Introduction to Astronomy provides a quantitative introduction to the physics of the solar system, stars, the interstellar medium, the galaxy, and the universe, as determined from a variety of astronomical observations and models.
This set of activities is designed to help students develop an understanding of scale/distance and ordering the planets from the sun, understanding Earth's position in the solar system, and developing new ways of determining "order."
Play a question and answer card game on the solar system and learn about the properties of the Sun and its planets.
You can make your own solar system on this website! To create your solar system, you need to add planets, asteroids, and comets. Have fun!
Make your own planet on this website! You can change the color of your planet and add land, water, trees, and weather. You can then name your planet and write a short story about it. For even more fun, compare the planets in our solar system with your planet!
Students explore Mars and Jupiter, the fourth and fifth planets from the Sun. They learn some of the unique characteristics of these planets. They also learn how engineers help us learn about these planets with the design and development of telescopes, deep space antennas, spacecraft and planetary rovers.
Students explore Mercury and Venus, the first and second planets nearest the Sun. They learn about the planets' characteristics, including their differences from Earth. Students also learn how engineers are involved in the study of planets by designing equipment and spacecraft to go where it is too dangerous for humans.
Aaron Parness leads the Extreme Environment Robots Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Learn how Aaron went from ski bum to building robots for JPL.
Build your own system of heavenly bodies and watch the gravitational ballet. With this orbit simulator, you can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other.
Build your own system of heavenly bodies and watch the gravitational ballet. With this orbit simulator, you can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other.
Students learn how engineers navigate satellites in orbit around the Earth and on their way to other planets in the solar system. In accompanying activities, they explore how ground-based tracking and onboard measurements are performed. Also provided is an overview of orbits and spacecraft trajectories from Earth to other planets, and how spacecraft are tracked from the ground using the Deep Space Network (DSN). DSN measurements are the primary means for navigating unmanned vehicles in space. Onboard spacecraft instruments might include optical sensors and an inertial measurement unit (IMU).
These data sets include astronomical constants, physical and orbital data for the planets, selected moons, future total solar eclipses, and related data regarding nearby stars, chemical elements, and constellations.
Students are introduced to the fabulous planet on which they live. Even though we spend our entire lives on Earth, we still do not always understand how it fits into the rest of the solar system. Students learn about the Earth's position in the solar system and what makes it unique. They learn how engineers study human interactions with the Earth and design technologies and systems to monitor, use and care for our planet's resources wisely to preserve life on Earth.
Students explore the outermost planets of our solar system: Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They also learn about characteristics of Pluto and its interactions with Neptune. Students learn a little about the history of space travel as well as the different technologies that engineers develop to make space travel and scientific discovery possible.
In this activity/project, students are able to look through a slide show of information about the planets in our solar system (with the exception of Earth) and select a planet to "visit." Students will then write a postcard home describing the planet they were able to visit.
Walking up and down the hallways of Davey Lab at Penn State, you can find astronomers searching for and characterizing exoplanets, monitoring supernovae and other exploding stars, and measuring the details of the accelerating expansion of the Universe to determine the nature of dark energy. In Astro 801, we learn that with only the ability to measure the light from these distant, unreachable objects, we can still determine how the Solar System, stars, galaxies, and the Universe formed and evolved since the Big Bang. We are all citizens of the Universe, and in fact, you are made of starstuff. Come learn where the atoms in your body came from, and what will happen to them long after we are gone.
This resource gives information about our solar system which is made up of the sun, planets and all the amazing objects that travel around it. Information about the plant sizes, distances in the solar system and the size and shape of orbits is also explained. The universe is filled with billions of star systems. And the star system we are most familiar with is our own.
Teacher: Angie ApautyLesson Title/Topic: Planets of the UniverseGrade: 4Duration: 50 minutesLearning Objectives: At the conclusion of this activity, students will be able to identify, name, locate, and determine the order of the planets of our solar system. Number and Size of Groups: 5 groups of 3 studentsLearner Activity/Teacher Activity:Whole group discussion. The teacher will ask the students the question, "What do you remember about the planets of our solar system and can you list them all?". The teacher will allow students time to think and write down their answers on their mini white boards. Next, the teacher will use the main white board to write down all the planets the students can recall. Then the students will get into their groups and each group will work together to do research and create a presentation over the planets. The teacher will visit each group to offer any help the students may need. The students will work on their presentations on day two and on day three, each group will give their presentations to the class using the smart board.At the end of the lesson, each group will receive a card with a planet on it and tape on the back. One person from each group needs to come to the front and place their planet in the correct order in the solar system with the help of the class.
This guide describes a novel project structure for sky observations commonly assigned in introductory level astronomy students at either the high school or undergraduate level. The project is an outside class assignment optimized for a large course that meets during the day. The goal of this activity is for students to make independent observations at a fixed time of day to develop an understanding of: (1) how annual motion of the Earth relates to observed position of the Sun as it sets towards the West; and (2) changes in the Moon phase over the lunar month and how the phase of the Moon relates to its position in the sky relative to the Sun. Students synthesize their understanding by responding to summary questions at the conclusion of the project. The questions require students to use their collection of observations to make predictions about future sunset and Moon positions and Moon phases.
A critical component of this work is an associated scoring script, available through GitHub. The algorithm uses Sun and Moon position data and Moon phase data downloaded by the user from the United States Naval Observatory to score student input and provide feedback in an efficient manner. This allows instructors to assign and grade student observations even in a large university class.
Students are introduced to the engineering challenges involved with interplanetary space travel. In particular, they learn about the gravity assist or "slingshot" maneuver often used by engineers to send spacecraft to the outer planets. Using magnets and ball bearings to simulate a planetary flyby, students investigate what factors influence the deflection angle of a gravity assist maneuver.