Above the Clouds: Telescopes on Mauna Kea
This video segment adapted from First Light explains why the highest peak in the Pacific, Mauna Kea, is an ideal site for astronomical observations. Featured are new telescope technologies that allow astronomers to explore the universe in more depth.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
JPEG Image
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Are We Alone?
This video segment adapted from NOVA features a variety of scientific perspectives on the age old question, "Are we alone in the universe?" Animations make vivid the improbability that we could intercept a radio wave signaling extra terrestrial intelligence.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
Flash Interactive
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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segment from Swift: Eyes through Time deals with the advancement of science through changing existing ideas, refuting outdated theories, and incorporating new findings.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
Flash Interactive
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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.
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6-12 |
Flash Interactive
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Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life
This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Creativity in Science
This lesson will take a look at the different roles scientists play in discoveries.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
Lesson Plan
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Earth, the Universe, and Culture
The following lesson will help the students understand the cultural nature of scientific research.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
Lesson Plan
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Eclipse of the Century
This video segment adapted from NOVA features spectacular footage from the 1991 solar eclipse that fortuitously occurred directly over several major astronomical observatories in Hawaiʻi.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Interactive
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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.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Galileo: Sunspots
This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo used his telescope to carefully observe and study sunspots.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
Flash Interactive
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Gamma-ray Burst Theories
This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time introduces and explains theories of the origin of gamma-ray bursts.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
QuickTime Video
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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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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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3-12 |
HTML Interactive
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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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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
Flash Interactive
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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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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Ingredients for Life: Water
This video segment adapted from NOVA goes on a whimsical journey in search of life forms thriving in extreme conditions on Earth and in outer space. Animations show ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and signs that water once existed on Mars.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Mars Dead or Alive: A Hostile Environment
This NOVA video segment describes the challenges presented by the frozen desert environment of Mars to NASA engineers designing two robots that will journey millions of miles to the red planet.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
Flash Interactive
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Mars Dead or Alive: Where to Land?
In this video segment from NOVA, engineers and scientists designing the Spirit and Opportunity rovers struggle to choose landing spots both safe enough for landing and geologically promising.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Meteor Showers
This video segment adapted from NASA uses animation to illustrate the properties of meteor showers and comets. Included is are visualizations of a comet's tail and of Earth passing through a debris stream left behind by meteoroids.
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3-8 |
Flash Interactive
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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.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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The Origin of the Moon
This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the Apollo 15 astronauts as they collect samples of ancient rock from the Moon's crust, whose discovery helps lead to a radical new theory about the Moon's origin.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Phases of the Moon
When we look up at the night sky, why do we see the Moon's appearance changing over time from a full sphere to a crescent to nothing at all? Find the answers in this interactive resource adapted from the National Air and Space Museum.
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K-8 |
Flash Interactive
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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.
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6-12 |
HTML Document
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The Relationship Between Science and Technology
Students will learn how technology can help scientists solve a problem. One of the challenges scientists face with any spacecraft is attitude control. Students will be introduced to the problem of attitude control in space and two different ways scientists address it.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
Lesson Plan
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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.
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3-12 |
Flash Video
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Solar Wind's Effect on Earth
This video segment adapted from NASA describes solar storms and their effects on Earth. Animations of coronal mass ejections and solar cycles help explain what we know, and what we can predict, about solar activity.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Interactive
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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.
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6-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Teamwork in Science
This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time explores the concept of teamwork as scientists around the globe work together to explore deep space.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
Lesson Plan
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Total Solar Eclipse Animation
This brief animation adapted from NOVA illustrates how total solar eclipses form and explains the stages from first contact to totality.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Universe Origins
This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time covers gamma ray bursts; geocentric and heliocentric models; and, cultural interpretations of scientific data.
Collection Developed by:
WPSU
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5-8 |
QuickTime Video
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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.
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6-12 |
JPEG Image
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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.
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3-12 |
QuickTime Video
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Why Doesn't the Moon Fall Down?
In this animated video segment adapted from NASA, astronomer Doris Daou explains how the forces of speed and gravity keep the Moon in a constant orbit around Earth.
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3-8 |
QuickTime Video
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