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Topic: Introductory Astronomy

Resource Grade Level Media Type
All Planet Sizes  

All Planet Sizes
This illustration from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory shows the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Note that the planets are not shown at appropriate distances from the Sun.

3-12 JPEG Image
Anatomy of a Rover  

Anatomy of a Rover
In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the sophisticated scientific instruments on two identical robotic rovers that have explored Mars — Spirit and Opportunity.

3-12 Flash Interactive
Astronomical Images in Different Wavelengths  

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.

6-12 Flash Interactive
The Beginnings of the Telescope  

The Beginnings of the Telescope
This animated essay from the NOVA Web site examines the design of Galileo's refracting telescope and Sir Isaac Newton's reflecting telescope.

6-12 HTML Document
Birth of a Supernova, Type Ia  

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.

6-12 Flash Interactive
Birth of a Supernova, Type II  

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.

6-12 Flash Interactive
The Elements: Forged in Stars  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Evidence for the Big Bang Theory  

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.

9-12 QuickTime Video
Explore the Moon  

Explore the Moon
See what it is like to walk on the Moon by viewing this collection of QuickTime images from NOVA Online. Stunning 360-degree panoramas from each of the six successful Apollo Moon landings are featured.

3-12 QuickTime Interactive
Extreme Temperatures on the Moon  

Extreme Temperatures on the Moon
In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, astronaut John Young experiences extreme temperatures on the Moon that are a result of the Moon's low gravity and lack of atmosphere.

3-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo: Discovering Jupiter's Moons  

Galileo: Discovering Jupiter's Moons
This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo, using his newly developed refracting telescope, observed four of Jupiter's moons, the first astronomical bodies to be discovered since ancient times.

3-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo: His Place in Science  

Galileo: His Place in Science
Einstein called Galileo the "father of modern physics." This media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's quest to understand the mathematics of motion.

6-12 HTML Document
Galileo on the Moon  

Galileo on the Moon
Watch Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott perform Galileo's falling objects experiment on the Moon in this video segment from NASA.

3-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo's Big Mistake  

Galileo's Big Mistake
Scientists don't always get it right. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's failed theory for the motion of the tides.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo's Thought Experiment  

Galileo's Thought Experiment
How can Earth move through space without our feeling its motion? This video segment adapted from NOVA answers this question by dramatizing one of Galileo's thought experiments.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo: Sun-Centered System  

Galileo: Sun-Centered System
In the early 1600s, most people believed that the Sun revolved around a stationary Earth. This video segment adapted from NOVA tells how Galileo proved that the Sun, not Earth, is at the center of our universe.

3-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo: Sunspots  

Galileo: Sunspots
This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo used his telescope to carefully observe and study sunspots.

3-12 QuickTime Video
Galileo: Timeline of His Life  

Galileo: Timeline of His Life
This illustrated timeline from the NOVA Web site turns back the clock to the late 1500's to relive the dramatic life of one of the world's most renowned scientists.

6-12 HTML Document
Gallery of Auroras  

Gallery of Auroras
View this stunning collection of auroral displays from NOVA Online to find out why auroras appear in different colors and shapes and whether they occur on other planets.

3-12 Flash Interactive
Gravity and the Expanding Universe  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video
How Big Is Our Universe?  

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.

3-12 HTML Interactive
How Big Is the Universe?  

How Big Is the Universe?
In this media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site, astronomer Brent Tully of the University of Hawaiʻi walks you through the latest scientific theories about the size of the universe.

6-12 HTML Document
How Do You Get to the Moon?  

How Do You Get to the Moon?
This video, adapted from NOVA, showcases the competing engineering plans designed for landing a person on the Moon for the first time.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Hubble's Expanding Universe  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Hubble Telescope: Looking Deep  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Infrared Gallery  

Infrared Gallery
How would your world look if you saw heat instead of light? In this interactive resource produced for Teachers' Domain, see what familiar objects look like through an infrared camera and watch infrared videos of geysers, mudpots, and hot springs.

