Additional astronomy resources

February 25, 2004

more information sites

pictures / images

magazines

Posted by admin | Filed Under Astronomy

Additional solar system links

February 25, 2004

This organization is a link between professional astronomers, amateur

astronomers, teachers, and the general public. They have lots of neat

stuff, including a really great catalog of astronomical items: t-shirts,

posters, slides, puzzles, etc. Many of the slides I show in class can be

purchased from the ASP through their catalog.

You are encouraged to join the ASP! The annual cost for students is only

$35. Membership privileges include discounts on catalog items and a

subscription to Mercury, a non-technical astronomy magazine. See the Web

site for information on how to join.

Hubble Space Telescope Pictures:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Pictures.html

Has lots of beautiful HST photos. Here’s the more general Space

Telescope Science Institute website.

Amazing Space
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/

All sorts of interesting things (e.g., “Black Holes: Science Fiction or

Science Fact?”) can be found here.

The “Astronomy Cafe”:
http://www.astronomycafe.net/

Astronomer Sten Odenwald answers questions from the masses. The query

that’s been bugging you is probably already answered in the more than

1,300 posted replies. But if not, just ask Sten.

American Astronomical Society:

http://www.aas.org

Mostly a society for professional astronomers, but they have some items

that are of potential interest to the general public.

Search for extra-solar planets:

http://www.exoplanets.org

This has the latest information on various searches for planets around

other stars, including the local (and world’s best!) search (led by Prof.

Geoff Marcy).

UCB Supernova Search:

http://astron.berkeley.edu/~bait/kait.html

This has the latest information on the local (and world’s best!) search

for nearby supernovae (exploding stars), run by Alex.

The Nine Planets:

http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/

This “Multimedia Tour of the Solar System” is “an overview of the

history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of each of the

planets and moons in our solar system. Each page has text and images, some

have sounds and movies, most provide references to additional related

information.”

SOLAR SYSTEM RESEARCH

February 24, 2004

Click the headline to proceed with your lesson.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Astronomy

Solar System Research

February 24, 2004

NASA graphic of planets 9th grade students are to research one of the 10 planets, moons, asteroids, or comet of the solar system. Astronomy students must do a more comprehensive report. The research project’s contents should include:

Introduction - tell me what you want to research and why
Body - include general facts about the planet - location, size, orbit, atmosphere, etc.;
Pictures or diagrams with caption;
Anecdotes or myths about the planet;
or Discovery facts.
Conclusion - summary of what you learned (do not include new information here).
Bibliography - books, magazines, website url, etc
you must have footnotes for information used and “quotation” for direct quotes.
If you do not give credit to your sources the paper is an F!
After receiving your grade you can do a re-write for a higher grade.

Choose your planet:

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
new10th planet (?)
moon(s)
asteroid(s)
comet(s)

Paper should be 5-8 pages (3 page of text) for 9t Grade Integrated Science students and 6-10 pages (4 pages of text) for Astronomy students.

Before clicking all over Google for information on your assigned planet, check out these three excellent resource pages first. (Note: Information on the “10th. planet” might be researched through the Kuiper Belt page.)

NASA Solar System Exploration (SSE) The Bodies in our Solar SystemMore complete information about each planet, written in a slightly more complicated way. Pay attention to the overview of the solar system, just underneath the picture of the planet.
Nine Planets An excellent site for demonstrating the educational and visual appeal of the Internet. Nine Planets contains information, pictures, and statistics relating to the nine planets and their sun and moons. Information about comets, meteors, “other solar systems,” clouds, and asteroids is also presented.
Our Solar System Excellent site created by a team of scientist, teachers and student for Windows to the Universe. Some of the information pages allow you to select your knowledge level - beginner, intermediate, or advanced - as you begin investigating subjects. To select level, look for this navigation bar at the top of the page:
Go back my page and see additional information.