Outside resources
Links to outside resources and good astronomy websites for educators.
- Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Looking for pretty pictures of astronomical objects? Look no
further. They post a new astronomy-related picture daily, with short
explanation and links to further information.
- Bad Astronomy
- One of my personal favorites: Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy. He
explains astronomical misconceptions, myths and perplexities, debunks
frauds and reviews movies from the viewpoint of an astronomer. He's a
pretty funny guy, and his explanations are quite lucid. His Bad Astro
Blog is also a good read: he mentions and describes various cutting edge
research whenever he comes across it.
- Universe Today's
What's Up 2006
- What's Up 2006 - 365 Days of Skywatching by Tammy Plotner. A very
nice (free!) guide to what to look at on any given day of this year.
Universe Today is also a good reference site as well, if you want to
keep on up the latest happenings in the Universe.
- National Science Teachers Association
- " ... to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and
learning for all." They provide a wealth of teacher resources and
opportunities, as well as teacher-to-teacher discussions and
announcements.
- The Monster of the
Milky Way
- A 1 hour Nova program about black holes in the centers of galaxies,
including our own. Some of the science discussed in this program is
directly related to my own work.
- Sizes
of the solar system
- A very long file showing the sizes of every body in the solar system
larger than 200miles.
- The Nine Planets
- A good review page, containing basic information about each of the
planets and their moons, as well as links to more detailed information.
- The Solar system at JPL
- Earth at JPL
- Mars at JPL
- Saturn at JPL
- Jupiter at JPL
- The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California is one of the
largest planetary research institutions, and has been in charge of many
missions to the planets. They have a lot of good information available,
as well as many teacher resources (see the education, educator and/or student
links, depending on the page).
- Passage
to a ringed World
- A NASA Special Publication, available for free as a PDF! This is an
excellent primer on the Saturn system, the Cassini mission and its
goals. It was published before Cassini reached Saturn, so the
details may be a bit out of date, but it is still worth reading. And the
pictures are great!
- SDSS Class projects
- Class projects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This is a set of
online activites, with teacher's guides, for students from middle-school
through college. Learn about stars, asteroids, galaxies the importance
of color, and how images are processed. There is even a scavenger hunt!