Last week I promised to find some fun astronomy sites that allow users to find the skies above Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley. Google Earth* is a virtual globe that allows you to explore the planet from your computer, and it has a sister site called Google Sky. You can move into space from Google Earth by hitting the 'sky button' at the top of the window, or go to 'view' and click on 'switch to sky' in the drop down menu. This flips you from your earth location to the skies above. There is a quick YouTube video with an introduction at http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html.
*(Google Earth is a free download - with advanced versions for purchase - so click on the on the 'Help' link for information about what your computer needs in order to support the program. Hop on the tutorial that gets you on your way. Also visit the Google Earth Blog - http://gearthblog.com/about.html - for good information).
On NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site, (my personal favorite) scroll down the page and check out the archives, the index, the search tab, etc. The Education tab takes you to a fabulous page of astronomy and astrophysics sites (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html). And you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand a lot of this. These are, after all, education sites!! And seriously fun to browse through.
Another space maps site is the Space/Astronomy page on About.com (http://space.about.com/library/weekly/blskymaps.htm). Type 'Sky Maps' into your search engine for an endless listing of sites.
Contact the Coca-Cola Space Science Center (part of Columbus State University) for information on their planetarium, educational programs and astronomy nights. The next two star-gazing evenings are scheduled for Sat. Sept. 6th (8 p.m.) at the Center (701 Front Avenue), and Sat. Sept. 27 (8 p.m.) at FDR State Park. Contact number (706) 649-1477
Oh, that photo at the top is an aerial of my house that I took while shooting for another assignment. How often do we get to take a picture of our house from the sky?
Robin
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