Increasing Your Sky Awareness

• Top 10 Reasons to Look Up!

  Are you aware that the sky is on the air?
  Huh? Look, listen (with RealPlayer), and enjoy the online version of the following sky awareness radio programs:

  • The Weather Notebook, A Radio Show about Weather and Everyday Life from the Mount Washington Observatory (home of the world's worst weather).
  • StarDate radio--the longest-running science feature in the country--is the daily astronomy-related radio program produced by the McDonald Observatory, University of Texas.
  • Earth & Sky @World of Science includes a link to "Tonight's Sky," featuring a sky chart generated by Starry Night Deluxe.

• Do you remember how the sky looked this morning? How does it look now? Visit the WeatherNet4 CityCam Web site to see the current skyscape in Washington, D.C. You can also access the last three (3) hours of archived images, captured every 15 minutes (Netscape 4.x required).
• The Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness proudly presents the State of Sky Kiosk--an online automated "slideshow" presenting a series of sky-related Web pages, featuring the current sky (day & night) as well as some of the sky's greatest hits. In a little more than 10 minutes, the kiosk provides a fairly comprehensive picture of, well, the current state of the sky. For some "slides," the content is "randomized," meaning that a slightly different Web page will appear during subsequent cycles through the slideshow. Just point your Web browser to the kiosk "splash" page, sit back, and enjoy!
• Test Your Sky-Q (astronomy-related)
• Look Up! Quiz and Sky Awareness Activities (weather-related)

• Plan to celebrate National Sky Awareness Week (NSAW), April 22-28, 2001. Its theme is: "THE SKY - Where Meteorology Meets the Heavens and the Earth." This year, Astronomy Week/Day coincides with NSAW: Astronomy Week is April 23-29, 2001; Astronomy Day is April 28th. For the first time, Astronomy Day has a special theme: "Sun-Earth Day." The NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum has set up a special Web site providing Astronomy Day theme-related resources.

• Clouds, clouds, and more clouds! And even more clouds!
  • Skywatcher's Cloud Chart - online, interactive version of the popular cloud chart from The Weather Channel & For Spacious Skies, a national effort to increase sky awareness and concern.
  • Intellicast - Dr. Dewpoint Weather 101: All About Clouds
  • All about clouds (popular title, huh?) from USA TODAY Weather
  • Australian Weather Photography. Also visit Harald Edens' Netherlands Weather Photography Web site, which features cloud, lightning, atmospheric optical phenomena, and astronomy photographs.
  • Ever imagine that you see shapes in the clouds (technically known as nephelococcygia)? You're not alone! Visit Cool Clouds for "Kids" of All Ages to see the "Energizer Bunny" and other interesting shapes in the clouds. Also visit CloudE Momma's Web site to see a unique cloud "E"-clipse!
• Assuming the sky is cloud-free, approximately how many stars are visible in the night sky? Well, as you can see from a Light Pollution Map of the Washington, D.C. Area, that depends upon where you live. Fact of the matter is, in the most light-polluted areas of the region, only the 25-or-so brightest stars are visible! See what you're missing: visit your local planetarium.
• Snowflakes - A Thematic Approach provides K-12 teachers with a flurry of ideas for using snow to deliver interesting and exciting interdisciplinary instruction perfect for the winter season.
• Annotated links to a variety of other sky awareness resources

End of Century/Beginning of New Millenium?

Celebrate twice if you like, but 31 DEC 1999/01 JAN 2000 is neither the end of the 20th century/beginning of the 21st century, nor the beginning of the new millenium! The end of the 20th century and the start of the new millennium are at the same time: that moment between 31 DEC 2000 at 11:59:59 p.m. and 01 JAN 2001 at 12:00:00 Midnight.

This is simply because we started counting years with the number ONE, so the beginning of decades, centuries, millennia, and other time units is at the beginning of a year ending with a ONE, e.g., 2001.

For more information, visit the United States Naval Observatory Web site, then follow the hyperlink to "Millenium Pages."

Solar Maximum

• From NASA and the Exploratorium, two great new Web sites: Solar Max 2000, Your Guide to the Year of the Active Sun; and Auroras 2000, Your Guide to the Northern and Southern Lights.
• Sun-Earth Connection Tutorial
• Sunspots and the Solar Cycle (including today's sunspot number, What is "The Solar Cycle?", and many other interesting features)
• From the Space Environment Center, the NOAA Space Weather Scales were introduced in November 1999 as a way to communicate to the general public the current and future space weather conditions and their possible effects on people and systems. Analogous to hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, the Space Weather Scales have numbered levels that convey severity.
• Ask Mr. Sunspot - This is one of those frames sites where you'll have to navigate to the resource. Click on "Mr. Sunspot" in the "Sections" menu (left column).
• The Space Weather Bureau
• Auroras - Paintings in the Sky
• What is ultraviolet (UV) radiation? Part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
• The Ultraviolet Index (UV Index) overview, including a link to EPA's new SunWise School Program regarding Sun safety; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) UV Index map.
• Ozone Depletion and UV Radiation; EPA's Ozone Depletion Home Page; Sunburn Cam, courtesy Discovery Channel Online.

GPS - The New North Star

Location-Finding Using Global Positioning System (GPS), including annotated links to a variety of GPS-related resources.

Geoscience-Related Information Servers | Geosystems in FCPS
American Meteorological Society DataStreme Project