The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible
~ Albert Einstein
 

Click here to enter PHS-107, Introduction to Astronomy (login required)

What follows are links to some of the best informative and useful astronomy sites on the web.

---

Astronomical Calendar:  Calendar 2010

Generate a view of the solar system as seen from just about anywhere in space:  http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

Something to think about as far as size goes.  A journey starting 10 million light years from the Earth that ends with quarks!  Enjoy: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

Heavens-Above -- your site for satellite tracking.  Create an account with your latitude and longitude (see link below) for accurate observation times:  http://www.heavens-above.com/

Find your latitude and longitude for any street address -- useful for the Heaven-Above site: http://world.maporama.com/idl/maporama/

Simply beautiful, the astronomy picture of the day: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ .  Archives are located here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

In order to look up in the sky, the weather must certainly be clear.  My favorite weather site is Wunderground.com.  All you need to do is enter you ZIP code.  What follows is for Pittsburgh: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=15222 .  The site also contains an astronomy section detailing rising and setting times, twilight times, moon phases, a start chart, etc.

Keep your PC clock in sync with atomic time.  If you are always connected to the Internet, this free software can be configured to adjusted your clock automatically on startup: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/atomic-clock/