Links to Other Worlds
Before you zoom off to other corners of the cosmos, perhaps you'd like a guide to several fun and informative places that will stir the imagination and engage your interest. These places are some of the other worlds I visit from time to time, and, perhaps for you, they'll lead to any number of happy trails.
Explore our home planet:
Look how the Sun affects Earth! Stay on top of the Sun's activity and how it affects our home planet with the chart (below), which depicts the condition of the Sun and its effects on ham radio communication bands.
Find it here! Listings for observatories, telescopes, space art, planetariums, amateur activities, astronomy education, and more, a sampling of which is found here.
And there's still more here! Explore the exciting people, the many places, and astounding things that make up our home planet and the worlds all around us, at this link sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.
Need to know the exact time or the rising and setting of the Sun ad Moon? Visit the U. S. Naval Observatory at this website here. There you will also find weekly sky updates, storm warnings, and all things of importance both meteorologic and oceanographic.
Walking's not crowded. But it might be, if you walked regularly, because you'd run into others who have the same interest in getting out-of-doors for fresh air, sunshine, and exercise. One can cover a fair amount of ground just while walking, you can meet nice folks while doing it, and even earn "credit" for your walking. How so? Just visit here to find a walking group near you and learn how you, too, can earn points. It's all part of a long-running, well-established activity of Volkssporting! Get walking! It's a clean, fit way to explore our home planet. You just might end up walking around the world.
While you're out walking, here's a place to visit. There's a spot in Illinois just right to spend some unhurried time to explore. It's called Midewin or, the Midewin Heritage Association, which seeks to preserve and protect the cultural significance and natural beauty of the Midwest's prairie past. Part of the national holdings of the U.S. Forest Service, Midewin is listed as a premier tall-grass prairie site and, a fine use of the land retired by the former Joliet Arsenal.
What? Me worry? If you're really, really, worried about radioactive fallout from damaged nuclear reactors, cosmic rays from outer space, or background radiation from Mother Nature herself, then click on this to check on real-time radiation levels in your area.
Explore the sky from Earth:
Is that the Sun? What does the Sun look like today? Click this.
See the Sun safely! Of course, you shouldn't stare at the Sun, but here is the safest place to do it. See the latest images from SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in outer space.
Have fun at night! Star parties are fine locales and great opportunities to get together with other amateur astronomers to the explore the sky from Earth. Locate the star party nearest you right here.
Record those happy trails! Until we meet again here online, you might want to keep track of your happy trails; that is, the star trails in the night sky. Years ago, it was a favorite pastime to do at night with a film camera, namely, taking a long exposure of stars and constellations slowly wheeling across the sky. It's still fun to do, and you can do it with a digital camera.
Record those happy trails! Until we meet again here online, you might want to keep track of your happy trails; that is, the star trails in the night sky. Years ago, it was a favorite pastime to do at night with a film camera, namely, taking a long exposure of stars and constellations slowly wheeling across the sky. It's still fun to do, and you can do it with a digital camera.
And, kids, look here! Some young campers and their summer camp counselor want us more to know about space elevators. What's a space elevator? It's an imaginative way to send cargo and people into outer space, apparently without the need for heavy rocketry and intense propulsion. It's also a fanciful idea that's been around for over a century, but unproven. More recently, the concept of the space elevator was popularized in 1979 by the late science-fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, with the publication of his novel, Fountains of Paradise. If you'd like to learn more about space elevators and find fun, informative links to other aspects of astronomy geared to kids, check out the summer campers special link here.
More sky fun for kids here! A science-minded family liked this site so much, they wanted other young folks to learn about it as well. Right here is another website devoted to astronomy, especially for parents, their kids, and for teachers. Take a look!
And even more sky fun that the young folks can enjoy! From another science-minded family: Mom Michelle wrote to say that her daughter Maria, who did a space-science project in school, found a nifty astronomy website, at this link. From mom Michelle: "Maria said the 'Virtual Experiences and Planetariums From Home' section was so fun and thought it might help other students who are new to astronomy." Though the site seeks to sell mattresses, you won't nod off with its many links to astronomy topics. Explore it for yourself!
Free star charts! If you'd like to explore the night sky with your own star charts, it's worthwhile and easy to do, with a free download for any part of the night sky from this site.
See what your camera sees! And if you'd like to see what the real night sky can look like on a clear night as you use your star charts, go to this site for a photographic depiction of the constellations. That'll give a very good idea of what you can actually see of the constellations as they appear in the night sky.
