Mike Smith's Astro Pages

Requirement 1 - Proper Clothing and Other Precautions
Safe Dark Sky Observing
Observing the Sun Safely

Requirement 2 - Explain Light Pollution and Its Effect
International Dark Sky Association
Starry Night Lights

Requirement 3 - Binoculars and Telescopes
Binoculars
Telescopes

Requirement 4 - Constellations and the Milky Way
Constellations including mythology
Photos and diagrams of constellations

Requirement 5 - Planets
        Naked Eye Planets has charts showing when planets are visible
        Nine Planets has a lot of detailed information and pictures
        Retrograde Motion shows why planets move backward
        Gravity Chaos is a great interactive tool to see orbits

Requirement 6 - The Moon
        Moon phases are animated here (Java applet)
        GoogleMoon shows pictures and moon exploration information

Requirement 7 - 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 8 - 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
         Drake Planetarium has a wealth of fantastic programs!

Requirement 9 - Careers in Astronomy
        Astronomy Cafe and National Optical Astronomy Observatories have great lists of questions
                                            about careers in astronomy
        AstronomyCast has a great podcast on careers in astronomy

Nearly all of the information needed to meet the requirements is in the Astronomy merit badge pamphlet.

Use a worksheet (2013 revision) in Microsoft Word or PDF format) to record your progress and give it to your merit badge counselor. Your merit badge counselor will need a blue card (Microsoft Excel version available here).

There are many 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.

Boy Scouts!

This page will give you some good sites to
start exploring the internet and get the
information you need for the
Astronomy merit badge.

Cub Scouts!

Download this worksheet for the Astronomy belt loop and pin!
The worksheet has very useful internet links to help you earn both of them - just like this page helps the Boy Scouts !

In order to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
- Carl Sagan