Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, updated edition. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994.

Boss, Alan. The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets. Basic Books, 2009.

Connor, James A. Kepler's Witch: An Astronomer's Discovery of Cosmic Order Amid Religious War, Political Intrigue, and the Heresy Trial of His Mother. San Francisco: Harper, 2004.

DeGrasse Tyson, Neil. Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. W.W. Norton & Co., 2007.

Drake, Stillman. Galileo. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Evans, James. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Ferguson, Kitty. The Nobleman and His Housedog: Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler: The Strange Partnership That Revolutionized Science. London: Review, 2002.

Ferris, Timothy. Coming of Age in the Milky Way. Simon and Schuster, 1998.

Ferris, Timothy. The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report.  Simon and Schuster, 1998.

Pasachoff, Jay M. and Alexei V. Filippenko .The Cosmos: Astronomy In The New Millennium. Holt Rinehart & Winston , 2000.

Findlen, Paula. In the Shadow of Newton: Laura Bassi and Her World (under contract with Knopf/Vintage: expected completion in 2009).

Galilei, G. Sidereus nuncius, or Sidereal Messenger, translated with introduction by A. Van Helden.  Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1989.

Gingerich, O. The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus. New York: Walker Publishing, 2004.

Gingerich, Owen. The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler (Masters of Modern Physics). Melville, NY: American Institute of Physics, 1993.

Greene, Brian. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Alfred Knopf, 2003.

Greene, Brian. The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality. Alfred Knopf, 2004.

Hall, A. Rupert.  From Galileo to Newton. Toronto: Dover Publishing Company, 1981.

Hahn, Roger. Pierre Simon Laplace, 1749-1827: A Determined Scientist. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 2005.

Hawking, Steven.  A Brief History of Time. Bantam, 1998.

Hoskin, M. A. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Koestler, Arthur. The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe. New York: Penguin, 1990.

Koestler. Arthur. The Watershed: A Biography of Johannes Kepler (Science Study Series). Garden City: Doubleday, 1985.

Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985, 1992.

McCluskey, Stephen C. Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Pedersen, Olaf. Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction. revised edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Rees, Martin. Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others. Basic Books, 2001.

Rees, Martin. Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe. Basic Books, 2001.

Seife, Charles. Alpha and Omega: The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe. Doubleday, 2003.

Shapin, Steven. The Scientific Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Singh, Simon. Big Bang: the Origin of the Universe. Harper Perennial, 2005.

Steinhardt, Paul J. and Neil Turok. Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang -- Rewriting Cosmic History. Broadway, 2008.

Stephenson, Bruce. Kepler's Physical Astronomy, Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. New York: Springer, 1987.

Susskind, Leonard. The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics. Black Bay Books, 2009.

Thorn, Kip. Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy. W.W. Norton & Co., 1995.

Van Helden, A. The Invention of the Telescope. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society, reprint 2008.

Westfall, Richard S. Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Wolf, A. A History of Science, Technology and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th centuries. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1959.

Internet resources:

Binary Stars
Free astronomy software for Macintosh computers, complete with manuals, for teaching binary star concepts in the classroom or for personal use.

NASA TV
An interactive, Internet-based TV channel that has specials on human space flight, astronomy and the cosmos:

The Chabot Space and Science Center, located in the Oakland, has an excellent planetarium. This summer, 2009, the Chabot center will feature Maya Skies. Maya Skies will be a captivating bi-lingual full-dome digital planetarium show featuring the scientific achievements, and the cosmology, of the Maya. Using cutting-edge laser scanning, photography and computer technology the production will provide an immersive experience of unprecedented realism, and a story about real and mythical characters in the Maya world who practiced astronomy with precision and purpose.

Visit their website to garner a view from their web-cam, positioned atop a Mayan temple in the Yucatan, Mexico. The Chabot Center also offers, every Friday and Saturday night, Dinner, a Movie and the Universe, a unique program that features an immersive astronomer-led live, or prerecorded, presentation and digitally animated music show. In addition, Chabot has a remarkable set of telescopes, which include a modern 36” reflecting telescope and a 20” refractor commissioned in 1914. The observatory is open, free, to the public every Friday and Saturday night.

The Morrison Planetarium, located in the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, is the largest all-digital planetarium in the world. Programs combine traditional star shows with life “tours of the Universe,” NASA feeds as well as broadcasts from scientists in the field.

space.com features news, educational material and video feeds, as well as information on constellations, human exploration, cosmology and resources for educators.

Stardate.org is an excellent site that includes news and events. It features information on stargazing, star-maps, constellations, human exploration, a guide to the solar system, cosmology, as well as resources for educators and a radio program, which can be accessed through their website.

Hubblesite is an excellent source for information, news, upcoming astronomy events, astronomers, cosmology human exploration, trivia and educational material.  It is especially useful as a resource for obtaining images. Particularly interesting can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The Hubble Heritage project/ site is a rich source for images from the Hubble Telescope.

Some notable images are:
here, here, and here.

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emission from very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes. The Smithsonian's Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA, hosts the Chandra X-ray Center which operates the satellite, processes the data, and distributes it to scientists around the world for analysis. The Center maintains an extensive public web site about the science results and an education program. Their website is an excellent source for news and features information on human exploration, cosmology, space probes, galaxies, constellations, stars and nebulae, star lore, and a particularly useful site for obtaining images and educational material.

An Astronomy Calendar Free of Charge.

Astronomy picture of the Day provides an astronomy picture everyday that is accompanied by a brief description by an astronomer.

Excellent views of the Martian landscape.

The Kepler Mission: a search for inhabitable planets.            

The American Astronomical Society

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

From Earth to the Universe Exhibition.

Astronomical Tours plans and organizes astronomical vacations to places such as the Atacama Desert of Chile, the Chaco Region of Paraguay, as well safaris in Zambia and Zimbabwe.           

A free download, Starry Night Online is software that allows you to enter your zip code and the direction you're facing, and will show you on the screen what stars and planets you should be seeing at that particular date and time of night. A similar application is available for the iPhone.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) -- home of science program selection, grant administration, planning, scheduling, and public outreach activities for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). STScI provides data archive and distribution for all of NASA's optical/UV missions, including HST.

Time Magazine has several interesting, short programs on space and space exploration to coincide with the International Year of Astronomy available for viewing on their website.

In April 2009, the New York Times ran an article on Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy, an important exhibition that is currently at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia from April 4th-Sept. 7th, 2009.

The permanent home of the Galileo materials.

The Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence also has information on the Medicis and Science.

Galileo’s Vision by David Zax in the July 2009 Smithsonian Magazine.

Nova has put together an informative web page that offers information on Galileo. It includes a brief illustrated history of his life, a modern perspective on his accomplishments, a brief overview of the workings of his telescope, as well as interactive web experiments.

A two-hour documentary on Galileo from Nova, available from Google Video.

The Galileo Project: Rice University offers information on the life and work of Galileo.

Project Gutenberg offers the following books available for free download:

The Martyrs of Science, or, The Lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler

Kepler

Pleasures of the Telescope, an illustrated guide for amateur astronomers and popular description of the chief wonders of the heavens for general readers.