Updates

1 January 2020: Added a new Games essay about HIV and AIDS.

6 February 2019: Added a new Games essay about Cepheid variables.

2 May 2014: Added a new Games essay about the discovery of Neptune.

10 September 2009: Added a new Games essay about the Milky Way.

4 February 2009: Added a section about me and my introduction to astronomy.

11 November 2008: Added a new Notes article on what tells me the seasons are changing.

26 June 2008: Added a new Notes article on the Drake Equation, regarding the development of extraterrestrial intelligence.

18 December 2007: Added a new Astronomical Games essay on the magnitude system.

18 August 2006: Added yet another definition of planet to the Notes page.

17 August 2006: Added a new Astronomical Games essay on comets and gravity assists.

31 July 2006: Added a Chinese poem on light pollution to the Notes page.

30 June 2006: Added a simple planisphere for light-polluted skies to the Notes page.

25 June 2006: Substantially updated the reference page, which was in serious need of a face lift.

2 January 2006: Updated the Astronomical Games column on why the sky is blue.

5 December 2005: Added a new Notes article, a review of the Collins Atlas of the Night Sky.

15 November 2005: Added new Notes articles on the units of energy and intelligent design.

14 October 2005: Added a new Notes article on planetary orbits and Newtonian gravity.

27 June 2005: Added a new Astronomical Games essay on the precession of the equinoxes.

26 January 2005: Added a new Astronomical Games essay on echoes of light and sound.

7 November 2004: Added a Notes article on the inverse-square law of gravity. In particular, this is a geometric demonstration of the law, which I caution isn't for the faint of heart. Unlike my general relativity article, this one really needs the PDF format.

1 October 2004: Added a list of star names to the reference page.

22 June 2004: Added a new Astronomical Games essay on selecting eyepieces (kind of).

7 May 2004: Added a Notes article on general relativity. This is a 61 kB PDF, mostly because I'm too lazy to convert it into HTML. Ostensibly, I might add an appendix with more complicated math, and that would justify keeping it a PDF.

5 May 2004: Added a new Astronomical Games essay on how a telescope works.

12 April 2004: Added Notes articles on what it would take to make creation science an actual science, and also on Sky Publishing's new venture, Night Sky. And one more on tidal locking with the Moon.

15 March 2004: Added an Astronomical Games essay on carbon stars.

29 January 2004: Added a Notes article on the relationship between RMS wavefront error and the Strehl ratio.

12 January 2004: Added a Notes article on testing what causes diffraction.

5 January 2004: Added a Notes article on the Firefly Planisphere.

3 January 2004: Added an Astronomical Games column on Mars.

26 November 2003: Added a few articles to Notes: on astrology and Hamlet, GOTO and star-hopping (again), the odd behavior of the Sun as seen from Mercury, and what it means when we say that theories have been proven wrong.

30 June 2003: Added an Astronomical Games column on our local star.

20 June 2003: Added a Notes article on what a Jovian satellite transit would look like from Jupiter.

5 June 2003: Added an Astronomical Games column on why there aren't any green stars.

1 April 2003: Added an Astronomical Games column on why the sky is blue. (Really. No fooling.)

3 March 2003: Added a Notes article on the accelerating expansion of the universe.

1 March 2003: Added a new Astronomical Games column on chromatic aberration.

9 January 2003: Added a new Astronomical Games column on the speed of distant galaxies. Also, added a new Notes article, reviewing Dickinson and Dyer's Backyard Astronomer's Guide.

29 August 2002: Added a new Astronomical Games column on the light from distant galaxies.

13 August 2002: Added a new Astronomical Games column on that funny sign on high-end globes.

9 July 2002: Significantly revised the coma article.

2 July 2002: Added a new Astronomical Games column on weight and weightlessness.

26 June 2002: Added a Notes article on coma and other aberrations, derived from a geometrical perspective.

24 April 2002: Recovered a Notes article about the average position of a planet around its sun.

23 April 2002: Recovered my Astronomical Games columns on diffraction and escape velocity. Thanks to all who helped!

30 November 2001: Added a new Notes article about the view of the Earth from other planets.

29 November 2001: Added a new Astronomical Games column on finding your way home from the galactic center. This is an expansion of a previous Notes article.

18 August 2001: Added a new Notes article about selecting an atlas.

22 June 2001: Added the skeleton for my own personal FAQ list.

6 June 2001: Added a new Astronomical Games column on Kepler's discovery of the laws of planetary motion.

17 May 2001: Added a new Notes article on stars visible to the unaided eye.

2 May 2001: Added a new Astronomical Games column on general relativity.

18 April 2001: Added a new Astronomical Games column on special relativity.

15 March 2001: Updated and added a few new entries to the references list.

24 January 2001: Added a new review of the Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate.

14 January 2001: Added new Notes articles on Jupiter as seen from Mars, a review of Turn Left at Orion, the reason for the 50x per inch limit on magnification, and a brand new solid mount for Wocket, my Tele Vue Ranger.

27 October 2000: Unveiled the new PalmAtlas Home Page, introducing v0.1 of this (currently) freeware star atlas for the Palm Pilot and compatible devices.

17 October 2000: Added new Astronomical Games column on the deaths of the stars.

11 October 2000: Fixed an error in Planning the Stars regarding the equation for the mask of a planisphere.

5 October 2000: Added a Notes article (if you can call it that) on a little silliness about the star-hopping/GOTO debate.

26 September 2000: Added a Notes article on what to do at a star party when you're deciding on what scope to buy.

25 September 2000: Added copyright notice.

20 September 2000: Added Notes article on how to determine a comet's orbit based on three observations.

19 September 2000: Added Notes articles: a review of Through the Telescope, an introductory book for amateur astronomers, and a review of the Tele Vue Ranger, a 70 mm refractor.

12 September 2000: Added a Notes article on how a Barlow works.

5 September 2000: Added new Astronomical Games column on stellar fusion.

12 August 2000: Added an article from April 1999 by Jay Reynolds Freeman on the Herschel 400.

5 August 2000: Added a Notes article—a review of Eli Maor's Venus in Transit.

31 July 2000: Updated the links page to correct out-of-date addresses and to add links to astrometric databases like Hipparcos, Tycho, and GSC.

12 July 2000: Added new Astronomical Games column on two-star alignment. Added new Notes article on what happens near the speed of light.

6 July 2000: Added new Notes articles on field rotation and finding your way home from the galactic center.

17 March 2000: Added new Notes installation on the size of the moon.

15 March 2000: Added new Notes installation on astronomy education.

16 February 2000: Added new Astronomical Games column on amateur astronomy myths.

28 January 2000: Added new Notes installation on the sun as it appears from Barnard's Star.

21 January 2000: Added new Astronomical Games column on the Bradley Firstar.

4 January 2000: Added new Notes installation on Stephen O'Meara's The Messier Objects.

13 October 1999: Continued remodeling of site, taking down much of the old material (which has mostly been superseded by new material anyway).

12 October 1999: Added new Astronomical Games column on parallax. Added new Notes installation on Pluto's movement through the skies. Added new links to various pages at the top of the entry page.

28 September 1999: Added new Notes on Fred Price's Planetary Observer's Handbook.

11 September 1999: Added new Notes installation on the Vixen zoom unit.

8 September 1999: Added second Notes installation on visual deconvolution.

5 September 1999: Added new Notes from Under Sky section.

28 August 1999: Added link to new Astronomical Games section. Added first column on the moon.

14 August 1999: Began move to new format.

26 March 1999: Added more links.

7 March 1999: Added links to the links page.

20 February 1999: Added text for night vision page.

Copyright (c) 1998–2019 Brian Tung