Comparing Sizes of Objects in our Universe

Here a video comparing sizes of objects in the universe

A Boost For Earth Science

NASA's administrator announced the agency's new foci of developing commercial flights to the International Space Station and exploration beyond Earth orbit.

A need for Earth scientist is a byproduct of the new missions. Article here.

A Guide to the Cosmos

Using The New York Times' words, this slide show of words and images are "dazzling and true"

The Astronomy Workshop

A University of Maryland astronomy web site worth exploring. There are many interesting modules.

Solar System Visualizer

The Solar System Visualizer was created by Michael VanDaniker and Andrew Lund as a part of an independent study under Douglas Hamilton at the University of Maryland.

2009 The International Year of Astronomy

It's true! This year is the International Year of Astronomy.

This is directly from the IYA2009 web site

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) is a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture and marks the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei. The aim of the Year is to stimulate worldwide interest, especially among young people, in astronomy and science under the central theme "The Universe, Yours to Discover". IYA2009 events and activities will promote a greater appreciation of the inspirational aspects of astronomy that embody an invaluable shared resource for all nations.

NY Times Astronomy Quiz

A very good online astronomy quiz accompanied by beautiful images.

Astronomy Review Game

Here's an astronomy review game teachers can use to help students to prepare for the unit exam.

Life Cycle of a Star

Here's a web site focused on the life cycle of a star. The site contains animations that provide visuals to help students better understand the concept of a star's life cycle.

YouTube: Carl Sagan "A Glorious Dawn" music video

Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking make an appearance in a YouTube music video from the film Cosmos.

Evidence of the Big Bang

Evidence of the Big Bang is still present in the universe. This video helps students learn about what evidence there are for the Big Bang.

The Large Hadron Collider Explained

The Newshour on PBS produced a video with a physicist discussing the purpose and importance of the Large Hadron Collider. The video will allow students to better understand the LHC.

Here are some questions that can be used with your students to focus their viewing:

1. Why are scientists doing this?
2. What do you hope they see? Why?
3. Were you satisfied with Greene's answer about black holes? Are you concerned that new science experiments could be more trouble than they are worth, or do you think scientists mostly know what they are doing?
4. How does the public learn about the latest scientific discoveries? How much information should the general public have about scientific experiments? Should we know the details, or just the general goals?
5. Do you want to be a scientist? Why or why not? What kind of education do you think the scientists working on this project have?
6. What do you think about the Big Bang theory? What about the dark matter theory? Is it important for people to understand these theories? Why or why not?

Big Bang Video

Here's a video that explains the expanding universe.

Large Hadron Collider

Document with links on the LHC.

Birth & Death of a Star

Are stars all burning out, or are new ones forming?

The New York Times web site hosts a useful Science Question and Answer section.

Stars are being born as well as dying, said Dr. Nolan Walborn, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, but the rate varies greatly from galaxy to galaxy.

One mission of the Hubble Space Telescope is to observe star-formation regions, he said.

Stars form from huge clouds of dust and gas. If a cloud begins to contract because of its own gravity, its interior heats up as gravitational energy is converted to heat energy, reaching millions of degrees, and nuclear reactions begin that change one element into another, releasing energy.

The pressure tends to expand the cloud back out, Dr. Walborn said, but eventually equilibrium is reached. "That is what a star is," he said, "a mass of gas at equilibrium between gravity's inward pressure and outward pressure from nuclear reactions."

A star has a finite lifetime because it is burning fuel. For 90 percent of its life, it burns hydrogen into helium. When the hydrogen is used up, the pressure decreases, but gravity never disappears, so the star contracts until the temperature climbs again, this time reaching hundreds of millions of degrees, while reactions convert helium to carbon and oxygen. The star can then remain stable for a briefer time. Eventually the star dies, when the reactions only consume energy but do not produce it.

Earth in the Universe

Here's a great link for Astronomy resources.

Planets; Why Pluto Isn't Anymore

I found this video at Edublogs.tv, a video web site, much like youtube, that was created for teachers and students.

First positive about this site is it's accessible inside our school, and it allows us and our students to create videos, upload them to edublogs.tv, and share them with the world.