EYE ON THE SKY® News Service

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Recommended Web Sites of Interest
to Amateur Astronomers in the Mercer County
(Princeton and Trenton), New Jersey USA, Region

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| Local: | Princeton Local Sites | Regional Astronomy Clubs | Other Regional Sites |
Media: | Planetaria - Radio - Television - DBS/Cable - Imax® Theaters - Libraries | Software |
| What's Up?: | Sky Events | Meeting Calendar | Selected Sky and Space News |

Princeton Web Sites

• Princeton University Public Starwatches are held by students from the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at the university's Peyton Hall Observatory in Princeton, usually on the second Tuesday of the month (third Tuesday if the second is cloudy).
• EYE ON THE SKY® Skywatch Page for Princeton has useful tools for starwatchers in central New Jersey and the Delaware Valley.
• AstroCruises Travel promotes travel to major meteor showers, eclipses and other astronomical events.

Regional Web Sites

Astronomy Clubs

• Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association meets at Peace Valley Nature Center near Doylestown, Bucks County, Penn.
• Willingboro Astronomical Society meets in St. Peter Celestine School in Cherry Hill, N.J.
• Amateur Astronomers' Association of Princeton meets in Princeton, N.J.
• Amateur Astronomers, Inc. meets at Union County College in Cranford, N.J.
• Morris Museum Astronomical Society meets in Morristown, Morris County, N.J.
• New Jersey Astronomical Association meets at Robinson Observatory in High Bridge, Hunterdon County, N.J.
• S*T*A*R (Society for Telescopy, Astronomy and Radio) meets in Middletown, Monmouth County, N.J.
• North Jersey Astronomical Group meets at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, Essex County, N.J.
• Astronomical Society of the Toms River Area (ASTRA) meets at Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J.
• South Jersey Astronomy Club meets in Petersburg, N.J.
• Rittenhouse Astronomical Society meets at the Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia.
• Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers meets various places near Philadelphia.
• Philadelphia Area Space Alliance is a member of the National Space Society
• National Space Society NJ North chapter meets at Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey at Teterboro, N. J.
• National Space Society New York City chapter meets at New York University in Manhattan.

Other Sites of Regional Interest

• Rutgers University has public starwatches at its observatory on the Piscataway, New Jersey, campus, usually on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month (weather permitting).
• University of Pennsylvania has public starwatches at its David Rittenhouse Laboratory Observatory in Philadelphia (weather permitting).
• Amateur Astonomers Association of New York and Hayden Planetarium sponsor lectures at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
• Project Astro Nova is a free educational program that places amateur and professional astronomers into 2nd-12th grade classrooms in central and northern New Jersey; teachers should apply by June 1 for the next school year.
• Princeton OSETI (Optical Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) looks for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.
• Princeton University Department of Astrophysical Sciences has its own Web page.
• Institute for Advanced Study School of Natural Sciences in Princeton (where Einstein worked) has a Web page with information about its work.
• Space Studies Institute in Rocky Hill promotes the commercial exploitation of space.

Media

Planetaria

• New Jersey State Museum Planetarium in Trenton, 40' dome seats 149, Minolta MS-10 opto-mechanical projector, re-opens 2008?
• Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia (nation's second-oldest planetarium). 60' dome, 34 miles
• Raritan Valley Community College Planetarium in North Branch, Somerset County, New Jersey, 40' dome seats 100, Spitz 512 opto-mechanical projector, 35 miles
• Novins Planetarium at Ocean County College in Toms River, New Jersey, seats 119, 43 miles
• Edelman Planetarium at Rowan College in Glassboro, New Jersey, 40' dome seats 102, Spitz opto-mechanical projector, 52 miles
• Dreyfuss Planetarium at the Newark Museum, seats 50, Zeiss ZKP3B projector, 59 miles
• Hayden Planetarium ("largest and most powerful virtual reality simulator in the world") at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City, 87' dome seats 429, Zeiss Mark IX projector, 71 miles

Radio

• WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, Philadelphia) produces SkyTalk, a weekly discussion of what's new and interesting in astronomy with Franklin Institute chief astronomer Derrick Pitts and 91FM's Dave Heller airs Monday mornings right after the 6:30 and 8:30 news.
• WRTI-FM (90.1 MHz, Philadelphia) broadcasts the two-minute astronomy program StarDate from University of Texas's McDonald Observatory. It runs every morning at about 7:40 a.m. and weekdays at about 3:40 p.m. WRTI also broadcasts the 90-second science program Earth & Sky every morning immediately before 6:00 a.m.
• KYW-AM (1060 kHz, Philadelphia) and WINS-AM (1010 kHz, New York City) usually carry live coverage of space shuttle launches.

