Accidental Discoveries

This lesson will help the students understand that science theories change in the face of new evidence, but those changes can be slow in coming.

Accidental Discoveries

This segment from Swift: Eyes through Time traces the history military officers and engineers discovering a strange phenomenon in the sky that astronomers now know are gamma-ray bursts.

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Astronomical Images in Different Wavelengths

Visible light is just one portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that a telescope may detect. This collection of images produced for Teachers' Domain features radio wave, infrared, visible light, and X-ray images of distant stars and galaxies as well as images of the telescopes designed to detect the various wavelengths of radiation.

Astronomy Theories

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time deals with the advancement of science through changing existing ideas, refuting outdated theories, and incorporating new findings.

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Birth of a Supernova, Type Ia

In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type Ia supernova — that is so bright that astronomers can measure the distance to the galaxy in which it resides, and even learn which elements make up the star.

Birth of a Supernova, Type II

In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type II supernova — that is so large it has a mass 10 times greater than the mass of our Sun.

Cosmic Origin Spectrograph

This video from NASA features the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS), which allows scientists to use spectrographic analysis to assess the composition of intergalactic material.

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Dark Energy

In this video adapted from QUEST, learn about the discovery of a form of energy, called dark energy, which has the potential to alter our theories of how the universe is structured.

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Dark Energy

Dark energy makes up 70 percent of the universe. In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, meet one of the country's leading scientists who is trying to understand dark energy.

Earth, the Universe, and Culture

The following lesson will help the students understand the cultural nature of scientific research.

Einstein's Cosmic Speed Limit

This video, adapted from NASA, presents rare experimental evidence from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope supporting Einstein's prediction that space-time is smooth.

The Elements: Forged in Stars

The story of how elements from lithium to uranium are created by stars is illustrated through animation and a hands-on periodic table in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

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Evidence for the Big Bang Theory

This video segment adapted from NOVA tells the story of two scientists who inadvertently discovered microwave radiation that is now believed to be heat left over from the Big Bang.

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Evolution of the Universe

In this video from NASA, learn how the James Webb Space Telescope is helping scientists understand when and how early stars formed, what early galaxies looked like, and how the early universe shaped its underlying structure.

Gravity and the Expanding Universe

This video segment, adapted from NOVA, traces the evolving history of theories about gravity and a force that may oppose it, along with our understanding of the impact of both of these forces on our expanding universe.

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How Big Is Our Universe?

This interactive resource from Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics uses images and activities to understand the scope and scale of our universe. Featured are technologies used by generations of explorers.

Hubble's Expanding Universe

This adapted video segment, using footage from NOVA and NASA, examines Edwin Hubble's work and how his findings laid the foundation for the Big Bang theory.

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Hubble Telescope: Looking Deep

This video segment adapted from the Space Telescope Science Institute shows what the Hubble telescope found when it stared at a single, nearly empty spot in the sky for 10 days in 1995. The unexpected result was a picture of a multitude of galaxies stretching into the distance.

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Infrared Search for Origins

This interactive resource from NASA illustrates how infrared technology has advanced space exploration and can offer insight into questions about star formation, planetary systems, brown dwarfs, and the origins of the universe.

Ingredients for Life: Carbon

This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.

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Life Beyond the Solar System

This video excerpt from NOVA describes the search for disks of dust particles forming around new stars.

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Life's Basic Ingredients

This video excerpt from NOVA introduces the basic ingredients of life.

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Looking Back in Time

This lesson plan will provide a concrete way for the students to understand the concept of “distance in space equals distance in time.”

Looking Back in Time

This video segment of Swift: Eyes through Time provides concrete examples to explain the concept that distance in space equals distance in time.

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Monster Black Hole in Galaxy M84

This animation by Thomas Goertel of the Space Telescope Science Institute is an artist's conception of a spiral galaxy harboring a super-massive black hole. Observe how the material rotates faster the closer it is to the nucleus.

Mystery of the Multiverse

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Universe or Multiverse?" explores the idea of the multiverse, stating that there could be multiple universes outside the boundaries of our universe. Statistically speaking, there’s a chance that there’s another Earth out there exactly like ours.

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Nobel Laureate George Smoot and the Origin of the Universe

In this video from QUEST produced by KQED, meet George Smoot, big bang researcher at UC Berkeley and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Origin of the Elements

This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the origin of the elements and how scientists use unique element profiles to identify supernova types.

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Origins of the Solar System

This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW examines the scientific debate over the events that triggered the birth of our solar system.

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Our Knowledge of the Universe

Students investigate the history of astronomy to see how major conceptual and technological advances have sculpted the current view of the universe.

Pulsars: Little Green Men

The story behind Jocelyn Bell's role in the discovery of pulsars is told in this colorful, comic-book-style resource from A Science Odyssey Web site.

Spin a Spiral Galaxy

This interactive activity from NOVA Online lets you spin a spiral galaxy, including our own Milky Way. It demonstrates that what you can learn from visible light observations of a galaxy is largely determined by the angle from which you are observing it.

Swift: Gamma-Ray Bursts

In this video segment adapted from Penn State Public Broadcasting's Swift: Eyes Through Time, learn about the Swift satellite — a NASA mission with international participation — and how it is collecting data about gamma-ray bursts that may yield important discoveries about the Universe.

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Theories

This lesson will help the students understand that science theories change in the face of new evidence, but those changes can be slow in coming.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Gamma Waves

Get an overview of gamma waves and examples of conditions and events that produce gamma waves, the highest-energy radiation on the EM spectrum, in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Infrared

Explore the ways scientists use technology to “see” infrared light in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Microwaves

See microwaves in the context of other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Radio Waves

This video from NASA provides an overview of the radio band of electromagnetic spectrum and offers a brief history of the discovery and early applications of radio waves.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Ultraviolet

Explore the ultraviolet band of the EM spectrum in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Visible Light

See just how narrow the visible light band is relative to other EM energy in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: X-rays

Get both an “everyday” and an “exotic” view of x-rays in this video from NASA.

Universe Origins

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time covers gamma ray bursts; geocentric and heliocentric models; and, cultural interpretations of scientific data.

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The Wall of Time

This illustrated timeline from the Lunar and Planetary Institute provides a journey through four-and-a-half billion years of time from the birth of our solar system to its current existence today.

What Is Astrobiology?

In this video from the Science and Technology Chat series, learn about astrobiology, an interdisciplinary field that uses biology, astronomy, and geology to study the origins of life on Earth and to search for possible life on other planets.

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WMAP: "Baby Picture" of the Universe

View the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) image from NASA to see the first detailed map of the oldest light in the universe, from 379,000 years after the Big Bang, over 13 billion years ago. A second image offers a visual timeline to put the WMAP image in perspective.