Astronomy Links

• A terrific and very cool Tour of the Big Bang by A. Babul at the University of Victoria, describing the time history of the birth of the universe.
• The Cosmic Distance Scale by Maggie Masetti at NASA is an excellent graphical tour for visualizing astronomical distance scales and the immensity of the universe.
• Primitive animation of the "expanding raison bread model" of the universe.
• Across the Universe: A Guide to the Past, Present and Future of the Cosmos, an astronomy blog at the NY Times by Sir Patrick Moore (host of "The Sky at Night" on the BBC for 50 years), Brian May (formerly guitarist for the band Queen!), and Chris Lintott
• The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission website is a great resource for learning about the Cosmic Microwave Background, how it was detected, and how its results are being interpreted to understand the origin of the universe.
• The Hubble Space Telescope home page containing lots of mind-blowing images of the cosmos.
• Comprehensive set of Astronomy links put together by authors and publisher of Pasachoff & Filippenko (2007) The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium, 3rd Edition, Brooks/Cole Publishing, 480 p. (Go to Astronomy Links under Course Resources on left side of web page.)
• First mapping of a planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star, UW Homepage & News, 5/21/07.
• Because of tidal friction, the moon is receding, and the earth's rotation is slowing. This is a nice explanation of the phenomenon (framed as a rebuttal to so-called "crationists"!)
• Immigrant Sun: Our Star Could Be Far From Where It Started In Milky Way  (Science Daily, 9/16/08), Sun might be a long-distance travelerLong-Distance Traveler, (UPI.com, 9/16/08), and on the UW Homepage and News (9/15/08), according to UW astronomers in the Quinn lab at UW (where you can find some stunning video simulations of astronomical phenomena).
• Simulation of spiral galaxy formation by Rok Roskar, a UW graduate student

Habitable Zone & Origin of Life Links

• Discovery of an earth-like extrasolar planet in spring 2007. NY Times articles: 4/25/07 & 4/29/07

• BBC article on Earth-like extra-solar planet, 4/25/07
• Article on Gliese 581c, the newly discovered Earth-like planet, "The Neighbor: Gliese 581c: Midday, Muspell Scablands, Gliese 581c (Planet Ymir)," The Geochemical News, No. 131, April 2007. [pdf]

• Lecture by Hazen on the Origin of Life as well as other lectures on the Habitable Zone, the origin of the universe, solar system, Earth, Moon, etc.

• An excellent ongoing series of lectures from arond the country (including the University of Washington) that are video onferenced and podcasted. There are many gems here!