant Moon will take you on a new tour each night, with maps, photos, explanations, animations, selected links and even music!”
34. Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon – “The definitive reference manual to the global photographic coverage of the Moon. The images contained within the atlas are excellent for studying lunar morphology because they were obtained at low to moderate Sun angles. This digital archive consists of the complete set of 675 plates. Images in the archive have been enhanced to display the best photo quality possible.”
35. Mars Exploration Rovers
36. Moon Phases Calendar – This moon phases calendar tool or moon schedule is an easy way to find out the lunar phase for any given month.
37. MAP – The Microwave Anisotropy Probe – NASA site presents information on a mission that will measure the temperature of the cosmic background radiation over the full sky with unprecedented accuracy. This map of the remnant heat from the Big Bang will provide answers to fundamental questions about the origin and fate our our universe.
38. Mars Pathfinder
39. Mars Team Answers Your Questions
40. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Home Page
41. NASA – Ames Research Center
42. NASA: Chandra X-ray Observatory – “The Chandra X-ray Observatory is part of NASA’s fleet of ‘Great Observatories’ along with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitizer Space Telescope and the now deorbited Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Chandra allows scientists from around the world to obtain X-ray images of exotic environments to help understand the structure and evolution of the universe.”
43. NASA: Earth Observatory – The purpose of NASA’s Earth Observatory is to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth’s climate and environmental change.
44. National Geographic: The Atlas of Moons – “Soar through a cosmic menagerie of moons-and learn their long-held secrets-in our interactive atlas.”
45. Nasa Image and Video Library – “The NASA Image and Video Library website consolidates imagery spread across more than 60 collections into one searchable location.”
46. Nasa Solar System Exploration – NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and hardworking robots are exploring the wild frontiers of our solar system.
47. NASA – Featured Images and Galleries.
48. NASA – Jet Propulsion Laboratory
49. NASA – Johnson Space Center
50. NASA – Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
51. NASA – Planetary Photojournal
52. NASA – Photo Gallery
53. NASA – Today at NASA
54. NASA – WebStars – Astrophysics on the Web
55. National Air and Space Museum
56. New Images from the Spitzer Space Telescope – A new window to the universe has opened with today’s release of the first dazzling images from NASA’s newly named Spitzer Space Telescope.
57. New Scientist: Planet Science
58. Nasa Solar System Exploration: More Ways to Explore – “Use the same data NASA’s scientists and engineers use to create 3D surface visualizations of some of NASa’s prime science targets on your home computer.”
59. The Nine Planets – “This website is an overview of the history, mythology and current scientific knowledge of the planets, moons and other objects in our solar system. Each page has our text and NASA’s images, some have sounds and movies, most provide references to additional related information.”
60. Planet Finder – This applet shows the locations of the planets, stars, moon, and sun in the sky from any location and for any date and time.
61. Planet Quest: The Search for Another Earth – This site by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory details their search for another Earth — entailing light-seeking interferometers, interstellar telescopic wizardry, and scientific passion that aims to rejuvenate space program.
62. Planetary Fact Sheets – This site by NASA’s National Space Science Data Center provides fact sheets for every planet and for many minor bodies, including information on mass, rotation and revolution periods, atmospheric composition, magnetospheric information, and much more.
63. Planetary Photojournal, The – For for an out-of-this-world journey, take a pictorial tour of the solar system, courtesy of NASA. The Planetary Photojournal also lets you keep track of new image releases.
64. Potentially Hazardous Asteroids – ” Anew NASA survey has pinned down the number of asteroids that could pose a collision threat to Earth in what scientists say is the best estimate yet of the potentially dangerous space rocks.”
65. SEDS: Students for the Exploration and Development of Space – “SEDS is an independent, student-based organization which promotes the exploration and development of space. SEDS pursues this mission by educating people about the benefits of space, by supporting a network of interested students, by providing an opportunity for members to develop their leadership skills, and inspiring people through our involvement in space-related projects. SEDS believes in a space-faring civilization and that focusing the enthusiasm of young people is the key to our future in space.”
66. San Diego Aerospace Museum
67. Satellite Tracking – NASA’s J-Track lets you follow a fairly large list of satellites and space craft. With real-time maps.
68. Sky Map – Produce sky maps for any time and date, viewpoint, and observing location. If you enter the orbital elements of an asteroid or comet, Site will compute its current position and plot it on the map. Each map is accompanied by an ephemeris for the Sun, Moon, planets, and any tracked asteroid or comet.
69. Sky & Telescope Magazine – for the more technically advanced reader, but the Home Page is written so that anyone can understand it.
70. Skywatching – This site by Space.com offers spectacular images in the latest top space stories.
71. Solar Eclipse: Stories from the Path of Totality – Exploratorium’s site focuses on the science and natural wonder of eclipse.
72. Solar Eclipse Paths: 1995-2000
73. Solar System Exploration – Solar System Exploration is one of four space science themes for the Office of Space Science at NASA. This site is your launching pad to find out more about the programs and people in them.
74. Solar System Live
75. Solar System Simulator – allows you to view any planet as seen from any other planet. Gaze at Jupiter from Venus or Earth from Pluto
76. Space.com – A definitive Web site dedicated to space and all space-related subjects. It focuses on news, information, education and entertainment.
77. Space Environment Center – “This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration site, the official source of space weather alerts, warnings, and forecasts, provides current information on geomagnetic storms, solar winds, solar flares, and aurora activity.”
78. Space Station Science Operations News – Last news from NASA.
79. SpaceWeather.com – News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids. Daily monitoring of solar flares, geomagnetic storms, Earth’s aurora, and all forms of space weather.
80. StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers – introduction to the solar system and space exploration for youngsters.
81. University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
82. Uphere Space: Real-time tracking and predictions for thousands of satellites – “Real-time tracking and predictions for thousands of satellites for your location. Find the International Space Station, the Hubble Space telescope and many more!”
83. Virtual Solar System – take a trip, courtesy of the National Geographic Society.
84. Virtual Trips to Black Holes and Neutron Stars – site takes you on a fantasy trip into a black hole and neutron star. The movies are computer animations, and are scientifically accurate. There is also a published paper from the American Journal of Physics, geared for college students.
85. Visible Earth – a searchable directory from NASA of images, visualizations, and animations of the Earth.

ALSO:

Daily Overview – “Daily Overview was inspired by, and derives its name from, an idea known as the Overview Effect. This term refers to the sensation that astronauts experience when given the opportunity to look down and view the Earth from outer space. They have the chance to appreciate our home in its entirety, to reflect on its beauty and its fragility all at once. That’s the cognitive shift that they hope to inspire.”

Geologic Map of the Moon – The goal of this project was to create a digital resource for science research and analysis, future geologic mapping efforts, be it local-, regional-, or global-scale products, and as a resource for the educators and the public interested in lunar geology. Here we present the completed mapping project as unit contacts, geologic unit polygons, linear features, and unit and feature nomenclature annotation.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Returning Human Space Flight to the United States – SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, May 27 for Falcon 9’s launch of Crew Dragon’s second demonstration (Demo-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This test flight with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board the Dragon spacecraft will return human spaceflight to the United States.

Tonight’s Sky – Each day’s segment is designed to guide your eye to something you can see that night, or the next morning before dawn. It might be a constellation, a star, or a planet. Or it might be a celestial event, such as an eclipse.

Welcome to the Planets