3-12 Flash Interactive
Infrared Search for Origins  

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.

6-12 Flash Interactive
Ingredients for Life: Carbon  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Jupiter: Earth's Shield  

Jupiter: Earth's Shield
Jupiter's immense gravity protects Earth from asteroids. In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists searching for signs of life in the universe identify solar systems with Jupiter-like planets that may be shielding smaller nearby Earth-like planets from comets and asteroids.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Mars Dead or Alive: Mars Up Close  

Mars Dead or Alive: Mars Up Close
NASA scientist Steve Squyres narrates this visual tour from NOVA Online of the most revealing discoveries made by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars.

6-12 Flash Interactive
Monster Black Hole in Galaxy M84  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video
More on Galileo's Big Mistake  

More on Galileo's Big Mistake
Even great scientists make mistakes! This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's theory of the tides, which, while well thought out, was wrong.

6-12 HTML Document
Newton's Third Law of Motion: Astronauts in Outer Space  

Newton's Third Law of Motion: Astronauts in Outer Space
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, NASA learns hard lessons from the first American attempt to do work while "walking" in space. The video also explores Newton's third law of motion.

3-12 QuickTime Video
Observe One Place at Many Scales  

Observe One Place at Many Scales
These satellite images and the companion animation from McDougal Littell/TERC begin at a scale that covers the whole Earth and zoom in to a view of the Capitol building in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

6-12 Flash Interactive
Relativity and the Cosmos  

Relativity and the Cosmos
This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site introduces the basic concepts of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and what we know about cosmology as a result.

6-12 HTML Document
Robotic Exploration of Space Timeline  

Robotic Exploration of Space Timeline
This interactive timeline from NASA journeys through the last century, detailing key discoveries, experiments, missions, and other events that brought robotic space exploration from science fiction to reality.

9-12 Flash Interactive
The Search for Another Earth  

The Search for Another Earth
This NASA video provides an overview of technology under development to explore the planets and stars outside our solar system. These will be the most sensitive instruments built to date.

3-12 Unknown
See a Reversal  

See a Reversal
View a computer model simulation from NOVA Online that illustrates what happens during a magnetic field reversal, an infrequent occurrence that may be currently underway.

6-12 QuickTime Interactive
Solar Magnetism  

Solar Magnetism
This video segment adapted from NOVA describes how the Sun's magnetism can have an effect here on Earth, from dramatic auroras to a mini-Ice Age in the 1600s.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Speed of Light: How Fast Is That?  

Speed of Light: How Fast Is That?
How fast is 300,000 kilometers per second? This text from the NOVA Web site offers a few real-world comparisons for the speed of light.

6-12 HTML Document
Spin a Spiral Galaxy  

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.

6-12 QuickTime Interactive
Stellar Velocity: The Doppler Effect  

Stellar Velocity: The Doppler Effect
This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site illustrates the Doppler effect and shows how it applies to measuring the direction and speed of stellar objects.

6-12 Flash Interactive
A Strange New Planet  

A Strange New Planet
This video segment adapted from NOVA features the first planet to be discovered outside our solar system. Its surprisingly large size and short orbit sent scientists back to their data and led them to discover similar planets.

6-12 QuickTime Video
Tidal Curiosities  

Tidal Curiosities
This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site answers questions about irregularities in the tides.

6-12 HTML Document
The Wall of Time  

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.

6-12 JPEG Image
What Is a Planet?  

What Is a Planet?
This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, presents the ongoing debate over the definition of a planet, including the status of Pluto.

3-12 QuickTime Video
WMAP: "Baby Picture" of the Universe  

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.

9-12 JPEG Image
Your Weight on Other Worlds  

Your Weight on Other Worlds
This interactive resource from the Exploratorium calculates your weight on other bodies in our solar system and offers an explanation of mass and weight and the relationship between gravity, mass, and distance.

6-12 HTML Interactive