Online resources
Useful links to astronomy info, kids astronomy, Indigenous astronomy, sky charts, data archives, bibliography, organisations, and others.
Astronomy for kids and families
- NASA JPL: Learning Space (try clicking on the 'Learn' and 'Teach' links at the top of the page as well)
- NASA Space Place
- Science Kids: astronomy for kids
- BBC Bitesize
- Kids Astronomy
- NASA Kids' Club
- Astronomy for Kids
- Starchild: A learning centre for young astronomers (for young astronomers age 5-13)
- Imagine the Universe! (for students age 14+)
- Exploring Planets in the Classroom: hands-on activities
- Questacon's Teacher Resource: hands-on STEM activities (Aus)
- Astrophysics for senior students (Aus)
- Tips for holding a star viewing night (Aus)
- AstroEdu - peer reviewed activities
- CAASTRO in the Classroom (Aus)
- Stellarium - a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope
- Scale of the Universe interactive tool
- The Nine Planets - multimedia tour of the Solar System
- ESA Kids
- ABC Education (Aus)
- Khan Academy
Indigenous astronomy
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Astronomy (Aus)
- Australian Indigenous Astronomy: exploring the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Indigenous Australians (Aus)
- Star Stories of the Dreaming documentary (Aus)
- Australian Aboriginal Astronomy (Aus)
- Stories in the Sky: Indigenous astronomy (Aus)
- Australia's First Astronomers (Aus)
Mt Stromlo/ANU resources
- Astronomy and Astrophysics youtube playlist - short educational videos about astronomy (Aus)
- RSAA movies and public lectures - includes educational public talks given on Facebook Live (Aus)
- RSAA virtual tours - go inside the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre and 74 inch Telescope, and view Siding Spring Observatory from the sky (Aus)
- ScienceWise Magazine (Aus)
- Scorpius constellation viewer - make your own Scorpius constellation viewer and use it to help recognise the real constellation in the night sky (Aus)
- Four-pointed star origami - make your own origami star (Aus)
Programs for observing on large telescopes
- SPIRIT remote internet telescope (Aus)
- PULSE@Parkes (Aus)
- iTelescope (Aus/worldwide)
Australian Curriculum-linked resources
Big kids/adults
- ASTRO 3D Education and Outreach (Aus)
- ASTRO 3D educational videos (Aus)
- An Atlas of the Universe
- Australian backyard astronomy page at the National Library of Australia (Aus)
- Hubble Heritage project
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)
- Stellarium - a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope
- COSMOS - encyclopaedia of astronomy (Aus)
- The Astronomical Tourist (Aus)
- American Association of Variable Star Observers - great resource for learning how to observe variable stars (citizen science)
- Heavens-Above - Enter your location in the 'Configuration' section. An easy way to see when the ISS and other satellites will be visible from your location
Sky charts
- Sky View (NASA) - a 'virtual observatory on the net'
- Google Sky - Google Maps for the sky
- SKY-MAP.ORG - interactive, searchable map of the sky
- Heavens-Above - Enter your location in the 'Configuration' section. An easy way to see when the ISS and other satellites will be visible from your location
- Skymaps.com - high quality, printable maps of the night sky
Data archives
- 2MASS at IPAC - Access to the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) database
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST)
- NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)
- SIMBAD - Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data
- Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center (CDS) - a data centre dedicated to the collection and worldwide distribution of astronomical data and related information
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physical reference data
- Hubble Legacy Archive
- VizierR Catalogue Service
- Virtual Astronomical Observatory - home page of the international Virtual Observatory project
- SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey
- Australian Virtual Observatory (AUS-VO)
Bibliographic resources
- ANU library
- SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
- arXiv.org astrophysics e-print service (astro-ph) - preprints of astrophysics research papers
- Astronomy Thesaurus
Organisations
- Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA)
- Astronomy Australia
- International Astronomical Union (IAU)
- NASA
- International society for optics and photonics - SPIE
- International Virtual Observatory Alliance