Favorite Online Resources for Observers

[Preston Pendergraft]

I was wondering what resources you use and like. I finally got around to checking out NEDs, SDSS and wikiSky. Those are pretty cool. NEDs was a little confusing, lots of information to digest.

[Ivan Maly]

NED and Wikisky primarily. Also SEDS, but it is in a different category (historical catalogs and related observing lists). The Historically Correct NGC, also - although I actually use a copy of their Excel table on my own computer. There are lots more, Aladin for example, which are excellent but I haven't (yet) made a habit of consulting them.

[lamperti]

Messier45.com provides good info for the field. More detailed info is on the sites you mentioned.
Al

[Dragan]

Hi Preston,

The three you mention are absolute staples of mine. Ivan mentions Aladin and that's another excellent resource as well.

I also feel I have to mention Hyperleda.

Another, different type of resource I like to use is the Internet Amateur Astronomers Catalog. (IAAC) Though a bit outdated, their collection of observing reports from observers all around the world using all sorts of different equipment has proven very beneficial. As I devise an observing list of for the night I'll sometimes use this resource as a way to help determine what a particular object might look like. It also helps if you want to find a report of an object having been seen in a particular aperture.

Another resource we can't fail to mention is Steves! Adventures in Deep Space. A true piece of work!

[Dragan]

Prestons post got me to thinking.

Lets all pool our resources (no pun intended) together and come up with a great list of all the different websites we use. I'll make a sticky to place at the top of this forum and that way, we'll have a spot we can come back to if its ever needed.

I'm sure before long that this list will comprise a huge wealth of information!

What do you all think?

[svdwal]

I use www.deepskylog.be a lot. Next to logging your own observations, you can also look at the ones from other observers. And it can generate finder charts.

Edit: I didn't realize in time that this link is only the Dutch interface to DeepSkyLog.

DeepSkyLog is multi-lingual, and it will present itself in different languages depending on the country extension like this:

http://www.deepskylog.org/ -> English
http://www.deepskylog.fr/ -> French
http://www.deepskylog.de/ -> German
http://www.deepskylog.be/ and http://www.deepskylog.nl -> Dutch

[isaacnewtonzhang]

a good chioce iswww.deepskywatch.com (http://www.deepskywatch.com) provides DSO constellation chart and catalogue

[Clear Skies]

I find myself using NED more and more often. A great resource itself is the STScl DSS, as an image always says more than a thousand words.
While I do frequent SIMBAD I have found the database to be a bit inconsistent and erroneous at times when it comes to coordinates and object classification.
For observing and planning of observations I only use my own observing guides (CSOG) as these are already checked (and corrected) against a multitude of resources.

[Preston Pendergraft]

I use he following
www.astroleague.org
I am a list type of person, plus I am geek and love the pins.

http://texasstarparty.org/activities/tsp-observing-programs/tsp-observing-program-archive/

More lists some harder then others.

http://spider.seds.org/spider/MWGC/mwgc.html
Just about every globular cluster known

www.heavens-above.com
I enjoy observing satellites as the sky gets dark.

www.observatories.hodar.com
Has awesome weather info and webcams of large observatories.

www.cleardarksky.com/csk/
Clear Sky Clock



Those are probably my favorite sites

[Dragan]

Keep 'em coming! I'll start transferring the links to a sticky!

[i_sairanen]

For visual observers http://www.deepsky-archive.com/ is the best site where you can compare your own observations with others.

[Ivan Maly]

Excellent idea, Dragan. (And already a very useful first version there.)



Prestons post got me to thinking.

Lets all pool our resources (no pun intended) together and come up with a great list of all the different websites we use. I'll make a sticky to place at the top of this forum and that way, we'll have a spot we can come back to if its ever needed.

I'm sure before long that this list will comprise a huge wealth of information!

What do you all think?

[isaacnewtonzhang]

well,become a resource thread!:D

[isaacnewtonzhang]

For visual observers http://www.deepsky-archive.com/ is the best site where you can compare your own observations with others.

I also use it

[Jimi Lowrey]

Here is one I use all the time.

Sloan Telescope SDSS navigate tool

http://skyserver.sdss3.org/dr8/en/tools/chart/navi.asp

[Dragan]

Every little update I do to the new sticky thread doesn't show up as a "new post". So please check back there regularly for any updates I may have done since your last visit.

The list has quickly become quite respectable and an incredible source of information! Very nice indeed! Please keep your suggestions coming!

[Dragan]

Since we have such a large international contingent of members, what are some resources those members enjoy? We'd love to add them to the list.

For example, are there not some really good German sources used that we may not be aware of here in the States?

