Wonderful websites
We hope you enjoy visiting the INTECH Planetarium and get as excited about space as we are! Here are some things that you can do from home if you want to find out more.
Look at the night sky
Our view of space changes all the time as the Earth rotates on its axis and orbits the Sun. You will also see different things depending on where you are on the Earth.
You can see lots of different things (coloured stars, planets, nebulae, satellites, meteors, other galaxies and more) just with your eyes, but if you can get hold of binoculars or a telescope then you will be amazed by how much more can be seen!
To find out what you can see tonight, try using Heavens-Above (warning: be careful if typing the url). This excellent website lets you put in your location and the date, and then tells you how to spot star-patterns, satellites and all sorts of things. You can print out star-maps to help you find your way around the sky.
There is a weekly guide to the sky on Sky and Telescope magazine’s website.
Try to spot the International Space Station or other manned missions. NASA tells you where to look.
Remember to check the weather and wrap up warm!
Finally, do you know which star you must never look straight at because it would hurt your eyes? It's the closest star to Earth - the Sun.
Read the latest space news
Today’s space news from Universe Today
A great Space Blog from the Planetary Society (for older readers)
Join a club / go to an event
INTECH is pleased to be associated with the HantsAstro online astronomy group, who have free membership, a website packed with useful information and a monthly e-zine. HantsAstro welcome complete beginners and will be running observation nights in Hampshire from September 2008.
There are also many local astronomical societies around the UK who run a variety of events. To find one wherever you live, look here on the Federation of Astronomical Societies website.
In Hampshire, you could find:
- Cody Astronomical Society (Farnborough)
- Hampshire Astronomical Group (Clanfield)
- Solent Astronomical Society (Southampton)
And of course there is the lovely South Downs Planetarium in Chichester, who run their own programme of events.
Finally, check out the Society for Popular Astronomy http://www.popastro.com/ who have just started a kids section. They have plenty of information about how to get involved with astronomy.
Be part of a research project
YOU can contribute to important scientific investigations. There are lots of images of space that need to be analysed, but sometimes computers cannot work as well as a human brain. You can volunteer to help by looking at images online in your own time. Here are two projects you could be part of:
Galaxy Zoo (Oxford University) – identify different kinds of galaxy
Clickworkers (NASA) – find craters on Mars
Find out more about space
The European Space Agency (ESA) have a kids page.
NASA also have loads of stuff for kids on their website.
The BBC have a whole space section.
And our friends at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, have some great online factfiles (aimed at people aged 16+).
Other fun stuff
Solar system visualiser - watch planets and moons orbiting in our solar system and also around other stars! See the shapes of the orbits and how fast the objects move as they go around. Very simple to use.
Great little interactives – find out about loads of different space topics by playing with these neat gizmos. Mostly for KS3+.
Beautiful Hubble pictures – from the Hubble Space Telescope. Just amazing.
Planetarium software for your computer – freeware from Stellarium. Ask the computer’s owner before installing this software, and read the notes - make sure you know how to exit!
Get in touch
If you know any other websites that you think should be on this list, let us know!
Last Modified: 13/06/2008