The following resources may be of interest to amateur astronomers, students, instructors, and informal educators.
Please check back regularly for updates.
If you have suggestions for additional resources to include, please email GAM Resource Suggestions.
Featured Link
What's up this month NASA's Solar System Exploration News and Events site highlights "What's Up for the Month." These pages are written by Jane Houston Jones, an astronomer, NASA science podcast developer, writer, educational and outreach artisan and social media enthusiast.
Logos, Banners, Posters and Graphics
Images Audio and Videos
Presentations
Sky Maps, Software and Websites
Movies
Astrophotography Resources
Messier Marathon
Star Party Resources
Educational Resources
People With Disabilities Resources
Lunar Resources
Remote Observing Resources
Saturn Resources
Solar Resources
Dark Skies Resources
Astropoetry
Other
IYA 2009 Archive
Logos, Banners, Posters and Graphics
Images and Videos
- GAM 2012 trailer
- The World At Night (TWAN), a collection of stunning photographs and time-lapse videos of the world’s landmarks against the celestial attractions.
Presentations
- What is Astronomy?
- Who Invented the Telescope?
- Saturn - Galilean Nights the Ringed Planet
Sky Map Software and Websites
- Evening Sky Map -- 2-page monthly guide to the night sky for all levels, multiple languages available
- Virtual Moon Atlas - free software for Moon observing
- CalSky - an astronomical calendar containing daily for every point on Earth
- Heavens Above - a web site that shows you when satellites, including the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, are visible from any place on Earth
- Cartes du Ciel - a free program that shows you whats in the sky at any time
- Stellarium - 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.
- Celestia - a free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions
Movies
- Eyes on the Skies - The International Astronomical Union's book and movie celebrating the 400th anniversary of the telescope.
Astrophotography Resources
- Capture the Cosmos - A Guide to Photographing the Sky with TWAN - the World at Night.
Messier Marathon
Star Party Resources
- How-to guides for star parties Step by step useful information from the 100 Hours of Astronomy archives.
- Observing Forms and Templates by Jeremy Perez.
Educational Resources
- 100HA Educational resources - an excellent page with many educational resources gathered together for the 100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project of IYA2009
- What's up this month NASA's Solar System Exploration News and Events site highlights "What's Up for the Month". These pages are written by Jane Houston Jones. an astronomer, NASA science podcast developer, writer, educational and outreach artisan and social media enthusiast.
- Earth and Space Resources - an excellent page from CSIRO Australia with numerous educational resources.
People With Disabilities Resources
For the Blind -
- The Sky in Your Hands - Planetarium show for the blind
- The Sky at Your Fingertips - a website about astronomy for the blind with ready to print drawings for Braille printers
- Touch the Invisible Sky - book, plus free Audio Podcasts by NASA Chandra X-ray Center
- A tactile version of the HSTCarina Nebula
- Sunspot Activity by Peggy Walker
- Sharing Ideas 1 - What NOT to do at star parties for the Visually Impaired - Frank Busutil
- Sharing Ideas 2 - What TO do at star parties for the Visually Impaired - Frank Busutil
- FAQ - Star parties for individuals who are legally Visually Impaired - Frank Busutil
- Diabetic Retinopathy - Examples - Frank Busutil
- Macular Degeneration - Examples - Frank Busutil
- Retinitis Pigmentosis - Examples - Frank Busutil
- Normal Vision - Examples - Frank Busutil
- Modeling the Phases of the Moon by Noreen Grice, You Can Do Astronomy LLC
- A paper on acoustic planetarium for blind persons or with amblyopia disorder by Sebastián Musso
- SEE Project - Space Exploration for the Blind and Visually Impaired
- The Dusty Lunar Surface - by Frank Busutil
- Resource blog for Blind impaired (in Spanish) by Gloria María Isidro
- Videos on astronomy resources for the blind by Sebastián Musso (in Spanish): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