Television

• NASA-TV has Webcaasts of news and educational programming from America's civilian space agency as well as live coverage of news conferences and space shuttle missions. NASA-TV also can be received with a small satellite dish by DBS subscribers and on digital cable television systems.
• Space shuttle launches are usually carried live by NASA-TV, CNN and MS-NBC (but not Fox News Channel).
• PBS stations WHYY-TV (Philadelphia channel 12), WYBE-TV (Philadelphia channel 35), WLVT-TV (Bethlehem, Pa., channel 39), WNET-TV (New York City channel 13), and New Jersey Network (Trenton channel 52) sometimes run astronomy and space documentaries, but none carries the 5-minute weekly astronomy show Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer.
• The Discovery Channel sometimes telecasts astronomy and space documentaries, including some Assignment Discovery programs without commercials at 5 a.m. on weekday mornings.
• The Learning Channel, The History Channel and A&E also carry astronomy and space documentaries.
• The Science Channel from Discovery Networks has science programs, including astronomy programs, carried on DBS and digital cable systems.
• CNN covers launches and space news.
• Cable in the Classroom's Web site can help you find astronomy and space TV programs; enter the keyword "astronomy" or "space" and the subject Science/Health.

DBS

DBS (Direct Television Broadcast Satellite) uses a permanently mounted 18- or 20-inch satellite dish and receiver purchased by the customer. Both major companies carry NASA-TV, Discovery Science Channel.

• Dish Network.
• DirecTV.

IMAX® Theaters

IMAX films have included spectacular footage shot aboard the Mir space station, space shuttles and International Space Station, as well as animation from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other space-related images. These theaters have 1570 (15 perforations per 70mm-wide frame) projectors. The largest Imax rectangular screen is in Sydney (117' x 97') and largest Imax dome is in Mumbai (98').

• Tuttleman IMAX Theater at the Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia, 79' dome, seats 350, 34 miles
• UA King Of Prussia Stadium 16 & IMAX in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, rectangular screen, 344 seats (276 for 3-D), 41 miles
• IMAX Dome Theater at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, 89' dome (one of largest in the world), seats 392, 62 miles
• AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 with IMAX in New York City, 76' x 98' screen (one of the largest in the world), seats 600 (480 for 3-D), 70 miles
• American Museum of Natural History in New York City, 40' x 66' screen, seats 598, 71 miles
• IMAX Theatre at Tropicana in Atlantic City, rectangular screen and 3-D capable, seats 300, 77 miles

Research Library Catalogues

• Philadelphia
  
  • Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
  • Academy of Natural Sciences
  • Library Company of Philadelphia
  • American Philosophical Society
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Free Library of Philadelphia
• Mercer County Library System (New Jersey)
• Princeton University
• New York City Public Library
• American Museum of Natural History (New York City)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
• Dudley Observatory (Schenectady, New York)
• Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston)
• U. S. Naval Observatory (Washington)
• Library of Congress (Washington)
• Linda Hall Library (Kansas City)
• Huntington Library (San Marino, California)
• British Library (London)
• National Maritime Museum (Greenwich, U. K.)
• Oxford University (U. K.)
• Bibliotheque de l'Observatoire de Paris -- Founder's Collection
• Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Paris)
• Bibliotheque de Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (Paris)
• Bibliotheques de l'Institut de France (Paris)
• Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum & Prins Hendrik Maritiem Museum (Amsterdam & Rotterdam)
• Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam
• National Library of South Africa (Cape Town)
• National Library of Mauritius

Software

EYE ON THE SKY® uses and recommends the following software:

