Astronomy Links

Guide to the Universe (age 10+)

	Could we find life on other planets?
	Find out what you can about the planets
	Visit an imaginary planet and write about it

See Enquirer’s guide to the Universe at The Franklin Institute.

The Aurora (age 12-18)

Strange things happening in the sky? Here at The Aurora Page you will find information and images about the Northern Lights. It includes the latest sightings and is updated hourly. Visit and find answers to these questions:

	What is the aurora?
	Where might you see the Northern Lights?
	What causes it to happen?

Eclipses, when and wow (age 11-18)

For details of the next solar eclipse - visit Solar Eclipses in the UK and the Irish Republic. Also includes details of the last partial solar eclipse on October 12th 1996.

	When is the next solar eclipse visible from the UK?
	How will it differ from the last solar eclipse?
	What are Baily's Beads and shadow bands?
	How can you photograph an eclipse?

Space Shuttle images of the earth (age 15+)

	An archive of Earth Images at NASA site.
	What do these images tell us?

When does the sunrise and set? (age 15+)

Amazingly, though science and with computers such things can all be worked out. Join the US Navy, choose a location and calculate:

	sunrise and sunset
	moonrise and moonset
	the phase of the moon

Comets (age 12-18)

Information on Comet Hyakutake which made headlines in 1996. Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter a year back and these snaps of Comet Shoemaker-Levy record the event.

	What does a comet look like?
	Are comets and meteors the same thing?
	What is a comet made of?

"We've had a problem, Houston" (age 11-14)

A frayed electrical wire inside an oxygen tank threatens the lives of those aboard Apollo 13 way back in April 1970. Read the story, Apollo 13 Rescue told as a comic strip, that had a nation saying prayers.

	Where was Apollo 13 headed?
	What was about to happen as the crew were about to get some sleep?
	Where do to crew take refuge and what happened to make them do that?
	What is the first thing that they do to regain power?
	They discover another grave threat to their safety - tell us the rest of the story.

Monitoring satellites (age 11-14)

A NASA satellite is monitoring the atmosphere, but something goes wrong … Read the story, Aero and Space told as a comic strip, which put top scientists on the spot.

	What does the ozone layer protect us from?
	What alerted the scientists that something might be wrong?
	What seems to be the problem?
	What do they propose to do to repair it?
	Then what happens?

The inventors of flight (age 11-14)

The Wilbur And Orville Wright Story is told comic strip style.

	What do you think of the quote "They became interested in flight after their father gave them a toy helicopter"?
	How did they do it?
	Did they get rich?

The Sun in pictures (age 12-18)

Images of The Sun is a library of pictures for downloading showing the sun's red corona, sunspots, solar flares, prominences and eclipses. These with fast Internet connections can pick up movies showing an eclipse as well as a 3D movie of convection.

Astronomy pictures (age 12-18)

See the huge library of images taken by The Hubble Space Telescope and showing the Crab Nebula, the surface of Pluto, Saturn's rings and moons. This archive also has pictures showing storms on Jupiter, Saturn and other ephemera. There is more hubble-bubble at the US site Hubble Space Telescope Images (NASA) and at Best of Hubble '95 .

	What does a Crab Nebella look like?
	Does the wind blow when there's a 'storm' on Jupiter? I thought there was no air over there.

Computer software for astronomy (age 12-18)

Astronomy 'shareware' - is software which allows you to evaluate it for free. When you click on a software link on a page, a file is loaded somewhere on your computer. You need to find the file and install it onto your system. Try

Home Planet for Windows - on the Solar System Live page allows you to create an orrery as well as view the stars at the horizon. A couple of astronomy screen savers are also available here.

The planets - an orrery

Solar System Live, is an interactive Internet orrery. You can view the solar system, or just the inner planets as controls allow you to set the time and viewpoint. This is at Solar System Live .

How useful is this computer 'model' of the solar system?

Interactive map of the earth (age 12-18)

The Earth and Moon Viewer allows you to view a map of the Earth showing the day and night regions at the moment. You can also specify a location on Earth and view it from the sun or the Moon.

	Does it work - for example, is it night, when it's night?
	What can you use this for?

Be an astronaut - a career move

	Find out How to become an Astronaut!
	What are the requirements?
	So what is your plan?

The mission to the moon on Apollo 11

It happened 25 years ago, but it remains a unforgettable achievement. There's a good library of snaps and images from the trip for all sorts of project work.

	Look at the president's documents and explain why we went to the moon.
	What options instead of going to the moon were considered?
	Explore the site. Use the pictures and information here to make a newspaper souvenir pullout recording this great event.

Mars

	A series of pictures - the Viking lander, the surface of Mars and its moons.
	How big are the moons of Mars compared to Phoenix, Arizona? How does that compared with somewhere in the UK?

Explore Internet link lists

Links to image archives can be found at Astronomical links. There's a comprehensive list of space information sites at Yahoo - Astronomy

Be an astronaut - a career move (age 12+)

	Find out How to become an astronaut
	What are the requirements?
	So what is your plan?

Earth in Space

Bradford Robotic Telescope: Information about the telescope itself and how you can request to take pictures of the night sky.
Comet Observation Home Page: Hyakutake and Hale Bopp feature prominently in this site which to contain just about everything there is to know about - and hundreds of images. For a well organised alternative at the comets from the Nine Planets mirror site at Exeter University.
Lift off to Space Exploration: The Marshall Space Flight Centre Mission Operations Laboratory and supports onboard scientific operations for many Shuttle Its site aims to provide information on all the missions supports, on a continuing basis.
NASA Web Mission Audio: Listen to the radio communication between NASA and the Shuttle. need RealAudio hear it. The quality's not wonderful but it gives an insight the possibilities.
The Nine Planets: The most comprehensive site for information about the Solar Lots of data, pictures and background information about planets, their moons and other heavenly bodies.
The Planetary Studies Foundation: A non-profitmaking educational corporation promoting the study planetary science and astronomy with emphasis on meteorites; encouraging and assisting study in the physical, astronomical, and environmental sciences.
Space Telescope Information Service: The European site for information about the Hubble Space Telescope.
Violence in the Cosmos.: This site is an extensive exploration of the big bang theory. is attractive to view and could be used with good year 11 pupils, formers, and staff.
Northern lights planetarium, Norway: This site contains some nice pictures of the Aurora Borealis seen from Norway. The information given is brief but informative. be used as a start to 'Particle Physics' topic.
Feyman and the challenger disaster: Explanation of why the shuttle blew up with pictures. Explains getting basic science wrong can lead to the failure of sophisiticated Accessible to Y9 and above in terms of scientific content reading age. Fast to down load, easily navigated, human element. use in 'science in society' lessons.