Astronomy resources
Free tools, archives and reading that we recommend to our participants, for use during the masterclass and long after it.
See the sky
A planetarium in your browser. Set your location and time and see what is above you tonight.
The whole sky as seen by space telescopes, in every wavelength from gamma rays to radio.
An interactive sky atlas from the Strasbourg astronomical data centre, with professional survey images.
Fly through the solar system and follow spacecraft in real time.
Read the research
Where almost every astrophysics paper appears first, free to read. New papers every weekday.
The search engine of the astronomical literature. Find any paper, who cited it and what it cites.
Graduate students summarise one new research paper per day for undergraduates.
Long review articles by leading researchers, the best way into a field.
Work with real data
The reference database for objects beyond the solar system: positions, magnitudes, spectral types, literature.
Positions, distances and motions of nearly two billion stars, open to everyone.
Every confirmed exoplanet with its measured properties, ready for your own plots.
Citizen science projects in which volunteers classify galaxies, find planets and spot supernovae.
The Python library professional astronomers use, with tutorials for beginners.
Follow the missions
Images, science results and the observing schedule of JWST.
The science missions of the European Space Agency, from Gaia to Euclid.
News and images from the VLT, ALMA and the Extremely Large Telescope under construction.
Gravitational wave detections explained, with data releases for students.
Compete and study
The olympiad for high school students, with past problems to practise on.
An online competition for students of all countries, with problem sets at several levels.
The world body of professional astronomers, with education and outreach resources by country.
Photographs on this website are cropped and, where text sits on them, darkened. Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula (JWST NIRCam): NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI (CC BY 4.0). ALMA antennas under the Milky Way: ESO/Y. Beletsky (CC BY 4.0). Earthset from Orion (Artemis II): NASA (Public domain (NASA)). Pillars of Creation (JWST NIRCam): NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI). (CC BY 4.0). Tarantula Nebula (JWST NIRCam): NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI (CC BY 4.0). Westerlund 2 and its surrounding nebula (Hubble): NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team (CC BY 4.0). Whirlpool Galaxy M51 and companion (Hubble): NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) (CC BY 4.0). Sombrero Galaxy M104 (Hubble): NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) (CC BY 4.0). Interacting galaxies Arp 273 (Hubble): NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) (CC BY 4.0). Webb's First Deep Field, SMACS 0723 (JWST NIRCam): NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI (CC BY 4.0). Galaxy cluster Abell 370 (Hubble Frontier Fields): NASA, ESA/Hubble, HST Frontier Fields (CC BY 4.0). The VLT's laser guide star and the Milky Way: ESO/G. Lombardi (glphoto.it) (CC BY 4.0). The Galactic Centre above the ESO 3.6-metre telescope: ESO/S. Brunier (CC BY 4.0). The Sun during a solar flare, 12 January 2015 (SDO): NASA/Goddard/SDO (Public domain (NASA)). Central peak of Tycho crater (LRO): NASA Goddard/Arizona State University (Public domain (NASA)). The Blue Marble, Earth seen from Apollo 17 (AS17-148-22727): NASA (Public domain (NASA)). Global view of Mars, Valles Marineris hemisphere (Viking Orbiter mosaic): NASA/JPL/USGS (Public domain (NASA)). Cassini Jupiter portrait: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute (Public domain (NASA)). Saturn and its rings (Cassini mosaic, October 2004): NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute (Public domain (NASA)). Primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope: NASA/Chris Gunn (Public domain (NASA); distributed by ESA/Webb under CC BY 4.0). ALMA by night, under the Magellanic Clouds: ESO/C. Malin (christophmalin.com) (CC BY 4.0). Hubble Space Telescope after release from Space Shuttle Atlantis (S125-E-012033): NASA (Public domain (NASA)). First image of a black hole, M87*: EHT Collaboration (CC BY 4.0). Crab Nebula (Hubble): NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble) (CC BY 4.0). Globular cluster Messier 15 (Hubble): NASA, ESA (CC BY 4.0). Protoplanetary disc around HL Tauri (ALMA): ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) (CC BY 4.0). Centre of the Milky Way with DECam: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/STScI, W. Clarkson (UM-Dearborn), C. Johnson (STScI), and M. Rich (UCLA) (CC BY 4.0). Unit photographs are credited in the units. University wordmarks are trademarks of their owners and are shown for identification only.