• TheSky from Software Bisque has the best sky charts of any planetarium program we've used.
• WinTrak Pro by NASA contractor Paul Traufler is the most versatile Windows program we've seen to compute the local visibility of satellites. You can download recent satellite elements for Jay Respler's 100 brightest satellites directly from the Web. T. S. Kelso's page has the elements for Iridium and other satellites. NASA Web sites have the latest ISS and space shuttle elements.
• SkyTools 2 calculates the dates and times of twilight or nighttime closest alt/az appulses of the moon, bright stars and planets.
• Guide from Project Pluto has excellent eclipse and occultation mapping features.
• Tides & Currents for Windows from Nobeltec is the program that The Times uses for its weather page to predict Trenton tides.
• Accurate Times, a program by Islamic astronomer Mohammad Odeh, calculates the first visibility of young and old crescent moons.
• WinOccult, a program from the International Occultation Timing Association, calculates the precise times for lunar occultations of stars and planets.
• Babylonia 1.3 by Rumen K. Kolev was written "to help everyone who wants to watch the sky the babylonian-way, with unaided eyes observing the heliacal phases and the beauty of the sunrise and the sunset" and calculates heliacal rising and setting of the moon and planets.
• GEOMAGIX calculates the deviation of a magnetic compass from true north.
• Comet and Asteroid orbital elements are downloadable from the International Astronomical Union.

We're still looking for the best software to calculate the following information for specific locations:

• dates of maximum altitude at the beginning or end of civil twilight for particular cycles of the morning/evening planets Mercury and Venus (but see Ole Nielsen's AstroTools Ephemeris Calculator)
• dates and times at fixed intervals (6 hours) that the moon or a planet approaches a first-magnitude star or another planet while above the horizon within a certain angular distance (10 degrees for moon-planet or moon-star, 5 degrees for planet-planet or planet-star)
• vector graphics (such as Windows Metafiles) of moon phases
• Saturn ring tilt

Sky Events

Satellites

• ISS: Trenton sighting opportunities for the International Space Station calculated by NASA's Office of Space Flight, and the official but usually outdated schedule of future launches to the ISS, the crewed and uncrewed Russian launches Progress resupply and Soyuz changeout flights to the ISS can be found at space.com and the original 1994 assembly sequence can be found at nasawatch.com)
  
• Space Shuttles: status reports, countdown timer, sighting opportunities, mission schedule of the active space shuttle, and schedule of future launches of the shuttles
• Visible Satellites: Heavens-Above's calculations of Trenton's 2-day sighting opportunities for all satellites brighter than 4.5 magnitude, 7-day sighting opportunities for Iridium flares, and 10-day sighting opportunities for the International Space Station, space shuttles, and other specific satellites (also includes a link to the best place we've seen to find out how to watch for satellites, the Visual Satellite Observers Web site)
• NASA: Satellite Tracking online JAVA applets and other predictions
• Other Space Missions: future and recent launches of space missions from many countries (including Russian launches to the ISS) as listed by space.com
• Other Satellite Information: explanation of satellite two-line elements and list of U. S. Space Command Launch IDs and International Launch Designations

Aurorae

Kp Indexes of 8 or greater and Auroral Activity Indexes of 10 or greater increase the liklihood that aurorae may be visible in our area. Solar minimum of the 11-year sunspot cycle is predicted for March 2008.

• Middle Latitude Auroral Activity Warnings and Auroral Watches from Solar Terrestrial Dispatch
• 28-Day Auroral Forecasts (except May-August) from the Geophysical Institute of University of Alaska Fairbanks and Space Environment Center, and six-hour forecast from Space Weather Canada
• Space Weather Current Conditions and Forecast from NASA's space weather page (plus an explanation of the Kp Index)
• Today's Space Weather, Three-Day Solar and Geophysical Activity Forecast and Space Weather Advisories from NOAA's Space Environment Center (you can also subscribe to NOAA's space weather advisories)
• Real-Time Images of Aurora Borealis from NOAA's Polar spacecraft, updated about every seven minutes by the Space Environment Center
• Aurora Chasers magnetic latitude calculator for the Kp index needed to see aurora at your horizon and overhead
• Aurora Chasers alerts sent to your e-mail or text message to your cell phone
• Michigan Tech auroral information

Meteors

• Meteor Shower List and calendar from the International Meteor Organization/North American Meteor Network
• Meteor Observing Calendar by Gary Kronk
• Basic Meteor Information from the American Meteor Society
• Meteor Shower Calendar from the International Meteor Organization

Atmospheric Phenomena

• Atmospheric Optics by Les Cowley
• Atmospheric Phenomena by Russell Cockman
• Weather Photography by Harald Eden
• German Halo Workgroup
• allthesky.com

