Useful Links.

[General] [Equipment] [Imaging] [Object Search] [Practical] [Software] [Video] [Camps] [Maidenhead Links] [ Discussion Groups] [Radio Astronomy]

General Information:
An Atlas of the Universe - From 12 to 14 billion Lyrs. You must look at this !
Apollo Landing Sites - The Lunar and Planetary Institute
Astronomy Now - Magazine site for subscriptions
BBC Science and Nature - SPACE...
Cloudy Nights Telescopes Reviews - A good review site
English Telescope Makers - An interesting summary.
Heavens Above - Excellent site for observing satellites and astronomical objects
NASA Eclipse home page - For planning you next eclipse trip
QCUIAG - Quick Cam and unconventional imaging group
SEDS Messier database - Index of all the Messier objects with images and data
SOHO - The NASA homepage of the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory
Spaceweather.com - An excellent site worth checking out

Equipment Suppliers:

Astro buy and sell - UK Second user equipment

AstroMart Classifieds - US listing, get an account to login.

UK Manufactures (Custom):

Alexanders Observatories - Supplier of roll-off observatories
Astroparts - manufacturer of adapters, threads, rings, counterweights etc
David Lukehust - Telescope Maker e.g. dobsonians
Epsilon - Astronomical accesories and custom parts
Orion Optics - Low to mid range telescopes based in Crewe

Starlight Xpress - CCD cameras

 

Suppliers
Ace Astronomical - Cameras, binoculars and telescopes
Altairastro - SkyShed Pod Observatories, Kendrick and more.
Astronomik - CCD and visual filters,
Astronomiser - Connectors, cable and CCD cameras
(BC&F)AstroEngineering - All sorts of parts. See Telescope House
Coronado - Solar filters and solar telescopes
David Hinds - Main Celestron dealer at Tring in Herts.
Evergreen Optics - Konus dealer

Green Witch - Telescopes, binoculars, courses.
Ian King Imaging - Online shop for astro imaging equipment and courses
Losmandy Mounts - from Venturescopes.
MC2 Telescope Shop - Dealer in Frome, telescopes, binoculars, accessories etc
Meade - The dealer finder page for Meade UK
Modern Astronomy - Telescopes, mounts and accessories, video.
Opticstar - FLI, SAC Yankee Robotics CCDs
Oldham Optical UK - Mirrors and optical components.
Orion Optics - Low to mid range telescopes based in Crewe
OVL Optical Vision Ltd - Importers web site for Sky Watcher, TAL, Intes etc.
Phil Dyer Astrophoto - Telescopes, cameras and video
Pulsar Optical- Domes and more
QHYccd cameras - UK supplier is Modern Astronomy.
Rother Valley Optics - Telescopes, binoculars, accessories and more
Scopes'n'Skies - Antares telescopes and eyepieces, night vision.
SCS Astro - Online store of major brands
South West Optics - Online store of binoculars, telescopes etc
Starlight Xpress - CCD cameras
Strathspey - Supplier of binoculars

Telescope Service - motorised focusers, mounting plates, accesories
True Technology Ltd - Interesting astro items and technical information
Venturescope - Telescope dealer based in Hampshire
Widescreen Center - Telescopes-direct have a range of products

Imaging and Image processing

Astrophotogallery.org A growing image collecton - varied equipment (added 13-11-07)
Canon EOS 350-D reviewed (added 12-11-07)
Canon by M.Covington - Useful starters page to DSLR imaging

Dave's Astro - Tutorial for Deep Sky Image Processing

LRGB imaging - By Robert Gendler in S&T 2001
Photo Shop Tutorial - Rick's astropics blogspot archive
Photo Shop Tutorial - Waid Observatory articles

Object search and retrieval
Digital Sky Survey - Download areas of the sky
Minor planet and NEO ephemerides from Havard

Distances to 1200 galaxies and links to the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED)
NASA Extragalactic Database Data on galaxies.

Practical Stuff
Autoguiding and tracking - Helpful introduction
Astronomical Filter Transmission Curves - a comparison

O-III filters compared - transmission line specra.

Collimation, Basics - Sky & scope - How to collimate a Newtonian by Nils O Carlin
Collimation, A Treatise - Features the CatsEye collimator by Scott McCluney
Collimation, AndyShotglass - Good explantion with movie (best with Broadband)

Collimation, Barlowed laser - A useful method for Newtonians (pdf)
Collimation, Laser collimation - Howie Glatters Page
Collimation, Myths - A collection of missunderstandings
Collimation, Schmidt-Newtonian - Diagram of a home made collimation tool
Collimation, The - An overview with diagrams

Telescope Optics - a nice summary with useful diagrams. (added 11/01/08)

Software selection and telescope control
Astronomy Sofware Links - Free software in additon to this list.
Midnightkite - a long list of software, free and commercial (added 13-11-07)

ASCOM-standards - Interface for telescope control.
AstroArt - MSB software for image processing and CCD control (commercial)
Bitmap-2-Avi - bmp2avi converstion utility
Cartes du Ciel - CDC Celestial atlas
CCD calculator - Wadaski's on-line software from Adirondack

EQMOD documenation project - for EQ6 mount users opting for direct (EQDIR) contol from the PC, and not the Hand Contoller. More info from the Yahoo! group.

GuideDog - Auto guiding software from barkosoftware
GuideStar LX200- Emulator for non LX200 mounts
K3CCD Tools - Now a mature product (commercial)
Nexstar Observers List - Observing aid with telescope control. Useful for non Celestron users also
PHD guiding - From Stark Labs, easy auto-guiding interface
Project Pluto - Guide (commercial)
Project Pluto Manual- HTML guide
RegiStax - Now version 6
SkyMap - Software and catalogues (commercial)
Software Bisque - The Sky and other products (commercial)

Video and Web cameras
WATEC 120N comparison - The ultimate low light cameras compared
StellaCam II images - Examples of what can be done with integrating video
Steve Chambers - Modified web cams for long exposure

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Astro Camps and Holidays
cedepa , COAA, Equinox, Fieldview, Kielder, Madog's Wells,

Local Societies
Aylesbury, Basingstoke, Herschel, Newbury, Reading, Wycombe

Maidenhead Links
Maidenhead.net

Braywick Nature Centre
Maidenhead Heritage Centre - the home of Maidenhead History
Sheargold - The Specialist Music Company.

Yahoo Technical / disscusionGroups

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/astro_narrowband/ Narrow Band Imaging

Radio Astronomy- meteor detection
Ghent University - Automated detection by radio
Jordanian Astronomical Society - FM reception and notes