Map-a-Planet

Since the explosion of online maps and related technologies onto the
Internet, it has been relatively easy to find maps of any part of the Earth.
Finding detailed maps of the various planets and moons that share the
universe with us can be a bit more tricky. Stepping in to fill that gap in
online material is the Map-A-Planet site, created and maintained by the
United States Geological Survey's Astrogeology Research Program. Visitors to
the site will be able create (and download) customizable maps of planets
such as Mars and Venus, along with prominent moons such as Callisto (the
second largest moon of Jupiter) and Ganymede, which is Jupiter's largest
moon. Visitors can also create various levels of maps, ranging from those
that are quite basic all the way to those that incorporate more detailed
datasets. While the site is certain to be of general interest to most
individuals, it may be of particular value to science educators who wish to
offer students a rather rich-textured view of these marvelous bodies.

CFHT's 2006 Calendars Now Available for Purchase

CFHT's Spectacular 2006 calendars are now available for purchase

University of Maryland: Astronomy Workshop [Java]

Professor Douglas P. Hamilton and his students at the University of Maryland created this website to provide individuals with astronomy tools and tutorials. At the Astronomy Classroom, students can create scaled models, find out how long it takes to get to interesting places in the Universe, and explore the history of the cosmos. The website offers solar system calculators, animations of solar objects' orbits, simulations of the seasons, and much more. Visitors can also check out the newest additions to the site and can find out what are the most popular tools of the day.

Digital Universe

Digital Universe , an alternative to Wikipedia, has been launched by wikipedia proposer Larry Sanger. Digital Universe will be powered by ManyOne, a new 3D browser, will include paid experts, a subscription option, and will require real names from contributors. This may or may not be connected to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' editing his own bio to remove reference to Sanger as co-founder.

Life on Mars

Life on Mars is looking less likely. Two new papers published today in Nature argue that vulcanism and meteors, rather than standing water, are a better explanation for the results found by the Opportunity Rover, despite previous excited announcements by NASA in 2004.

Deep Impact in the News

MSNBC is having a contest for the 2005 Picture of the Year. The impact with comet Tempel 1 is one of the entries. Take a look here and cast your vote

HOKU

The latest edition of HOKU now online.
[An online astronomy newsletter for parents, educators and teachers, Grades 4-8]

SETI and Intelligent Design

Why SETI's search for intelligent extraterrestrial life is different from the work of proponents of Intelligent Design. An interesting bit of argumentation regarding the distinction between the simple signals searched for by SETI and the complex signals used in arguments for ID.

" Support Bloggers' Rights!"

EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit group of passionate people—lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries — who depend on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights. Litigation is particularly expensive; because two-thirds of our budget comes from individual donors, every contribution is critical to helping EFF fight —and win—more cases.

Making Sense of Science

The aim of the guide, launched this month is to popularize the quality checking and rigor that begins to separate scientific work first from conjecture and then from flawed work. It suggests that the first question to be asked is "Is it published?" The guide covers the kinds of things that scientific reviewers look for – validity, significance and originality – and describes the process of scientific publishing. It also tells people how to dig a little deeper for evidence that scientific findings are published in a peer-reviewed journal.

CFHT's Number One!

We are Number 1 news on Astromart, the top "Ebay" site for
amateur astronomy in the World.

Welcome to Instructables: step-by-step collaboration

Instructables is a step-by-step collaboration system that helps you record and share your projects with a mixture of images, text, ingredient lists, CAD files, and more. We hope to make documentation simple and fast. Show your colleagues how to operate a machine, show your friends how to build a kayak, show the world how to make cool stuff.