Introduction

Abstract

The Internet could have been invented for Astronomy. No longer the preserve of research institutions and educational establishments, this all pervading computer network now links astronomers, both professional and amateur, all over the world and connects them to the data and information they need. Email provides the former and the World Wide Web (WWW) the latter. I can recall the voyager missions and all those fabulous images. If only we could have got our hands on them, rather than waiting for the press to publish a few extracts. That has all changed now. The minute that new images or data is released, it will probably be published on the Internet, making it simultaneously available all over the world. That is to those with Internet access. And in its entire original form, not edited or abridged by a journalist who doesn’t understand astronomy.