Crafting with Kids

Its amazing how popular astronomy is. There are literally millions of people each day who love star gazing. Many of these are men of science studied by train who study it by trade. Some are enthusiasts who delve into the stars as a hobby. Hobbyists have even made many amazing discoveries. For the longest time telescopes or at least binocular were the tools of choice. Astronomy software makes it possible study the stars and other phenomena without them. Here are some of the programs available. Click over here for more information about kids astronomy.

SETI@Home home is very popular. the point of this software was to use all the idle time on peoples home computers. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence was set to search space for radio signals that indicated intelligent design. the data were analyzed with supercomputers. But now all that computing power is distributed online. There won’t be some kind of alert if intelligent life is found. But people can take pride in being involved in the search for intelligence outside our home planet.

A 3-D screen saver is another type of star charting software. These bring space objects to life when you’re not using your computer. These are anything from static images to interactive 3-D views. Search 3D Space Tour on Google or Yahoo to find some of these fun programs.

Not many people know what F.I.T.S is. It’s Flexible Image Transport System, which is a NASA and IAU endorsed format to store and deliver not only images but spacial data and multi-dimensional arrays such as 2-D and 3-D images. There are a variety of programs that can read and display this type of data. These include free ware FITSview and AVIS to for sale programs like AstroArt and AIP. Google can help you find more. Some are listed at Duke University’s web site: http://www.phy.duke.edu/.

Amateur astronomers can even find help with imperfect telescopes. Images seen through the telescope are compared with those shown by the software and adjustments can be made.

Astronomy software is as varied as the universe. All you need to do is research and you will discover some software that will be applicable to your position. It is an ever developing field and more and more software is published on a daily basis. There are a lot of places where you can receive both free and paid for software – all you truly need to do is have a bit of a look. Download some and have fun. You should get complimentaryvaluable information about astronomy for kids here.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!