For the Motor Disable -
- Astroadapt - Software for people with motor disability
- Handicapped Access to the Sky by FAR Laboratories
For the Deaf -
- Les mains dans les étoiles. Dictionnaire encyclopédique d'astronomie pour la Langue des Signes Française - Astronomical Sign language, by Dominique Proust
- The Incredible Two-Inch Universe - Video Podcasts with American Sign Language by NASA Chandra X-ray Center
For Cognitively Disabled -
- Life of Stars (pdf) (download guidelines)
For Miscellaneous -
- Everyone's Universe by Noreen Grice (book)
- Space Science Is for Everyone: Creating and Using Accessible Resources in Educational Settings by NASA
Lunar Resources
- Phases of the Moon - Demonstrates the reasons for the changing phases of the Moon in an online Flash simulation
- The Moon Guide: A Resource Guide - Compiled for ASP by Andrew Franknoi
- MoonWalkers programme - from the European Association for Astronomy Education
Remote Observing Resources
- Virtual Telescope's user's manual 1.26MB PDF download
- Virtual Telescope's FAQs small PDF download from Bellatrix Observatory
Saturn Resources
- Saturn Moons An easy to use applet from Sky and Telescope showing the positions in orbit around the planet of Saturn's brightest satellites from January 1900 to December 2100
Solar Resources
- Sundial for GAM2012 - an illustrated PDF with full instructions, including a detailed assembly pattern of making your own Sundial.
- One Rotation - an excellent illustrated PD espeically for GAM2012 with registry sheet for direct measurement of solar rotation and sunspot activity
- How to Observe the Sun - excellent illustrated PDF espeically for GAM2012 resource regarding the dangers of solar observing on the eye, including safe solar filters for your telescope or camera.
- Spectroscope for GAM2012- full instructions, including a detailed assembly pattern on how to make your own Spectroscope.
- Make Your Own Sun Observation Glasses - full instructions, including a detailed assembly pattern on how to make your own solar observation glasses or solar filter glasses. Warning: this pattern requires a solar filter.
- Observing the Sun yourself - excellent resources from Stanford Solar Center
- Build a safe solar filter for your telescope - from Michael Portuesi
- Make your own Pin Hole Cameras - Pinhole camera's are fun, safe and easy to make.
- Build a safe solar viewer - from CSIRO Australia
- Build a sundial - build a sundial for your garden or school! Plenty of useful information and full instructions. This would make a great project for students or astronomy groups taking part in this years SunDay for GAM2012.
- Build a solar cooker - Ever thought of cooking using solar energy? This link and it's many solar cooker plans will inspire everyone to give it a try.
Dark Skies Resources
- Dark Skies Rangers Activities
- IDA Nighttime Rocks! Activity Book
- Light Pollution Activity
- Global Astronomy Month Dark Skies Awareness Program
- International Dark Sky Week
- GLOBE at Night
- Earth and Sky Photo Contest on Dark Skies Importance
- Dark Skies Poetry Submissions
- Audio Podcasts on dark skies awareness
- The International Dark-Sky Association Annual Conference
- The World Night in Defence of the Starlight
- Hidden Wonders Slideshow & Video - Excellent slide show by Audrey Fischer
Astropoetry
- Cosmopoetry - SARM and Friends, a mirror of SARM’s activities in this field
- Astropoetica - the regular web magazine
- Astropoetry SARM
- Astropoetry to the Global Astronomy Month 2010 - Archive
Other
- The Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (UAP) - is a project aiming at facilitating the collection of UAP reports from both amateur and professional astronomers, via a questionnaire to be downloaded from a dedicated website.
International Year Of Astronomy 2009 Archive
- IYA2009 in images - Slide Show. The variety of images, location and activities presented in the slides is intended to convey a feeling of the multicultural diversity that characterized IYA2009.
- 100 Hours of Astronomy - A Photo Gallery Retrospective
- IYA2009 video Around the World, Around the Sky - Trailer
- IYA2009 Vodcasts
- What you can expect to see with your Galileoscope – by Dr Tom Benjamin
- How to Use Your Galileoscope - a 5 minute videocast by Dr Tom Benjamin