Here we've listed some of the most commonly used sites, and some that are specific to our locality:

ASTRONOMY MAGAZINES - An excellent starting point for beginners.
These two sites provide a wealth of information for all levels of astronomers:

• Sky & Telescope's Home Page (Cookies required)
  
• Astronomy's Home Page
  
  

  WEATHER FORECASTS & MODELS

• CFAS's Wilmington Clear Sky Clock A forecast for the area centered on Halyburton Park in Wilmington. It shows expected viewing conditions for the next two days.
  
• CFAS's Viewing Site Clear Sky Clock This forecast is prepared for a point that is midway between Yamacraw and Holly Shelter.
  
• National Weather Service for Wilmington
  
• The Weather Channel for Wilmington
  
• AccuWeather for Wilmington
  
• NCAR-RAP Center: Dew U.S. Dewpoint Temperature Map
  
• NCAR-RAP Center: Temp U.S. Temperature Map
  
• NCAR-RAP Center: Wind U.S. Windspeeds and Pressure Map
  
  

  WEATHER SATELLITE/RADAR DATA

• NASA GOES-8: Day Interactive Weather Satellite Imagery - for use during the day (visible)
  
• NASA GOES-8: Night Interactive Weather Satellite Imagery - for use at night (infrared)
  
• Nexrad Southeast Regional Radar Precipitation
  

  SPACE WEATHER INFORMATION

• NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  

  DATA SERVICES

• U.S. Naval Observatory Data Services Calculates tables for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, twilight, occulations, transits and more.
  
  

  TRACKING & LAUNCH SITES

• Heavens-Above - After registering, go through the steps to enter your location. This site lets you see all visible satellites for the evening brighter than +4.5 mag. It gives down-to-the-second azi/alt positions in the sky for each satellite, and you can even get a 7-day visible pass prediction for any single satellite. The Iridium satellites are handled separately - instead of being visible during their entire transit across the sky, they only briefly flare in a small portion of the sky.
  

  PLANETARIUMS

• Morehead Planetarium Chapel Hill, NC
  
• Ingram Planetarium Sunset Beach, NC
  

  SAM BISSETTE'S INCREDIBLE SITES

• Astronomy and Astromicroscopy Discovered and perfected by Sam Bissette, who was a lifetime member of CFAS and passed away in November 2005, this site describes his method of astronomical observing using color slides of the nighttime sky taken without magnification as a data base. These slides are then viewed with a microscope with magnifications up to 500x, and photographs are taken of the magnified sky images. He named this method Astromicroscopy, and the photographic process Astrophotomicrography. Anyone who has explored this knows how rewarding it is. Chosen by the Italian Astronomical Society as one of the best 20 amateur sites in the world.
  
• Sam Bissette's Art Gallery Includes a section of his wonderful astronomical artwork "The Universe According to Earth," on permanent display at UNCW, as well as many of his other master works of watercolors and art.
  
  

  MISCELLANEOUS

• NASA.gov This is NASA's main website.
  
• The Astronomical League Articles, resources, and a listing of all astronomy clubs in the U.S. by state.
  
• North Carolina International Dark-Sky Association Learn about our disappearing night skies and how light pollution is affecting you.
  
• Peach State Star Gaze Annual star party held at the Deerlick Astronomy Village. This event is hosted by the Atlanta Astronomy Club .
  
• Staunton River Star Party A semi-annual star party held in the spring and fall at the Staunton River State Park located near Scottsburg, VA.