INFORMATION SOURCES

GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS

NASA

Start at the home page. http://www.nasa.gov

However, at 4.1 million public Web pages, the NASA Web can be a little daunting.
Try this to help orient you to specific areas. http://www.nasa.gov/hqpao/help.html

Understanding how the Agency is organized will help you orient yourself for a deeper journey through NASA's Web space. NASA's programs are divided into five Strategic Enterprises. If you're looking for information on a specific program or science topic, try visiting the Home Page of the Strategic Enterprise that seems to most closely fit it.

Contributing to the enterprises are NASA's 10 field centers and other installations. If you know where the program you want information on is managed, you can try the Center's home page. The centres are

You can also browse through the NASA Subject Index, which is broken up into technical categories.Aeronautics , Astronautics, Chemistry And Materials , Engineering ,Geosciences, Life Sciences, Mathematical And Computer Sciences, Microgravity , Physics, Social Sciences (& information systems, administration, policy, etc.), Space Sciences, Standards, General

In addition, http://spacelink.nasa.gov/.index.html is an education-oriented online library. The Library is the heart of NASA Spacelink and the official home to the NASA Education Division's electronic publications and NASA Television's education schedule. The Library is also a guide to NASA's Internet resources with hundreds of subject oriented pages and the capability to search all of NASA.

MISSION AND SPACECRAFT LIBRARY

The Mission and Spacecraft Library is a public source for information about spacecraft. All kinds of spacecraft. Big spacecraft, and small spacecraft. American, Soviet, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, and Luxembourgian (?) spacecraft. Research, communications, astronomy, navigation, and spy satellites. You name it, it's probably here, including a few you probably wouldn't expect to find. The purpose of the library is to provide a general overview of these space missions to the average reader, not just those fluent in aerospace geek speak.
http://samadhi.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Readers interested in companies who deal with specific portions of the US space programme can start with th Kennedy Space Centre webpage http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/stsover.html and follow the links. Be warned, though, that mergers, acquisitions and general falling out of former friends can make this an exercise in detection.

For information on the development of space policy and space missions and spacecraft, look at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/astronautics.html

WEATHER SATELLITE INFORMATION

NCDC is the world's largest active archive of weather data.
National Climatic Data Centre, Federal Building, 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville NC 28801-5001
Tel 828-271-4800 FAX: 828-271-4876
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html

NATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL DATA CENTRE

The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), located in Boulder, Colorado, is a part of the US Department of Commerce (USDOC), National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS). We are one of three NOAA National Data Centers. NGDC's data holdings currently contain more http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ than 300 digital and analog databases. Topics include Bathymetry/Topography, Geomagnetism, Habitat, Hazards, Interactive Maps, Ocean Geosciences, Paleoclimate, Satellites, Snow and Ice, Solar, Space Weather, Terrestrial.
NOAA, E/GC1,
325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

GPO - US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

The Government Printing Office (GPO) keeps America informed. For 140 years, GPO has produced and distributed Federal Government information products. Whether providing public access to Government information online, or producing and procuring printed publications, GPO combines conventional technology with state-of-the-art methods for supporting nearly all the information needs of the Congress, Federal agencies, and the American public. Includes a section on Space and Aeronautics.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/api/api-nasa.html

HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS ARCHIVE RESEARCH CENTRE (HEASARC)

A list of astronomical resource sites created by HEASARC at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It is intended as a resource for users who have a general interest in astronomical topics.
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/www_info/webstars.html

SEASAT SHUTTLE IMAGING RADAR DATA NOAA/EDIS:

In 1978, JPL built an experimental satellite called Seasat to test a variety of oceanographic sensors including imaging radar, altimeters, radiometers and scatterometers.
This is the website http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/seasat.html

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY

ESA, the European Space Agency, provides a vision of Europe's future in space, and of the benefits for people on the ground that satellites can supply. It also develops the strategies needed to fulfil the vision, through collaborative projects in space science and technology.
Information on all aspects of ESA can be obtained from their website.
http://www.esa.int/

EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY (ESO)

The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental, European organisation for astronomical research. It has nine member countries. ESO operates astronomical observatories in Chile and has its headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany.
http://www.eso.org/

CIS

Information on the ex-Soviet space programme still difficult to obtain. The main source was the Russian Information Agency - Novosti, 3 Rosary Gardens, London, SW7 4NW. This is now a very much reduced agency still although it is a good source of pictures of Soviet space projects. The Agency produces an interesting range of newsletters about Russian affairs including a fortnightly Science, Technology and Business Bulletin. It also publish a newspaper called "Russian mirror" every few weeks that has space news pages (you can get it from some newsagents or by post).
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm

The Russian Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos ) was formed after the breakup of the former Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Soviet space program. Rosaviakosmos uses the technology and launch sites that belonged to the former Soviet space program. Currently, Rosaviakosmos has centralized control of Russia's civilian space program, including all manned and unmanned nonmilitary space flights.
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/rsa/rsa.html

INDIA

For information on India's growing space programme visit their website:
http://www.isro.org/
or Email
or write to
Director - Publications & Public Relations
Antariksh Bhavan
New BEL Road, Bangalore 560 094, INDIA
Phone: +91- 80-341 5275 & 341 5474 Fax: +91-80-341 2253

JAPAN

For matters relating to Space applications:
Public Relations Office, NASDA, World Trade Centre Building, 2-4-1 Hamamatsu-cho, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan http://www.nasda.go.jp/
or for Space science . . .
The Office of External Relations, The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, 3-Chome, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229, Japan Tel: 427 51 3911 http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/index.html

ACADEMIC SITES

ASTROWEB

A collection of pointers to astronomy-related information available on the Internet. The database is maintained by the AstroWeb Consortium, a collaboration involving 9 individuals at 7 institutions. In addition to classified lists of resource records, the Consortium also provides a utility to search the AstroWeb database:
http://www.stsci.edu/astroweb/astronomy.html
 

THE PHYSICS WEB

Institute of Physics website. A good UK-based resource for all aspects of physics with a specific section on Astronomy and Astrophysics. http://physicsweb.org/bestof/astro

JODRELL BANK

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/astrolinks.html is a well organized and well maintained source.

UKSEDS

http://www.uk.seds.org/ is another.

ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH

http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/ for an astronomy information serevice and downloadable leaflets

PPARC (SCIENCE)

Contains a section aimed primarily at the non-specialist reader, interested in learning more about the "physics of the Universe". PPARC's subject areas are: theoretical and experimental research into elementary particles and the fundamental forces of nature, planetary and solar research including space physics astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology.
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Ps/psc/intro.asp

OTHER SITES

A miscellaneous selection of sites with extensive links . . . . .

THE ACCRETION DISK

A well organized and well maintained set of links covering the following categories - General , Educational, Projects for the Amateur Astronomer ,Amateur Telescope Making Resources ,The Solar System , The Universe, Magazines, News, Periodicals and Newsletters, Astrophysics, Telescopes and Observatories, CCDs and Photography, Software, Algorithms and Source Code, Space Missions, Probes and Agencies, Commercial Astronomy , Search Engines and Internet Directories
http://www.accretiondisk.org/

ASTRONOMY LINKS.COM

A well-organized site which attempts to provide an index of the best astronomy and space related websites found around the world on the Internet. Frequently updated and cross-platform compatible
http://astronomylinks.com/

AMATEUR RADIO ASTRONOMY

The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) is a dedicated group of people that formed an international society to learn, trade technical information and do their own observations of the radio sky.
http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/

DEEP-SKY WEB PAGES.

BAA Deep Sky Section http://www.britastro.org/info/dss.html
Ciel Extreme (French Deep Sky Magazine) http://pegase.unice.fr/~skylink/publi/cielextreme
Interstellarum (German Deep Sky Magazine http://www.naa.net/deepsky/interstellarum
Norwegian Site (Mikkel Steine) http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~mikkels/index.htm

HEAVENS ABOVE: SATELLITES

All the information you need to observe satellites such as the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, events such as the bright flares from Iridium satellites as well as a wealth of other spaceflight and astronomical information.
http://www.heavens-above.com/

MIDLANDS SPACEFLIGHT SOCIETY

Andy Salmon is the Secretary. "Olympus Mons", 13 Jacmar Crescent, Smethwick, B67 7LF or ring 0121 565 4845 (in the evenings only please).
Email
http://www.midspace.org.uk/

Alternatively try ASTRO INFO SERVICE 26 High Farm Road, Hurst Green, Halesowen, West Midlands. B62 9RX Tel: 0121 422 8801. http://www.astroinfoservice.co.uk/homepage.html

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS:

Centre for UFO Studies,
PO Box 11, Northfield, Illinois 60093, USA
Or start at this website and follow the links http://www.gpgwebdesign.com.au/expertsahynek.htm

WEATHER ACTION

Piers Corbyn Weather Forecasting Services, South Bank Technopark, 90 London Road, London SE1 6LN
Tel: 0207 922 8844 Fax: 0207 401 8915
Weather forecasts based on Solar information: a commercial service, aimed mainly at corporate customers
Other services available
Now a web service http://www.weatheraction.com/