[Paul Alsing]

Dragan,

Whenever there is a new supernovea I go to the Bright Supernova page, here...

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/

... for various photos, so I know exactly where to look...

[Dragan]

Dragan,

Whenever there is a new supernovea I go to the Bright Supernova page, here...

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/

... for various photos, so I know exactly where to look...

Thanks Paul.

I've added it under the misc heading for now.

[Marko]

An exceptional weather model prediction tool that covers Europe, Australia and North American is SkippySky.
This uses a different weather model than CSC so is a good way to get two 'opinions' of the upcoming weather. I say 'opinions' as all of us know by now: The only thing certain about weather is that it will change.

http://www.skippysky.com.au/

The two tricks to this tool which shows everything in a way that is tailored to astronomers are these subtle things:
The predication when they say +12 hours means +12 from the time of the predictions so for each map that shows up take a look at the UTC time and don't worry so much about the +12 as it is generally NOT +12 from 'now'.

Second thing is in his backgrounds he has a darkest blue large kangaroo which is anoying but necessary so he does not get ripped off. So when you look at the maps when it is very good conditions (very close to darkest blue) you may see 'veins' of a darker area but be careful as it may be part of the kangaroos feet or something. It is not hard for your mind to filter that out but if you don't know about it you may find yourself saying 'Wow, that is so odd that a long streak of better skies is there and doe not seem to shift position as the rest of the weather shifts about.

[i_sairanen]

I check the coolest amateur astrophotographs from AstroBin which is an image hosting service made specifically for astrophotographers. http://www.astrobin.com/

[Atlas]

Here are two ressources that I love to use for visualizing the location of deep sky objects in three dimensions:

First: The "Large Structures Applet" in Are Uppman's Universe page: http://areu.free.fr/univers/large.php
This page shows everything from the solar system to the distribution of quasars in a 3D model, i.e. like a ball that you can turn at will and watch from an external point of view. You can also choose an elliptical projection from a central point of view. Especially awesome are the "galaxy groups" file and the "huge" file containing NED and 2MASS data of many, many galaxies, galaxy clusters and superclusters. It lets you create your own slices of the universe and shells of variable radii and thicknesses. If you know Anthony Fairall's book on Large Scale Structures of the Universe, think of its maps and imagine them fully movable. You want to see how far the local void extends and how it is connected to the Aquila void, or how the Perseus-Pisces supercluster is related to the Taurus void? - this applet shows it all. In my observing sessions I often try to retrace in the sky what I have studied at home using this tool.

Second: "Where is M 13?" www.thinkastronomy.com
This is a small program that gives you a sense of how galactic objects, e.g. M 13, are distributed in space. It offers a sky view (in which constellation is M 13 located?), a face on galactic view (how far is M 13 from the sun horizontally, and in which direction?) and an edge on galactic view (how far above the galactic plane is M 13 situated?).

[Don Pensack]

Some of these have been mentioned. My short list of sites often visited:
http://www.gcadventure.com/cosmic-voyage.net/h400.html
http://www.strnad-emskirchen.de/qso_beobachtungen.html
http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/db/Double%20Star%20test.pdf
http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr/
http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/hgcjr/
http://www.algorithmic-solutions.com/leda/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4867264/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1
http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M31NMmosaicglobs.html
http://www.starkeeper.it/M33_Mapped.htm
http://www.messier45.com/index.html
http://spider.seds.org/spider/MWGC/mwgc.html
http://physwww.mcmaster.ca/~harris/mwgc.dat
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/
http://www.taas.org/taas200intro.html
http://www.ngc891.com/index.php
http://users.skynet.be/fc219947/openclusters.html
http://users.skynet.be/fc219947/top40pn/index.html
http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/plannebs.html
http://www.blackskies.org/
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Shapley_Ames/RSA_contents.html
http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/downloads.htm
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/
http://www.ngcicproject.org/public_HCNGC/HCNGC.htm
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngc.html
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/B_WINTER/TRAPEZ.HTM
http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/Things-to-view.htm
http://shadowandsubstance.com/
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=trapezium+stars&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
http://www.astrophoton.com/trumpler_class.htm
http://vicmenard.com/the_list.pdf
http://www.univie.ac.at/webda/
http://www.univie.ac.at/webda/maps.html

[Dragan]

:shocked:

Thanks Don!! I'll get on these in the next day or two

[obrazell]

Webb Society? www.webbdeepsky.com

Owen

[DSO Dave]

www.inthesky.org
www.the-sky-live.com

my2cents worth.

