For thousands of years, navigators have looked to the sky for direction. …
For thousands of years, navigators have looked to the sky for direction. Today, celestial navigation has simply switched from using natural objects to human-created satellites. A constellation of satellites, called the Global Positioning System, and hand-held receivers allow for very accurate navigation. In this lesson, students investigate the fundamental concepts of GPS technology trilateration and using the speed of light to calculate distances.
This lesson unit provides an insight into the navigational methods of the …
This lesson unit provides an insight into the navigational methods of the Bronze Age Mediterranean peoples. The students explore the link between history and astronomical knowledge. Besides an overview of ancient seafaring in the Mediterranean, the students use activities to explore early navigational skills using the stars and constellations and their apparent nightly movement across the sky. In the course of the activities, they become familiar with the stellar constellations and how they are distributed across the northern and southern sky.
Astronomers study a lot of gorgeous things, but nebulae might be the …
Astronomers study a lot of gorgeous things, but nebulae might be the most breathtakingly beautiful of them all. Nebulae are clouds of gas and dust in space. They can glow on their own or reflect light from nearby stars. When they glow it’s usually predominantly red from hydrogen and green from oxygen, and when they reflect and scatter light it’s from massive hot stars, so they look blue. Stars are born in some nebulae and create new ones as they die. Some nebulae are small and dense, others can be dozens or hundreds of lightyears across.
Chapters: Introduction: Nebulae Emission Nebulae Reflection Nebulae Molecular Clouds The Orion Nebula Stars Form in Nebulae Edges of Nebulae Viewing Nebulae in the Infrared Review
These three components of Armstrong's A7-L spacesuit are a small portion of …
These three components of Armstrong's A7-L spacesuit are a small portion of what hundreds of millions of people saw on the television broadcast of his first steps on the lunar surface.
In the aftermath of an 8-20 solar mass star’s demise, we find …
In the aftermath of an 8-20 solar mass star’s demise, we find a weird little object known as a neutron star. Neutron stars are incredibly dense, spin rapidly, and have very strong magnetic fields. Some of them we see as pulsars, flashing in brightness as they spin. Neutron stars with the strongest magnetic fields are called magnetars and are capable of colossal bursts of energy that can be detected over vast distances.
Chapters: Introduction: Neutron Stars Electron Degeneracy Neutron Degeneracy Neutron Star Characteristics Pulsars Magnetars Review
The Atlantic Coastal Plain tour is part of the New York Landscape …
The Atlantic Coastal Plain tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions Collection of Google Earth Tours, created by a group of New York State science educators. This tour introduces students to glacial erratics on Long Island, the Ronkonkoma terminal moraine, and the Rock Hill erratic. Coastal erosion and deposition can be studied by viewing dunes, beaches, and wave cut banks.
The Champlain Lowlands tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions …
The Champlain Lowlands tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions Collection of Google Earth tours, created by a group of New York State science educators. This tour includes views of the gorge of the Ausable River, cut through Late Cambrian Potsdam Sandstone, and the geology of the Champlain Thrust Fault, a low angle thrust fault formed as the proto-Atlantic Ocean closed during the Taconic Oregeny. When it was still connected to the ocean, Lake Champlain was home to whales, whose fossils are now entombed in the lake sediments. The tour also includes classroom activities for students.
The St. Lawrence Lowlands tour is part of the New York Landscape …
The St. Lawrence Lowlands tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions Collection of Google Earth Tours. This tour allows students to explore the Thousand Islands, formed of granite which has withstood the erosive energy of the St. Lawrence River, creating thousands of islands ranging in size from single rocks to over 25 square miles. There is also an activity in which students map some of the many shipwrecks that have accumulated at the entrance to the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The Taconic Mountains tour highlights the geology and natural environment of several …
The Taconic Mountains tour highlights the geology and natural environment of several landscape regions, including the structure of the Highlands Province basement rocks, which were affected by the Taconic Orogeny. Students can view biotite-rich schists and the tight isoclinic folds of the Walloomsac Formation, as well as the Taconic angular unconformity at the south end of Becraft Mountain. Bedding thrusts are also evident within the Roundout Formation and overlying Manlius Formation. They can also examine metamorphosed Briarcliff Dolostone containing yellow, white and black chert layers and Everett Phylite, which represents a metamorphic lithologic transition from slate to phyllite. Dramatically folded calcareous rocks are visible at the Bennington, Vermont bypass, and students can also view Stark's Knob, where pillow lavas formed as Ordovician basalts erupted under the waters of a shallow sea.
The purpose of this lesson is to teach students about the three …
The purpose of this lesson is to teach students about the three dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. It is important for structural engineers to be confident graphing in 3D in order to be able to describe locations in space to fellow engineers.
Students learn how engineers navigate satellites in orbit around the Earth and …
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).
This is a set of two, one-page problems about the sizes of …
This is a set of two, one-page problems about the sizes of moons in the solar system. Learners will use fractions to compare the sizes and distances of Jupiter's moons. Options are presented so that students may learn about the Juno mission through a NASA press release or by viewing a NASA eClips video [6 min.] about the creation of graphic of the 88 largest objects in our solar system. This activity is part of the Space Math multi-media modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school.
Open source astronomy lab manual, including 21 labs, 6 instructor manuals, a …
Open source astronomy lab manual, including 21 labs, 6 instructor manuals, a sample lab report, and a sample lab grading rubric. Intended for 100-level non-majors astronomy lab courses, but can also be used with modifications at other levels.
Google Docs: https://bit.ly/Astronomy-Lab-Manual PDF: https://bit.ly/Astronomy-Lab-Manual-PDF
This Ology website for kids focuses on Astronomy. It includes activities, things …
This Ology website for kids focuses on Astronomy. It includes activities, things to make, quizzes, interviews with working scientists, and more to help kids learn about Astronomy.
This humorous OLogy article introduces kids to the Sun. The big star …
This humorous OLogy article introduces kids to the Sun. The big star answers 15 questions, including: Your agent told me that you're the biggest star in the universe. Is that true? I know you star types tend to be touchy about age, but how old are you? Actually, I'm curious to know how stars begin. What's your story? Let's turn to a delicate subject. How do stars die? In Hollywood, I meet a lot of people filled with hot air. What gases are inside you?
This Special Collection contains resources to inform your planetarium experience and help …
This Special Collection contains resources to inform your planetarium experience and help you explore the ideas introduced in the Space Show. Resources include articles, interactives, and activities that explain how collisions take place throughout the universe and why understanding them is important.
A topically arranged list of openly available Astronomy teaching resources, designed to …
A topically arranged list of openly available Astronomy teaching resources, designed to enrich classroom/lecture experiences or to provide to students for their own exploration. Each resource includes a link, baseline licensing/usage guidelines, and alignment to topics and OpenStax Astronomy textbook chapters. Compiled by Lauren Woolsey, Adam VanDyke, and Robert Wagner.
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