Astronomers have observed a visible light emitted at the same time as a gamma-ray burst for the first time on January 27, 1999. The Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) Detects Simultaneous Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Counterpart, provides detailed information pertaining to this discovery and ROTSE research in general. ROTSE's objective is to search for "astrophysical optical transients...

The South African Astronomical Observatory, near Sutherland in Northern Cape, has developed an extensive internet site devoted to SALT; a $30-million project to develop the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere. Visitors with a general interest in the project can follow its progress, scheduled for completion in December of 2004. Astronomers and students will find descriptions of SALT's...

This NASA website promotes its recently established Science Mission Directorate, which is "closely involved in the Vision for Space Exploration through its support of science that both enables, and is enabled by, NASA's exploration activities." The website breaks down the Directorate's initiatives into three categories: Earth-Sun System, Solar System, and Universe. Visitors can find fantastic...

"The SIMBAD astronomical database provides basic data, cross-identifications, and bibliography for astronomical objects outside the solar system." Created by the Centre de Donn'es astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) in France, the website contains over three million objects, eight and a half million identifiers, one hundred thousand bibliographical references, and four million citations of objects...

Part of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, the Wide-Field Astronomy Unit maintains the SuperCosmos Sky Surveys Web site. The SuperCosmos is an advanced photographic plate-digitizing machine that produces data derived from the scans of photographic Schmidt survey plates. Visitors can "extract images (pixel data) up to 15 arcmin across and/or object catalogues covering up to...

Based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Astronomical Journal (AJ) publishes original astronomical research, with "an emphasis on significant scientific results derived from observations, including descriptions of data capture, surveys, analysis techniques, and astronomical interpretation." The publication was founded in 1849 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and since that time it has become...

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the extensive amount of jargon used in astronomy? This web site may offer visitors with an easy way to compare astronomy material from different authors. The Astronomy Thesaurus, created by Robyn M. Shobbrook of the Anglo-Australian Observatory and Robert R. Shobbrook of Sydney University, provides a way to standardize the terminology in the field of astronomy....

First, NASA furnishes a fabulous tutorial about the big bang theory and the evolution of the universe (1). Visitors can discover the foundation of the big bang theory, the observational tests, and the limitations and extensions of the theory. The second website, developed by Maxine Phaisalakani at the University of Toronto, introduces in a slide show presentation research that led to the discovery...

The European Space Agency mission, International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), was developed to gather the Universe's energetic radiation in order to better understand the most violent processes in the Universe. After reading the in-depth descriptions about INTEGRAL, users can learn the latest INTEGRAL news and view the monthly and archived image. Visitors will find plenty of help,...

Three planets that are larger than Jupiter have been found orbiting the star Upsilon Andromedae. Astronomers from four research institutions have confirmed this observation. This site provides information about the Upsilon Andromedae Planetary System.