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Alaska Native (Inupiat) Elders and children living in northern Alaska share their experiences and stories about the northern lights (aurora borealis). The website features a 23 minute video and a series of shorter videos and interactive animations... (View More) on related topics. (View Less)
This is a lesson that applys occultations to Saturn's Moon Enceladus. Learners will establish whether Saturn’s small moon, Enceladus, has an atmosphere, whether that atmosphere is over the entire planet, and what creates Saturn’s E-ring. The... (View More) activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)
These short leader guides are designed for a novice user to pick up and implement the activities with ease. They address a range of topics all related to asteroids - most especially Asteroid Vesta. Activities are tagged to quickly find ones that are... (View More) active (involves movement), edible (involves food), calm (stationary) or informative (about NASA's Dawn mission and Vesta). (View Less)
This interactive illustrates how images from space get to Earth and how we interpret the images. Users are encouraged to experiment with images to get a firm grasp of how scientists use color filters to interpret data. Click on the initial image at... (View More) the site to start the interactive. (View Less)
Learners will compare known elemental spectra with spectra of Titan and Saturn’s rings from a spectrometer aboard the NASA Cassini spacecraft. They identify the elements visible in the planetary and lunar spectra. The activity is part of Project... (View More) Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)
This is a lesson about detecting atmospheres of planets. Learners will explore stellar occultation events (by interpreting light curves) to determine if an imaginary dwarf planet "Snorkzat" has an atmosphere. The activity is part of Project Spectra,... (View More) a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)
This is a game about light curves that will test your ability to figure out things about an asteroid from just a graph of its brightness. Astronomers use telescopes to collect light curves - measurements of the brightness of distant asteroids over... (View More) time. It is part of the Killer Asteroids Web Site. The site also features a background overview of the differences between asteroids and comets, information on different types of asteroids (rubble piles vs monoliths), a discussion of how at risk Earth really is to an asteroid or comet impact, and background information on light curves. (View Less)
In this activity, students will use a simulator of an orbiting X-ray observatory to observe a supernova remnant, the expanding gas from an exploded star. They will take X-ray spectral data, analyze them, and answer questions based on that data. This... (View More) resource consists of a manual and software for the Introductory Astronomy Lab Exercise, from CLEA (Contemporary Laboratory Experiments in Astronomy). The manual includes introductory activities for students, background information, an instructor's guide, a student handout, an answer key, a software user's guide, and a glossary. The student section of the activity starts on page 13. See Related & Supplemental Resources for a link to download the software. Note: the software is only available for Windows. (View Less)
This interactive, online activity traces the history of the telescope from Galileo's first look at the stars to the work of modern observatories. Learners will read about the milestones in telescope development, witness the interplay between... (View More) technological and scientific advances, glimpse the humanity of the inventors and astronomers behind the telescopes, find out what the telescopes discovered, as well as learn the science of light and optics. Students can work through the activity independently or in groups. Teachers may also choose to have students study a portion of the activity and then share their learning with the class. The science of light and telescopes is presented in the section called "Get to the root of it" that can be used for review, learning the basics, or remediation. Detailed teacher pages, identified as Teaching Tips on the title page of the activity, provide science background information, lesson plan ideas, related resources, and alignment with national education standards. (View Less)
This interactive, online activity introduces students to the electromagnetic spectrum. Students view the electromagnetic spectrum in its entirety and become familiar with the characteristics of waves. Images of the sun in different wavelengths of... (View More) light are included to illustrate the concept that celestial objects can emit light in regions of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes cannot see. Upon completion of this activity, students will be familiar with the basic properties of waves and the electromagnetic spectrum. Student may work independently or in small groups to complete this activity. Detailed teacher pages, identified as Teaching Tips on the title page of the activity, provide science background information, lesson plan ideas, related resources, and alignment with national education standards. This activity is part of the online exploration "Star Light, Star Bright" that is available on the Amazing Space website. (View Less)