Astronomical Society of the Pacific published a guide in 1936 which is available online as a pdf document —

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1936PASP…48..139R/0000140.000.html

Starry Night also has a pronunciation guide which, along with the [...]]]> Ever wonder how to pronounce the names of some of the stars or constellations? Like Bootes? Or Cepheus? Or Dubhe?

Astronomical Society of the Pacific published a guide in 1936 which is available online as a pdf document —

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1936PASP…48..139R/0000140.000.html

Starry Night also has a pronunciation guide which, along with the written pronunciation, has a quicktime audio file so you can actually hear it spoken.

http://www.starrynighteducation.com/resources_pronunciation.html

So, how do YOU pronounce Bootes?

If you’d like to discuss this, please go to our forums:
http://www.csastro.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=13220#13220

From their about page:

ESOs GIGAGALAXY ZOOM: The Sky, from the Eye to the Telescope

Through three giant images, the GIGAGALAXY ZOOM project reveals the full sky as it appears with the unaided eye from one of the darkest deserts on Earth, then zooms in on a rich region of [...]]]> Giga Galaxy Zoom

From their about page:

ESOs GIGAGALAXY ZOOM: The Sky, from the Eye to the Telescope

Through three giant images, the GIGAGALAXY ZOOM project reveals the full sky as it appears with the unaided eye from one of the darkest deserts on Earth, then zooms in on a rich region of the Milky Way using a hobby telescope, and finally uses the power of a professional telescope to reveal the details of an iconic nebula.

In the framework of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), ESO has launched a new project aimed at connecting the sky as seen by the unaided eye with that seen by hobby and professional astronomers. The project, called GIGAGALAXY ZOOM, reveals three amazing, ultra-high-resolution images of the night sky that online stargazers can zoom in on and explore in an incredible level of detail.

The GIGAGALAXY ZOOM project thus illustrates the vision of IYA2009, which is to help people rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky.

– Posted originally by Jim W. in the Forums

The video is about finding astronomical objects using charts, aka “starhopping”. He uses charts from Sky Map Pro, and from Sky Tools V3, but refers to paper charts as well in the video.

Here is the [...]]]> Rob Hawley has produced an educational video on YouTube, broken down into 4 segments, total is about 30 minutes.

The video is about finding astronomical objects using charts, aka “starhopping”. He uses charts from Sky Map Pro, and from Sky Tools V3, but refers to paper charts as well in the video.

Here is the link…

http://www.robhawley.net/sh101

A couple of days ago I came across this very interesting and “cool” website! Part of the Zooniverse (there is a link to Zooniverse on the links page). From the Zooniverse website, “Galaxy Zoo – The original Zooniverse project. Help astronomers figure out how galaxies form and evolve by classifying their shape. [...]]]>

A couple of days ago I came across this very interesting and “cool” website! Part of the Zooniverse (there is a link to Zooniverse on the links page). From the Zooniverse website, “Galaxy Zoo – The original Zooniverse project. Help astronomers figure out how galaxies form and evolve by classifying their shape. Over 50 million classifications so far but we need more!”

You register at the Galaxy Zoo website and then you can participate by classifying galaxies. They show you how and then you just classify when you have time. You can save the galaxies that you like the most to your own “gallery”. You can get very technical info on each galaxy, but don’t expect the Messier number!

There are also other things you can participate in, such as merging galaxies and detecting supernovae.  Enjoy!