April is Global Astronomy Month, sponsored by Astronomers Without Borders, a group dedicated to strengthening the bonds between nations by looking outward together. Their motto is “One People, One Sky”, and they focus on practical astronomy that you can participate with in your back yard over more esoteric theories.

Astronomy is one of the most viscerally compelling of the sciences, because any child can understand its scope and grandeur just by looking up at the night sky; of getting excited at being able to identify a constellation like the Big Dipper. Perhaps you were inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Maria Mitchell, or Stephen Hawking. Perhaps you took an astronomy class thinking it would be an easy grade, and were unexpectedly moved by the intricacy of the cosmos.

Regardless of what brings you to the skies, the library can help deepen your understanding. We have great research databases like ProQuest Science, Science & Technology, Wiley Online Library, AAAS/Science, and MathSciNet (although this one only offers citations, so use it far enough in advance of finals week to make use of interlibrary loan).  For encyclopedias, there is the science section of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.  Or try Science in Context for biographies of famous astronomers and science topics.

And we have countless books on the subject, with titles including The Chronological Encyclopedia of Discoveries in Space by Robert Zimmerman, Wiley Self-Teaching Guides: Astronomy by Dinah Moché, The Planets by David McNab, Hindsight and Popular Astronomy by Alan Whiting, or New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Now is a great time to research the cosmos! Need help finding what you want? Don’t hesitate to ask us at iueref@iue.edu!