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Astronomy Picture I have been an amateur astronomer most of my life. I tried, unsuccessfully, to grind my own telescope mirror when I was 12, and finally bought a telescope a few years later. The picture here is one I took of the 1979 total solar eclipse in Winnipeg, Canada. A buddy of mine and I drove up in February of that year to catch it. If you have never seen a total solar eclipse (not a lunar one), I would advise doing whatever it takes to go see it. It will totally blow you away.

Comet Here is a shot I took of comet Hale-Bopp (you can do the Hale-Bopp salute by striking a roman-legion "hail" followed by striking yourself in the head -- guaranteed to break the ice at parties!). The comet was fabulous and a great reminder of the wonders nature can show us when she cares to. Click on the image to see it full size.

I used to teach Astronomy at Hamline and may do that again some day, but for now I am just enjoying the sky whenever I can. Here are some of my favorite Astronomy Links:

Astronomy Links:

  • NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
  • JPL (The Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
  • SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space)
  • AAS (American Astronomical Society)
  • Eclipse paths from NASA. Lots of good info here on solar and lunar eclipses.
  • How to See artificial satellites. This is a really cool Java applet that takes a zillion years to download, but once it is up you can find out how to observe the International Sapce Station and other bright things we have put in orbit. Very fun and very acurate.
  • NSSDC. The National Space Sciences Data Center. Lots of interesting things to browse about space.
  • View the Earth as it appears right now. You can select cloud cover, topo-map, or IR, and view the earth from any location (on the moon for example).
  • This link will draw the current solar system. There are many options. Check it out.
  • Look here for Sky and Telescope's home page.
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