Fun Friday Resources

Today let’s slip the surly bonds of earth and look to the sky.

First, a series of celestial atlases, curated by The Public Domain Review, whose work often shows up in our Fun Friday Resources.

From 1482, the Hyginus Star Atlas. We’re just here for the pictures; as noted on the page, the Hyginus is not very useful as an atlas due to its inaccuracy and lack of context.

From 1660, the Celestial Atlas of Andreas Cellarius. More accurate, and if nothing else, it serves to demonstrate the progress made in both astronomy and printing in 180 years.

From 1795, the Celestial Atlas of Flamsteed. By now astronomers were including nebulae in their drawings and recognizing that the stars did change position, if ever so slightly. You may notice that each page focuses on a few constellations, but also includes the others in the field grayed out. Hold that thought.

Moving forward another couple of hundred years, your tax dollars provide you with an endless supply of star/space photos: NASA Images. You can filter/search for specific images, and all of them are fully notated and downloadable, both in web format (smaller) and full resolution. Most are not very exciting (unless you’re into vacation snaps of equipment or good-looking French astronauts), but the ones of nebulae and planets are stunning.

You really need to download this app.

Finally, an app. I think this is the first time we’ve featured an app, but this one is so cool that you really really need it: Star Walk, for iOS, Android, and Amazon. If you’re out one night and you think that’s Mars, all you have to do is whip out your phone, fire up Star Walk, and point it up. As you point and move your phone, the screen displays the night sky with labels. In fact, the center of the screen will fully draw out any constellation in view, while those to the side are grayed out. (See?)

Star Walk also has a ton of other features, which I will leave you to explore. In closing, a neat story: one night I was demonstrating Star Walk to family members, and lo! there was the International Space Station, labeled and moving quickly across my screen. We put down the screen and watched it streak across the sky. So, so cool!