Notice To Users
Gerard Williger - Popular Links
14 June 2020: This page is primarily for
students, former and potential students of my Astronomy 107
class at U. Louisville, to show
links to various popular topics. From time to time I get
requests to link to certain websites. I cannot keep up
with this
if I answer every request, so I would like to limit what is
linked to class requests or to update links which are
out of date or broken. There are many more good links at
the Louisville Astronomical Society link below.
back to
homepage
Local
Links
Gheens Science Hall & Rauch
Planetarium
Otter Creek
Observatory (JCC/KCTCS)
and ``The
Observer"
(its newsletter)
Why astronomers go
to observatories:
Reflections on
Procrustes and Antaeus
Popular articles
about our group's Large Quasar Group discovery abound. Try the
22 Jan 2001 issue of Newsweek,
or:
New
York Times article
BBC
piece
Der
Spiegel
or make a
search for "williger" and "astronomy"
Other links:
Help
with research: classify Sloan Digital Sky Survey
galaxies!
Mars'
close approach on 27 Aug 2003
A popular description of the
National Virtual Observatory A popular description of the Virgo Consortium
Guide to Backyard Astronomy
news about black holes
American
Museum of Natural History Science Bulletins
Astro-news
from
Physics & Astronomy 107
Useful links
from NASA etc.:
Afterschool Universe:
engaging activities targeted at middle school students
Random interesting astronomy
facts: www.unexpectedscience.com
Backyard Astronomy Basics (thanks
to Liam & Lynnette Brown, 3/2018)
www.homeadvisor.com/r/home-science-backyard-astronomy/
The
Perseids Meteor Shower (every August):
Perseids
Show
11-13 Aug 2004
Popular
Astronomy:
Clear Dark Sky site
Light
Pollution
Map for Louisville KY
The Pecking Order of
Astronomers
Gems
(Bloopers) from Astronomy Students and Professionals
The Leonids Meteor Shower (every
November ~19):
space.com
Leonids
2006 expected to be strong Nov 18
NASA
Leonids
2004 Page
Major meteor showers:
name
date
duration
limits
#/hr max
parent object
Quadrantids
Jan
4
1
day Jan
1-6
100
---
Lyrids
Apr
22
2
days Apr 19-24
10
C/1861 G1 (Thatcher)
Eta
Aquarids May
5
3
days May
1-8
20
1P/Halley
Delta
Aquarids Jul
27-28
7 days Jul 15-Aug 15
30
---
Perseids
Aug
12
5
days Jul 25-Aug
18
70
107P/Swift-Tuttle
Orionids
Oct
21
2
days Oct
16-26
30
1P/Halley
Taurids
Nov
8
10
days Oct 20-Nov
30
10
2P/Encke
Leonids
Nov
17
1
day Nov
15-19
10
55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Geminids
Dec
14
3
days Dec
7-15
60
3200 Phaethon
Interesting links:
QuasarChile
(tours in Chile with astronomy)
Astronomy
Picture
of the Day
HEASARC
Picture
of the Week
Particle
Physics Picture of the Week
Physics
News
Update
SETI
home
The
Moon
ISS
transits the Moon
Thoughts
of
lunar missions in 1903
The
Rise
of Anti-rationalism in the US, Susan
Jacoby, Washington Post, 2008 Feb 17
Unskilled
and
Unware of It: How Difficulties in
Recognizing
One's Own Incompetence leads to Inflated
Self-Assessments (Kruger & Dunning 1999)
Why is astronomy important?
Nothing more can be done by the theorists. In
this matter it is only you,
the astronomers, who can perform a simply
invaluable service to theoretical physics.
-- Albert Einstein, Aug. 1913, to Berlin
astronomer Erwin Freundlich, encouraging
him to mount a solar-eclipse expedition to
measure the bending of starlight
as it passed near the Sun. The astronomer
eagerly accepted the challenge
from the theoretical physicist. Unfortunately
for Freundlich, the eclipse
of 1914 was in the Crimea during the outbreak
of WW I. In an extraordinary
rendition, Freundlich was captured, his
equipment confiscated, and he was
imprisoned as an enemy combatant. Eventually
he was released, but of course
he missed the eclipse. This is just as well,
because in 1914 Einstein's
prediction for the deflection of light by the
Sun on the basis of his
(at the time) incomplete theory of gravity was
wrong by a factor of two.
Source: Rocky Kolb, arXiv:0708.1199,
"A Thousand Invisible Cords Binding
Astronomy and High-Energy Physics"