Other

• Astronomical Calculations from Astronomical Applications Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory
• Eclipse Home Page from Fred Espenak at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
• Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse calculators
• Sunspots from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and other sunspot sites at SpaceWeather and SOHO
• Currently Observable Comets from the International Comet Quarterly
• AstroTools Ephemeris Calculator from Ole Nielsen
• Saturn Ring Tilt Calculator (ring opening angle to Earth) from NASA's Planetary Data System
• Space Calendar from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
• Intellicast Sky Watch stargazing weather forecast
• Astronomical League general astronomy organization
• International Dark-Sky Association light pollution organization
• Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
• Time Zones Web site from timeanddate.com with daylight-saving time dates and city search, and ClariNET Internet Solutions also with daylight-saving time dates
• World Latitudes and Longitudes Web site from Arizona State University Libraries; GEOnet Names Server and Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer for world locations; U.S. Board on Geographic Names for U.S. locations
• Distance Calculator from indo.com
• Tidal Records and Predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Earthquake Records from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Special Local, Regional and Selected National Events, Star Parties and Conventions in 2007-2008

• January 26, 2008: Rutgers Geology Museum Open House in New Brunswick, New Jersey; 17 miles
• February 4-10, 2008: Winter Star Party in West Summerland Key, Florida; 1,360 miles
• March 8, 2008: ASTRO2008 at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey; 39 miles
• March 20: Anniversary of the original Earth Day in 1970, celebrated on the March equinox; the City of San Francisco passed a resolution that began "Whereas, as Earthians we need a day to celebrate our global unity and destiny ..."
• April 13-15, 2007: South Jersey Spring Star Party in Belleplain State Forest, Cape May County, New Jersey; 101 miles
• April 13-17, 2007: Delmarva Star Gaze near Queen Anne, Maryland; 148 miles
• April 21, 2007: BMAA Astronomy Day in Newtown, Pennsylvania; 21 miles
• April 21, 2007: Astronomy Day Novins Planetarium and ASTRA, Ocean County Mall in Toms River, New Jersey; 58 miles
• April 21, 2007: UACNJ Astronomy Day in Jenny Jump State Forest, New Jersey; 60 miles
• April 22: Anniversary of Environmental Teach-In Day in 1970 (which appropriated the name "Earth Day")
• April 26-27, 2008: Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show XVI in Suffern, New York; 73 miles
• May 5: Space Day, which commemorates the day in 1961 that NASA and the Defense Department recommended to President Kennedy that American astronauts fly to the moon (less than three weeks later JFK announced to a joint session of Congress that "I believe this nation should commit itself, before this decade is out, to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.")
• May 5, 2007: AAI Astronomy Day in Cranford, New Jersey
• May 10, 2008: Astronomy Day XXXVI, which falls on a Saturday near or before the first-quarter moon between mid-April and mid-May; Astronomy Week is May 5-11, 2008.
• May 17-20, 2007: Cherry Springs Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park near Coudersport, Pennsylvania
• May 19-20, 2007: Super Science FestivalXXVII at the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; 14 miles
• May 23-26, 2008: Riverside Telescope Makers Conference XL near Big Bear City, California, 2,681 miles
• June 1-8, 2008: Texas Star Party near Ft. Davis, Texas; 2,003 miles
• July 11-15, 2007: Mason-Dixon Star Party XVIII, at Footlight Ranch in Wellsville, Pennsylvania
• June 17, 2006: StarConn 2006 in Middletown, Connecticut; 153 miles
• July 18-19, 2008: ALCon 2008 annual meeting of the Astronomical League in Des Moines, Iowa
• July 31-August 3, 2008: Stellafane in New England; 288 miles
• August 11, 2007: Starfest near Knauertown, Pennsylvania; 75 miles
• September 5-7, 2007: Astronomical Society of the Pacific 119th annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois
• September 14-16, 2007: Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park near Coudersport, Pennsylvania
• September 14-16, 2007: Connecticut Star Party XVII near Ashford, Connecticut
• September 15, 2007: Astronomy Day; Astronomy Week is September 10-16.
• September 15, 2007: UACNJ 2007 Astronomy Symposium in Jenny Jump State Forest, New Jersey; 60 miles
• September 30-October 2, 2005: LVAAS Megameet XIV sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society, (observers' weekend open only to members of astronomy clubs) near Hamburg, Pennsylvania; 102 miles
• October 4-10: World Space Week, declared by the U. N. General Assembly in 1999 "to celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition." These dates mark the anniversaries of the launch of Sputnik I and the 1967 international space treaty.
• October 8-14, 2007: Mid-Atlantic Star Party 2007 near Robbins, North Carolina; 527 miles
• October 10-14, 2007: Delmarva Stargazers No-Frills Star Party XII near Queen Anne, Maryland; 148 miles
• October 12-14, 2007: Stella-Della-Valley XXI near Ottsville, Pennsylvania; 42 miles
• October 12-14, 2007: South Jersey Fall Star Party XI in Belleplain State Forest, Cape May County, New Jersey; 101 miles
• October 12-14, 2007: Jersey StarQuest near Hope, New Jersey; 57 miles

