Stars, Star Maps, and Constellations

• Constellation of the Month (CoM), a feature of the Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness Web site providing information related to prominent constellations currently visible in the night sky including star charts, associated mythology, etc.
• Biography of a Star: Our Sun's Birth, Life, and Death, including a clever activity on using parallax to measure distance, e.g., the distance to nearby stars (from issue Number 39, The Universe in the Classroom)
• The Nearest Stars: A Guided Tour Through our Stellar Neighborhood (from The Universe in the Classroom)
• Sharpe Planetarium's Star Maps (courtesy of Memphis Pink Palace Museum)
  1. Fall & Early Winter Sky - Facing North
  2. Fall & Early Winter Sky - Facing South
  3. Fall & Early Winter Sky - Facing East
  4. Fall & Early Winter Sky - Facing West
• Probe an electronic version of National Geographic's star chart, The Heavens, enriched by 39 images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
• StarGazer (requires Java-capable Web browser). The stars and constellations are displayed in "Horizon" format, where the stars are plotted according to their NSEW direction (azimuth) and their altitude above the horizon.
• Interactive Sky Charts (requires Java-capable Web browser). This program shows you the stars and constellations in "Star Chart" format, according to their Right Ascension and Declination.
• The STScI Digitized Sky Survey
• The Night Watchman -- a page dedicated to the identification and appreciation of the constellations. The most important part of this page requires Shockwave to run, so you may need to download the latest version of the Shockwave plug-in.
• Constellations - line art graphics of many of the more prominent constellations (great for pattern recognition)
• Constellations (from the Fall 1992 issue of The Universe in the Classroom, a free quarterly educational newsletter published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific)
• Kids Space - Constellations
• The Constellations
• Mount Wilson Observatory Constellation Quiz
• New! Ready to be puzzled? See if you can correctly select the pattern of several constellations in the Constellation Puzzle.
• New! The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations - featuring a seasonal constellation every month.

Constellation Mythology

• The Constellations and their Stars - Great site for learning to locate and recognize the 88 named constellations, the names of the bright stars in those constellations, and the mythology associated with each constellation.
• Mythology - Beginner Level (Windows to the Universe, University of Michigan)
• Constellation Lore - Reprinted with permission: Observing the Constellations by John Sanford (no known relation to the Planetarium Teacher), Simon & Schuster, 1990
• Space Encyclopedia/Constellations (Mythologies) - the mythology associated with the 12 constellations of the Zodiac
• Star Art - Read a set of different culture's constellation myths and try to match the star charts to the myths.
• New Links (added 03 JUN 1999)
  • The Munich Astro Archive Constellation Pages, including graphics, general information, stars and objects, and mythological background.
  • Constellation List
  • Stars/Constellations and Their Stars
  • The Constellations

Mythology & Folklore

• Mythology in Western Art
• Bullfinch's Mythology - THE AGE OF FABLE OR STORIES OF GODS AND HEROES
• Perseus Project

Man-Made Stars - Tracking Satellites

Be they faint streaks or brilliant flares, satellite observing is like watching man-made "shooting stars!" Heavens-Above "provides you with all the information you need to observe [satellites]." Visit J-Track 3-D for a unique view of over 500 of the artificial satellites which orbit the Earth.

New Links

NASA Observatorium Stellar Evolution & Death - Like people, stars live and die in a much longer life cycle than humans. Explore the lives of stars, then test your knowledge by taking the SE&D Quiz.