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Muskegon Astronomical Society's Web Site

Welcome to the Muskegon Astronomical Society's web site! While containing information about the society, this web site is also designed for the active observer. Compatible with most browsers and browser cookie-free (not counting web pages outside our site), this web site offers you current observing information. Information that can configured to any given location (see configuration form).

You may find some interesting features on this web site. To start, to your upper-left is the latest NASA image of the sun (including current sunspots). You get this image only during the day. At night, you'll see the current phase of the moon.

Below the image of the sun or moon is a text box showing the current date/time, Universal Time (UT), Julian Date (JD), local sidereal time (L.S.T.), what major planets are currently visible (above the horizon after sunset), plus the next sun/moon rise/set before midnight.

If your browser can show mouse cursor help tips, many items on this web site will display information. The mouse cursor over the moon phase image, for example, will display the age of the moon and the number of days before the next phase. Over the date/time text box, the mouse cursor displays the current location/time zone.

The left frame window has hyperlinks categorized into three sections: The web site links, the observing links, and the club links. The web site links include hyperlinks to the main home page, this web site's configuration form, a feedback form that lets us know what you think about our web site, and a hyperlink that opens up the background music panel (see music).

The observing links has hyperlinks designed for you, the active observer. It has links to astronomy/celestial Calendars, Comet Ephemeris, Ephemeris (sun, moon, planets), astronomy Java Applets (Jupiter and other planets), astronomy JavaScript spreadsheets, mapping (aerial photographs, topographic images, driving directions, nearby dark sky locations), astronomy/space news, night sky (planetarium), satellite sky reports (sky calendar w/ ISS transits, heavens-above, NASA's J-PASS), space weather (aurora images, current solar activity), and weather (clear air turbulence, the clear sky clock, latest GOES image, jet stream forecast, local weather forecasts). What is remarkable is that most hyperlinks in this section can be configured to any given latitude/longitude/time zone (see configuration form),

Say you're going stargazing tonight. Wouldn't it be wonderful to catch an Iridium flare? Wouldn't it be nice to know the great red spot is coming around in a couple of hours? Or that a double transit is happening tonight? Or that a comet just became naked eye? Or that the Jet stream moved overhead? You see a bright satellite flying overhead. Don't you wish you knew it's name? With this web site configured to your location, you'll be able to find out in the observing links section.

We hope you take time to explore the observing links section. Did you know there are interconnected hyperlinks in the observing section? Go to a Comet Ephemeris link and find a comet you want to track. Cursor highlight it's orbital numbers and [Ctrl]-[C] them. In the JavaScripts link, find Planetary, User Defined Object, [Ctrl]-[V] in the textbox and [Submit] the numbers. When you run the Ephemeris labeled "Dennis Allen" (Planet Positions, Current), you'll not only see the current positions of the sun, moon, and planets, but the current position of your comet.

FYI: Some hyperlinks in the observing links section, News Links for example, offer a whole page of newsletter hyperlinks. Other hyperlinks, where there are only a few different sources, simply open up a small folder below the selected link.

Below the active observer links is the club links section. The club links has hyperlinks that include articles/software written by society members, images taken by society members, our monthly/yearly calendar of events, hyperlinks to this web site (customized to specific locations), a list of our favorite hyperlinks, a description of our observatory facility, and how to become a member of our organization.

Finally, below the club section is a Google search form. This form allows you to search for specified text within our web site, or throughout the Internet.

We hope you enjoy this web site! Feel free to give us your feedback. If you want to know more about the Muskegon Astronomical Society or our observatory, visit our home page or check out the club links.

Note to AOL users: If your jpeg images seem waterlogged, edit your settings. Choose preferences, www properties, web graphics. Select never compress graphics. Under general properties, delete your temporary Internet files.

Browser note: This Internet web site does contain lots of JavaScript and dynamic html code. This web site should, however, remain Netscape 4 thru 7.1 compatible, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 thru 6.0 compatible, and Opera 5.12 thru 7.23 compatible. If you experience any JavaScript errors, browser problems, or broken hyperlinks, please report them to the

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This web page was last updated 11/03/10