Mercury transits the sun, November 8, 2006

Bill Wilson of the Memphis Astronomical Society took this photo of the planet Mercury passing across the face of the sun by holding the lens of his digital camera up to the viewfinder of a telescope. Enthusiasm for star-gazing is infectious at the Memphis Society’s site, which was recently added to NSDL’s resource collection and profiled in the blog “New In NSDL.” Other recent arrivals profiled on the blog include:

* Classic Chemistry, a definitive site on the history of chemistry by LeMoyne College professor Carmen Giunta that includes classic papers and calculations, a glossary of archaic chemical terms, and a calendar of chemistry history;

*Conservation Central, a project of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park designed for middle school biology classes. The site explores the Asian temperate forest, home of the giant panda and black bear, through a variety of games and activities;

*Pacific Biodiversity Information Forum, a new project that aims to develop a complete, scientifically sound, and electronically accessible biological knowledge base on the countries in and around the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the The Global Taxonomy Initiative , which coordinate similar efforts for other bio-regions; and,

*The Science House - Countertop Chemistry, part of a venerable outreach program from the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at North Carolina State University. The site includes recipes children and teachers can use to do chemistry experiments without fancy equipment.

Recent additions to the NSDL Collection are listed in the “New Collections in NSDL” page. The blog “New in NSDL” describes them in more detail.