Regular Local Events

• 1st Tuesdays: Hayden Planetarium interactive virtual universe shows, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
  
• 1st Wednesdays: Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association meetings, Peace Valley Nature Center in Doylestown, Penn., 8 p.m.
  
• 1st Fridays: Willingboro Astronomical Society regular meetings, St. Peter Celestine School in Cherry Hill, N. J., 7:30 p.m.
  
• 2nd Tuesdays (September-June): Public lectures at Princeton University's Peyton Hall, 8 p.m.
  
• 2nd Tuesdays: Princeton University monthly public starwatches (12" Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector), Peyton Hall, Princeton University, two hours starting 8 p.m. EST or 9 p.m. EDT
  
• 2nd Wednesdays (September-June): Rittenhouse Astronomical Society public lectures, Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
  
• 2nd Thursdays: Franklin Institute science museum public starwatches at the Joel. N. Bloom Observatory (10"Zeiss refractor and four 8" Meade reflectors) in Philadelphia
  
• 2nd Thursdays: Rutgers University public starwatches (20" reflector), Piscataway campus, N. J., one hour after sunset for two hours
  
• 3rd Tuesdays: cloud/rain dates for Princeton University's second-Tuesday public starwatches (12" Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector), Peyton Hall, Princeton University, 8:30-9:30 p.m.
  
• 4th Thursdays: Rutgers University public starwatches (20" reflector), Piscataway campus, N. J., one hour after sunset for two hours
  
• Last Tuesdays: Hayden Planetarium live celestial highlights star shows, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
  
• Last Fridays: Willingboro Astronomical Society informal meetings, St. Peter Celestine School in Cherry Hill, N. J., 7:30 p.m.
  
  
• Every Friday (April through October): Simpson Observatory public starwatches (6.25" Hastings-Byrne refractor and 14" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector), Washington Crossing (N. J.) State Park, 8 to 11 p.m.
  
• Various: ISS and space shuttle passes, Russian resupply missions, and NASA TV mission coverage
  
• Various: Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association public starwatches (including some in Bristol, Penn., only 12 miles from downtown Trenton)
  
• Various Princeton University's Department of Astropysical Sciences sometimes hosts public astronomy lectures
  
• Various: University of Pennsylvania public starwatches (8" Alvan Clark refractor and 10" Meade reflector), campus station of the Flower and Cook Observatory on the roof of the David Rittenhouse Laboratory, Philadelphia
  

News

Local News

• Trenton Times

News Search Engines

• Yahoo! News
• Google News

NASA News

• NASA gateway site is one of the most popular on the Web.
• NASA Human Spaceflight Center has official news of the International Space Station and space shuttles.
• NASA Watch has unofficial news from the agency's peskiest gadfly.

Other Space News

• space.com Web site
• Astronomy American astronomy magazine
• SkyNews Canadian astronomy magazine
• Astronomy Now British astronomy magazine
• New York Times newspaper
• Florida Today newspaper from Florida's "Space Coast"
• CNN Cable News Network
• BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
• ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Discovery Channel American cable TV channel
• spaceref.com independent news site
• Skypub news

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Copyright 1998-2007 EYE ON THE SKY® News Service. All rights reserved.
EYE ON THE SKY® is a registered trademark of EYE ON THE SKY® News Service.
The address of this page is http://www.eyeonthesky.com/links.html
Updated 21 September 2007. All links checked 21 September 2007.