Requirement 6 - Movement of the Planets Retrograde Motion shows why planets move backward Gravity Chaos is a great interactive tool to see orbits
Requirement 7 - The Moon Moon phases are animated here (Java applet) GoogleMoon shows pictures and moon exploration information
Requirement 8 - The Sun and Other Stars Sun|trek tells you about the Sun and its effect on the Earth Principles of Astronomy tells us about star colors
Requirement 9 - Field Trips and Other Field Work The Cincinnati Astronomical Society has telescopes that you can tour and use - and they have stargazes you can help with! The Cincinnati Observatory has tours as well and lots of resources to learn about astronomy
Nearly all of the information needed to meet the requirements is in the Astronomy merit badge pamphlet.
Use a worksheet (here in Microsoft Word or PDF format) to record your progress and give it to your merit badge counselor.
There several free astronomy programs that you can download to learn more about the sky and find your way around. You can see the sky as it looks tonight or any other date and time. Download them and try them out!
Star charting programs are used primarily to show maps of the sky and help you find different kinds of objects. Home Planet is a great beginner's package that has sky charts and animations. Cartes du Ciel ("Sky Charts" in French) is a full-featured program. Download the basic package first and add more later.
Planetarium programs simulate the sky to show you how things look to the naked eye or through a telescope. Stellarium does a great job of real-life simulation, as does WinStars. Celestia goes a step further - allowing you to travel to different stars and even outside the Milky Way! Virtual Moon Atlas helps you study the moon in detail.
There are many more - and a good place to start is with Sky and Telescope's list.
Here are more sources of information for each of the requirements. You can also use the Useful Links page for more information.
Download this worksheet for the Astronomy belt loop and pin!
This worksheet has very useful internet links to help you earn both of them - just like this page helps the Boy Scouts !
