Astronomy For Kids

Backyard Astronomer’s Guide

The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide is a lot more than a review of heavenly objects and locations, although there is plenty of that inside. There are the expected and awfully useful lists of constellations, star charts, night sky maps, or details about planets, stars, and galaxies and all that. But there is also a wealth of information about the equipment used in astronomy, including some prices, consumer-type information, advice on when to use and when not to use binoculars, telescopes, cameras, film, lenses, filters, and other items for the amateur astronomer. As a practical guide for amateur and learning astronomers, this is a virtual and very helpful compendium of information. The recommendations for this book are excessive – all written by very accomplished people in the field. Coffee Table sized, it makes a colorful and informative guidebook for anyone taking seriously their interest in the Heavens.

For more information about this great book and for reviews by earlier buyers, click here.

Active Star Watching – Hubble and The Amazing ‘Slooh’

There is more than one place to become actively engaged with the sky. Some more immediate and active than others.

The Hubble Site has to be the entire world’s most important and most accessible astronomical site among any and all others. I love it! Its wonders are available online at any time of day and features an evolving list and gallery of photographs, taken by this unbelievable instrument. There is absolutely no downside to immersing oneself in the Hubble’s wonders. They are totally open for your exploration and delighted to share. This is what we most definitely call a “good thing”.

But for active engagement, complete with viewing the heavens in Real Time, Slooh is the place.

Signing up with Slooh yields 350 minutes of live mission time on the Slooh worldwide telescope network. What is this “network”? This – 3 active observatories, based in Chile, the Canary Islands and in Australia – real live observatories, devoted to star-watching, all with preset and announced gazing times. The additional package with this interesting site includes 2  Slooh Workbooks containing 28 celestial objects, inclusion, as mentioned, in their Northern and Southern hemisphere coverage through Slooh’s network of worldwide observatory sites and the software and instruction on how to take, store, and share pictures taken all on one’s own.

The offer includes 350 live minutes of shared time on these elegant and powerful telescopes, complete with one’s own detours and wanderings. As well, the notebooks and software include tours with “Otto”. Choose numerous mission packs focused on various categories of space. Otto will launch the participant into space and guide you through your mission. You can snap and share recon photos of the entire adventure. Kid friendly in the extreme, this site has won numerous awards for astronomical excellence and educational virtue.

For more product information on Slooh, and for a happy user review of the father of a 9 yar old astronomy buff, please click here.