What websites would be able to help me identify different stars and planets from my back yard?

Similar questions: websites help identify stars planets back yard.

Generating Custom Sky Charts Step 1: Specify your locationTo generate a star chart, you need to specify your location on the Earth. Click on nearby city to specify the major city nearest you. Select San Francisco, USA from the long list of possible cities.

This will display a current map of what the sky looks like from the San Francisco area. Step 2: Specify the dateTo generate a star chart for your birthday, you have to specify the date. Scroll down from the map to the date and time panel, and select Universal time as the mode for specifying the date.

Enter your birthdate (including the year! ) and 20:00:00 as the time (20:00:00 UT corresponds to 12 noon Pacific Time). Click the update button above the date and time panel, and the star chart will be updated to show how the sky appeared at noon on your birthday.

Step 3: Customize the display informationThe star chart that appears is going to look very crowded. You're probably not interested in a lot of the information displayed, so we want to display only the information of interest. You can customize your display by scrolling down to the display options panel.

We only really want to see the constellations, the position of the moon and planets (which will include the Sun), and the ecliptic, which is the path on the sky that the Sun traces over the course of the year. Deselect everything else, and click on the update button again. This will display a map that reflects the choices you just made.

Step 4: Make a hard copyUnfortunately, the Yoursky page doesn't give you the option of easily printing out your star chart, but that's no big deal. First, move the cursor over the image of your star chart and click the right mouse button. Select view image or open image, and this will open a separate page with just your star chart - none of the other stuff.

Then choose print from your browser menu. If you have a problem printing the chart, you might want to set your browser to print greyscale instead of color. Hand in this printout as part of your lab.

Sources: http://www.ucolick.org/~bolte/AY4_00/weblab/project/chart.html .

A great time to see evening planets... Tonight (Jul 16 2007) we will have a great set of planets in the evening sky with the slim crescent Moon right between Saturn and Venus. This should make it really easy to find at least two planets. Venus is the very bright object that will dominate the sunset for most of the next month.

Saturn is below Venus and much more modest, still will be one of the brighter objects in the area. The moon will be above the pair of planets on the 17th. Jupiter will shine as the brightest object high in the eastern sky just after dark, not quite as bright as Venus, but still hard to miss.

Later in the night once Venus and Saturn have set Jupiter will be high in the south for most of the night, nicely placed for viewing with binoculars or telescope. A very nice view through my 18" scope this weekend. Mercury will be visible for the next couple weeks as a morning star just ahead of the rising sun.

Website suggestions to keep up to date in the future... A couple of the best sites are also run by the major astronomy magazines, Sky and Telescope and Astronomy. You would expect these sites to be good, they do have real staffs who do this stuff every day, and it shows with a couple really good websites with tons of content. You will find great write-ups of where to find planets and other objects to view in the sky, how to use a telescope, and all other facets of astronomy in a well arranged and easy to navigate site.

Sky and Telescope Go to "Sky at a Glance" on the side navigation bar Astronomy Try "The Sky This Month" in the side navigation bar Another great site that gives you all sorts of information as to what can be visible is Heavens Above. The site is primarily a site for satellite spotting. Feed in your latitude and longitude and it will give you accurate tables on satellite passes including the international space station, and the shuttle (when one is up).

Also available are sun/moon data and star charts for your location and time. Heavens-Above Need to enter latitude and longitude or select a city from the database Hope that gets you started, you just have to get out and look! Andrew Sources: Many years under the night sky with a telescope... SiliconOwl's Recommendations David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky Amazon List Price: $29.99 Used from: $0.01 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--and How to Find Them Amazon List Price: $26.99 Used from: $11.37 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 42 reviews) .

Here is one pcsapo.com/csphere/csphere.html" rel="nofollow">pcsapo.com/csphere/csphere.html You need to know your latitude and longitude. You can find them at bcca.org/misc/qiblih/latlong.html I hope this helps. Sources: URL1 Manimal's Recommendations Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe, Fourth Edition Amazon List Price: $104.00 Used from: $4.99 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 6 reviews) .

Web site and device... Look at skyandtelescope.com Also look at meade.com as they now have a handheld "gun" GPS device that you can point at the objects and the device will tell you what they are using a small video on a little 2" video screen. It think 30,000 objects plus. Very cool... should be available from Amazon at then of this month and you may be able to pre-buy.

I think $400. Looks like a gun... I call it "A weapon against ignorance. " I think that is pretty funny.

Sources: Personal Knowledge .

Funny Your avatar is funny! No answer to your question - I just got into a trance looking at your dancing man. Cute!.

I really need help to identify this caterpillar. Is there anybody out there who can help?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.