Bring a portable planetarium to your school:
Larry Harrison is in the Sacramento Valley and will bring his STARLAB Portable Planetarium to your school. Here is how you can reach Larry:
Address: Larry Harrison , SCOPE, 6820 Brookhaven Way, Citrus Heights, CA 95621
Phone: 800-349-8617 or 916-726-7300, Fax: 916-726-0743, E-mail: harrison@4scope.com, Web page: http://www.4scope.com
Places to take your class:
Schreder Planetarium is in Redding. Redding has a wonderful Planetarium that holds 64 students. There is a charge for attending this Planetarium and you must mail in their Reservation Request form to bring your class. Call 530-225-0275 to get the forms and get the cost of attending.
Discovery Learning Center, 3615 Auburn Blvd., Sacramento, has hands-on interactive science exhibit and a Planetarium (holds up to 60 people) which offers school programs for classes during the week and programs for the public on weekends. Call 916-575-3941 for their brochure and information.
Hat Creek Radio Observatory is located at Hat Creek, California.
The San Francisco Bay Area has many teaching attractions, including:
Morrison Planetarium in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, is the largest planetarium in northern California. Offers special programs for school classes. Call 415-750-7141 for information.
The Lawrence Hall of Science including the Holt Planetarium on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley offers many hands-on exhibits. Call 510-486-6601 for information.
The Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon St., San Francisco inside the Place of Fine Arts in San Francisco also has many hand-on exhibits. Call 415-561-0360 for information.
Lick Observatory is at Mt. Hamilton near San Jose is a major research facility. Lick Observatory is open daily for visitors. Their Internet link at http://www.ucolick.org/ contains full details and also information about their telescope viewing in the summer. Call 408-274-5061 for information.
Books:
Contact: a novel by Carl Sagan, Simon and Schuster, 1985. This is a fascinating novel that is loaded with astronomy. High school students could easily read and understand this novel. Highly recommended.
Good Amateur Astronomy Books
Nightwatch by Terrence Dickinson is excellent guide to the night sky.
The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, by Terrence Dickinson and Alan Dyer is excellent.
The following textbooks are excellent sources of information:
Astronomy: The Evolving Universe, Michael Zeilik, Wiley. One of the clearer introductory astronomy textbooks used in introductory college astronomy classes.
Astronomy Today by Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan. Prentice Hall. More difficult but the most complete, up-to-date introductory book on the market. Highly recommended.
Where to Obtain Teaching Materials:
Where are the Planets tonight? What stars are out tonight?
There are two magazines that are widely available that answer these questions:
Sky and Telescope. Sky and Telescope is also online at http://www.skypub.com/. They also have current information on the night sky at http://www.skypub.com/sights/sights.html.
Astronomy Magazine. Astronomy Magazine is also online at http://www2.astronomy.com/astro/.