Planetary Viewing Programs

Is there a program which will give me information about stars,planets and such things about the Universe,offline?

Stellarium is actually very useful and helpful if you want to do observational astronomy. You can actually do a lot of cool stuff while playing around with it like viewing the night sky from the perspective of a location on the planet mars. Other than that, I would suggest you to get this book: Amazon.com: NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe (9781554071470): Terence Dickinson, Adolf Schaller, Timothy Ferris: Books. The book is highly self explanatory and you can gain good practical knowledge about astronomy from this book.

Did NASA or a space program ever save the planet?

Well, NASA and other space agencies haven’t been that dramatic in saving the world as if in some Hollywood movie (yet).But with NASA’s push to develop rocket and spacecraft technologies, other agencies and groups now have better opportunities to improve the quality of, or in saving hundreds, even thousands of lives.This artist’s rendering is the TIROS 1 satellite, launched in 1960. This and many others like placed in space can now see hurricanes (also called typhoons or tropical cyclones), the most dangerous weather on earth, which can claim thousands of lives.Unfortunately, weather satellites themselves can’t move people away from danger and lives are still lost due to limitations of a country’s emergency response. For instance, an island country can’t tell people to escape or have enough ships capable of such a rescue.But weather satellites do give governments time to warn and prepare. Before, the only warning of a hurricane came from luck. An incoming boat encounters one, or a plane notices. By the time that a weather barometer (which measures air pressure changes) detected the very low pressure system of such a storm, it is too late to escape it.Other spaceborne aids include:Global positioning and navigation systems. Accidents such as ship collisions are less with these technologies, and individual safety is improved if a victim as a cellphone equipped with GPS.Artificial limbs. NASA-derived research helps improve and lower the development costs of these devices.You can read more about NASA’s contributions, or “spinoffs,” in this Wikipedia article.

What is the best reasonably priced telescope for viewing planets and other deep space celestial objects?

This is kind of a non-sequitur. Almost any telescope is good for looking at Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus. Even a 4 inch reflector or a 2.5 inch refractor will do. You won’t see a lot of detail of course. With such a scope there are few deep space objects, eg. Andromeda and the Crab nebula which can be viewed, again without much detail.For more serious amateur viewing of deep space objects you need a clear night and a somewhat bigger objective. Probably 8 inches is a good start. Of course as you move up the ladder the costs go up considerably. Basic Dobsonian reflectors give you a lot more bang for the buck, but leave you with the need to learn to find things before you can see them. Go-To’s get around that if you can become competent at aligning them, but at a higher price.So there really is no best scope. I would suggest as a first step, see if there is a local astronomy club that puts on star parties. That’s a great way to see what a specific size and cost telescope will do. The SFAA here in San Francisco has a loaner program. Once you know what you want, I would suggest you consider eBay for used instruments. A lot of people get a passing interest in astronomy, but after they lose interest let their scopes sit around for a few years before they unload them. You can typically buy a good quality scope for half of the retail.