Dave

[DSO Dave]

with emphasis on enter your specific location - or suffer the default locations rise and set ,transit times ect:D

[akarsh]

Hi Dragan and others,

Here's what I use,

To pick objects:

The RASC Challenge List -- http://messier.seds.org/xtra/similar/rasc-dsc.html
Steve's Adventures in Deep Space -- http://www.astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/
The Deep Sky Forum OOTW (duh)
Reiner's observing guides -- http://www.reinervogel.net/index_e.html
Martin Schoenball's Arp page -- http://arp.schoenball.de/index_e.htm
Uwe's observing projects -- http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/
Wolfgang Steinicke and Richard Jakiel's book titled "Galaxies and how to observe them" (Springer Verlag)

To find out more about objects:

SIMBAD -- http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid
STScI DSS -- https://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form

(The DSS query is built into my planetarium, and we're working towards building SIMBAD/NED/VizieR in)

[4meter]

Visual Sky Assist http://www.ar-dec.net/vsa/

[acheter]

The three you mention are absolute staples of mine. Ivan mentions Aladin and that's another excellent resource as well.

[akarsh]

I'm adding to the list after this thread has resurfaced, and since I gathered all of this in one place for a recent visual observing talk.


The RASC Challenge List -- http://messier.seds.org/xtra/similar/rasc-dsc.html
Steve's Adventures in Deep Space -- http://www.astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/
The Deep Sky Forum OOTW (duh)
Reiner's observing guides -- http://www.reinervogel.net/index_e.html
Martin Schoenball's Arp page -- http://arp.schoenball.de/index_e.htm
Uwe's observing projects -- http://www.deepsky-visuell.de/
Wolfgang Steinicke and Richard Jakiel's book titled "Galaxies and how to observe them" (Springer Verlag)

Paul's Page -- www.pnalsing.com


To find out more about objects:

SIMBAD -- http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid
STScI DSS -- https://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form

(The DSS query is built into my planetarium, and we're working towards building SIMBAD/NED/VizieR in)
As of this writing, SIMBAD is also built into my planetarium (KStars), and Jimi taught me a few more tricks:
The Hubble Legacy Arcihve: https://hla.stsci.edu/
And of course SDSS DR10, NED.

Great for interpreting redshifts, Ned Wright's Cosmology calculator:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CosmoCalc.html

Clear Skies.
Akarsh

[Sue French]

I've used Aladin for years and have always found it intuitively obvious. In fact, I give a talk on astronomical resources that includes Aladin as a major asset. The PowerPoint presentation is given to attendees on a handout disk with clickable links that take the user to all the features I discuss. The talk shows how folks can find the answers to questions readers typically ask me. Now we have Aladin 10, and I find it obtuse. For example, I just spent quite a while trying to get a NED overlay that only identifies galaxies - to no avail, thus giving an annoyingly crowded overlay. It was quite easy to eliminate all other object types in Aladin 9. Anyone having better luck figuring out version 10?

Sue

[Ernie Ostuno]

To generate finder charts I use

http://server7.sky-map.org/

The beta version (click the mouse icon in the upper left) is easier to navigate. You can search on NGC, IC, UGC, PGC, PK, etc and these are also labeled when you mouse over them. You can also mouse over field stars to get their magnitudes.

For tracking comets I use

http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/

and

https://theskylive.com/comets


The Sky Live site is also good for finding where the planets and asteroids are currently.

[akarsh]

BTW, I'd like to shamelessly add to this list my "slightly better UX" for DSS and SDSS queries, as well as being able to rotate them to match your dob view for the given time:

http://bas.org.in/dssdirect.php?id=M%2051

You see a list of survey options and image cutout size to fetch under "Step 1". In "Step 2" you can configure the rotation / flip etc. of the image -- if you have a dob with a focuser that's parallel to the tube and on the right side, you can just enter your latitude and longitude and it will orient the DSS image as it should be in your eyepiece at the present time. Finally, if you click on the image anywhere, it will place cross-hairs there. You can then click the "SIMBAD" link below the image and it will do a query around the point to tell you what the object at the cross-hairs is.

I've been telling myself that some day, I'll improve it and move it to the deepskyforum website, but not sure when that day will come...

[Don Pensack]

I have often used the RC3 of Vaucouleurs as a reference
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/rc3.html
Does anyone know why I shouldn't rely on it?

[obrazell]

You might want to look at Harold Corwin's update of that at http://haroldcorwin.net/ He calls it RC3.10

Owen

[Don Pensack]

Thanks,
Don

[Dragan]

I'll add these recommendations to our own UDSOR (http://www.deepskyforum.com/showthread.php?336-The-Ultimate-Deep-Sky-Observers-Resource)list here at DSF.

Thanks everyone!