Capture what your camera sees! Suppose you want to record on film or in digital imagery what you're observing? You'll need to know how to set your film camera or digital camera, so that you can capture a constellation or an asterism in its field of view. Go to this site to make the necessary calculations. A few technical details are all that is needed to figure out what swath of sky can be captured with your camera.
See if it computes! If you're really ambitious in pursuing your avocation of astronomy and want to track your own astronomical phenomena, you'll need the correct software to do it. A number of programs you can glean at this site.
Look, up in the sky! It's not a bird. It's not a plane. It's the ISS! So, have you seen the International Space Station moving brightly across the sky? It's billed as the 3rd brightest object in the sky (presumably third in line after the Sun and Moon). Go to this website to find the date, time, and where to look in the night sky to see $100 billion of spacecraft in orbit. At that price, it ought to be bright!
Explore the Solar System:
Consult the transit authority. The year 2012 marked the second transit of Venus, the crossing of that planet across the face of the Sun as seen from Earth. It was a rare event, not to be repeated in our lifetime, but we've been fortunate to have the chance to view two within our lifetime. The previous transit was visible at dawn on June 8, 2004; the most recent was visible at sunset on June 5, 2012. To learn more about how it went at the time, visit this site hosted by the Astronomy Club of Akron. The Sky Roundup column for June 2012 described the view from the great Midwest, with photos of both transits. By the way, if you missed either or both Venus transits, you might like to purchase my composite image, available here at my art website.
Have you ever wondered? It's tremendous to learn about the exploration of the Solar System. Astronauts in Earth orbit or going to the moon or planning for Mars, it's all very exciting for adults and kids of all ages. But when astronauts go into outer space, where do they "go"? That is, have you ever wondered how (or where) astronauts go to the bathroom? As a volunteer at a nature center, Kayla and two of the kids, Robert and William, found a unique website that answers those questions. You can find the link right here.
See for yourself! If you want to see how the USA and other nations are scanning and combing the Solar System, check out the neat infographic at this link of the 25 currently active space missions. Then check out this link for the spacecraft that have helped in these endeavors over the last 50 years.
Explore the rest of the cosmos:
News from outer space! Find something new in the cosmos, such as news about outer space or about America's civilian space program, every day at Space.com.
Or, reach for the stars with an open-source planetarium program, known as Stellarium, right here.
Know it all about astronomy! Read what others are saying about mysteries of the cosmos, what others are seeing in the wonders of the night sky, and, what they are doing with their own personal observations and timely inventions, all at Amateur Astronomy.com. Subscribe today!
Or, know it from the know-it-alls! You can read what various columnists are saying about the night sky at Astronomy.com.
Find out how we know what we know in astronomy! Ever wonder how astronomers explore the cosmos? Many will do it with telescopes on the ground and in outer space; others do it with data. Lots of it. And that data often comes from telescopes on the ground and in outer space. Thanks to Becca, an online educator who provided the link, you can find out here how data science can be a key to unlock the mysteries of the night sky and the cosmos.
Explore the world of the entrepreneur:
Need a little inspiration to be an entrepreneur? One might then consider reading some of the selected works of G. K. Chesterton. What? Who? Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), an English writer, author, essayist, critic, and poet, was also an indefatigable defender of the entrepreneur, the family business, and the working man. He held fast that ownership of one's own business and one's own property were bulwarks against the vagaries of daily life and government tyranny. You can start here in your pursuit of his common sense. Then go here for a page of Chesterton links that I've set up. Probably his English sense may seem unfashionable, maybe even quaint, in these modern times; to the contrary, what he has to say about American liberties and history make for fairly timeless reading from this most English of writers. If you're more interested, then check here for more.
If you're out observing, do you listen to music? How about music of a different sort? How 'bout the lute? Yes, the lute. Have you never heard it? Well, here's your chance to listen to it finely performed. Ronn McFarlane is a renowned, Grammy-nominated musician and a premier lutist. I've met Ronn at his concerts and have his music on compact disc. I find his musical style a relaxing backdrop for stargazing and a good addition to one's listening pleasure at Christmastime. Check out his discography here at his website.
Hey, look me over! If you'd simply like to visit my companion art websites for artwork alone, then click here for artwork.roykaelin.com, or here for my pencil portraiture and digital imagery at my Fine Art America site. Browse my work, make your choice, own my art!
Explore my books and my art just one more time before you go:
I do hope you'll want to return again soon to this home world and to my companion worlds of drawing and writing. Have another look at what I draw and what I've written, and tell your friends where to find me.
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