On-Line Resources and Links

A few links I hope you might find helpful. Links here are for information only and do not imply an endorsement. Please send any corrections or comments to me at sasajewun [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com

Other Astronomy Blogs and Magazines

Starry Night Sky Events

• A very informative blog by my old friend Geoff Gaherty, with detailed notes about coming astronomical events: http://starrynightskyevents.blogspot.ca/
• Geoff also publishes his astronomy log on-line at: http://geoffsobservingblog.blogspot.ca/

SkyNews Magazine

• Canada’s own “Magazine of Astronomy and Stargazing,” edited by Terence Dickinson. A great source of information in all areas of astronomy, particularly great for information about current and upcoming events: http://www.skynews.ca/

Associations and Clubs

SkyNews has a much more extensive list of Canadian clubs available on-line at: http://www.skynews.ca/pages/clubs_list.html. Here are a couple relevent to my areas:

The Canadian Astronomical Society

• The association of professional and academic astronomers in Canada. Although membership is limited to qualified professionals, there are some great resources on their website: http://www.casca.ca/welcome.php

The Hamilton Amateur Astronomers

• A great group and a helpful website! Monthly meetings are held at the Hamilton Spectator Auditorium: http://amateurastronomy.org/

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC)

• A well-established, nation-wide organization. Enjoy the main website or seek out your local club: http://www.rasc.ca/
• RASC – Toronto Centre manages the famous David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, home to Canada’s largest optical telescope: http://www.theddo.ca/

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada – Hamilton Centre

• RASC – Hamilton Centre meets regularly and operates their own observatory in the area, too: http://www.hamiltonrasc.ca/

Bluewater Astronomical Society

• Based in Bruce County, operates the ES Fox Observatory near Wiarton, ON: http://www.bluewaterastronomy.info/

Software

Cartes du Ciel is a free astronomy program that allows you to make custom charts of stars, planets, nebulas, and other celestial objects. Very easy to use. Produces great custom printed charts.

Stellarium is a near-photorealistic personal planetarium you can download for free. Lots of options, including customization of landscapes, seeing conditions, etc. Very nice for making presentations.

• Cartes du Ciel is a free astronomy software package, which helps you draw sky maps appropriate to specific times and locations, and identify celestial objects. Easy to use, and completely free. Commercial packages are also good, but to start, why not go free? http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/start
• Stellarium is a near-photorealistic free personal planetarium software package. It works very well and provides great opportunities for planning a evening’s stargazing, or sorting out things you may have seen the night before. http://www.stellarium.org/
• StarStaX is a free program for making stacked star-trail images. I’ve found that it works very well. If you give it a try, also consider experimenting with the same process for making long exposures of other scenes, like waterfalls. http://www.markus-enzweiler.de/software/software.html

Equipment Suppliers

• KW Telescope – One of Canada’s best ‘scope shops, on the SW side of Kitchener, not far from Fairview Mall. It’s owned and operated by passionate, experienced astronomers – and they offer educational programming too: http://www.kwtelescope.com/
• Camtech’s Scope Store – a great local resource in the Hamilton Area, located on Concession Street at the edge of the Escarpment: http://camtechphoto.com/
• Khan Telescope – a great resource in Toronto, near Yorkville Mall: http://www.khanscope.com/
• Canadian Telescopes – a retailer in BC with a huge line of equipment available on-line: http://www.khanscope.com/