Best websites to follow for astronomy knowledge and news?

My daughter is about to start her two years of GSCE Astronomy, i am wanting to help as much as i can from home and wondered if there were any recommended sites that deal with this subject?

I think (please correct me if i need anything else) i am looking for sites that give up to date news regarding space and all that happens within, should i be looking at the NASA site or is there anything better? Any other sites that give easy info for a teenager and her amateur dad to understand?

Thanks in advance for any help.

CX.

www.space.com is a good place to start

Thank you.

CX.

reply to post by CX


Here is a good one: phys.org
phys.org...

www.heavens-above.com this site tells you whats visible from your location such as comets, planets and the ISS.
not alot of knowledge on this site, just times, dates and which way to point your telescope.

Not ATS!
But here's a good one...
www.spaceweather.com...

Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog, link here: blogs.discovermagazine.com...

The guy's a skeptic, and some of the common sense things he says would be considered quite controversial to some here on ATS.

reply to post by CX


A very enjoyable audio-book, its what i read when I am too tired to read, is:

Bill Bryson's: A Short History Of Nearly Everything.

He wrote this book for people who DON'T study the topics covered such Astrophysics, Elements around us, Space and how our Earth is made.

I can probably guess that almost anything after Chapter 12 may be a little irrelevent but from 1-12 it is all gold.

I was a carpet and linoleum layer for years and struggled to deal with some of my colleagues who thought I was a lament, but a quick post-high school polish up of some knowledge (a lot of it doesn't even get taught in schools) and I can even able to stump them on a few things.

It's pretty easy to follow (as I have a hard time processing data when I have no idea what I'm looking at)

Good Luck

Originally posted by CX
I think (please correct me if i need anything else) i am looking for sites that give up to date news regarding space and all that happens within, should i be looking at the NASA site or is there anything better?

Space.com is the one listed at the school's site so that should be one key source.

Here is a list of over 17 astronomy links which includes all the links mentioned here plus a bunch more:

curious.astro.cornell.edu...

Don't overlook that site itself which is run by Cornell University astronomy graduate students.

They've answered 783 questions about astronomy, here are the top 25:

curious.astro.cornell.edu...

I'd also suggest clicking the podcast link and listening to the monthly podcasts. The last 15 or so podcasts are archived.

I agree with all the above links. The astronomy magazine, Sky and Telescope also has a good website. www.skyandtelescope.com...

A huge thank you to everyone for the great replies, lots there to keep me and my daughter going for a while.

Much appreciated.

Just wish we'd been able to study astronomy at school.

CX.

www.spacedaily.com...

A newspaper devoted to nothing but space articles.

But you may want to check out this site...

www.astronomyclubs.com...

Check and see if there is any astronomy clubs local or within a good driving distance. It also may be wise to check the larger universities to see if they have a telescope and allow access to it. Some are on the honor system.

Some ATS residents will probably laugh at this, but... www.nasa.gov...
There is a lot of educational material, as well as astronomy news.

Also good for current news is Universe Today and associated with that is Astronomy Cast which has great episodes on individual topics. So if you want to hear about the Cosmic Microwave Background, or black holes or a hundred other topics you can simply download a specific episode.