Astronomy and Space Education

Astronomy Education

• Office of Astronomy for Education - International Astronomical Union (IAU)
• Teach - from JPL, activities for Educators
• Educational Activities - Astronomy Society of the Pacific (ASP) - Hosting a variety of educational activities, ASP supports home schooling parents, astronomy and science outreach activities, as well as K-12 Educators.
• Explore STEM Education Data - National Science Foundation
• NASA's Publications for Educator - Search
• SETI Institute - Education - and Outreach
• University of Arizona Astronomy Camp
• Windows on the Universe - University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, excellent resource!
• Hands-on Universe
• American Astronomical Society (AAS) Education Office
• Teachers Pay Teachers - No endorsement from Astra but this site offers educational materials (some are free) to educators. Other subject areas can be easily accessed but this link goes to the Science > Astronomy area.
• The Role of Data Science in Astronomy and Interstellar Exploration - from Datascienceprograms.com

Help for Home Schoolers

Although many of the links on this page can be of value for teaching from home, here we feature some that are specific for homeschooling parents and teachers.

• Homeschool Astronomy Resources for K-12 students - from Sky & Telescope magazine
• Astronomy Books - from Christianbook
• Home School Astronomy - Purchase lesson plans
• The Role of Data Science in Astronomy and Interstellar Exploration - How do scientists analyse data to get results?

Planetary

• Solar System Live - See what the solar system looks like right now!
• Views of the Solar System
• Solar System - Exploring Our Neighborhood - From JPL
• Venus Education & Outreach - hosted by University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Mission to Mars Unit - NASA JPL
• Mars for Educators - NASA
• Comets and Meteor Showers - Check out the Education Corner
• The Planets of Our Solar System Information on the Planets and Links
• The Earth as a Peppercorn - from the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton

Solar Astronomy

• National Solar Observatory - U.S. NSO
• Solar Physics - from NASA Marshall
• Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite
• Ulysses satellite

Lunar Exploration

• The Apollo Program (Race to the Moon exhibit) - from Kennedy Space Flight Center
• 25th anniversary of Apollo
• APOLLO Manned Missions - From the Air & Space Museum
• Ice on the Bone Dry Moon! Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI)

Space Education

• Find your Place in Space - NASA
• Beginner's Guide to Rockets - from NASA Glenn
• Space Settlement Design Competition - (SSDC)
• Current NASA Missions - search missions alphabetically
• History of NASA's Spaceport - NASA's Kennedy Space Center
• Learn Space Flight Basics - JPL Technical Lessons
• Russian Space Science English page from Russian Space Science
• Challenger Center
• SpaceSchool.CA - from the Canadian educator Trevor Knowlton
• Dream Up - Students Launching Research to Space

Club for the Future

Blue Origin's Club for the Future was founded in 2019. Its purpose is to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM with emphasis on space development and exploration. One program is Postcards to Space where students create a postcard, send it to Blue Origin and it is launched on the New Shepard. As of April 2021, over 25,000 have been received and sent into space on the New Shepard. Blue Origin also collaborates with other organizations that promote space education. STEM curriculm is offered on the site. The club also has a facebook page. Read more about Blue Origin on Astra's commercial space page.

Elevators in Space?

It's expensive to launch rockets, so it has been suggested we could build an elevator to lift us above Earth's surface. Elevator.com studies the possibility at Space Elevators and Astronomy. - Here you will also find links to educational resources suitable for educators and their students.

Space Missions

• Mars Exploration Missions - Mars Pathfinder
• Galileo Mission to Jupiter - Spacecraft active until September 21, 2003
• ESA's Smart-1 - in Lunar Orbit since November 15, 2004. SMART-1 mission ended on 3 September 2006 when it underwent a controlled impact with the Moon
• Lunar Prospector - First lunar orbit to detect water
• Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan (another over acheiver!)
• Clementine - Lunar spacecraft launched in 1973
• Destination: Earth - Information on Earth Science Missions
• Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - NEAR Shoemaker touched down on EROS December 12, 2002
• VEGA Mission - Russian Fly-by of Halley's Comet

Artificial Satellites

• Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite
• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
• Infrared Astronomical Satellite
• SIRTF - Space Infrared Telescope Observatory
• Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite
• Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry
• Ulysses Solar Mission

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Education Assistance

• K-12 Resources for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education - National Science Foundation
• STEM Resources for preK-12 - National Education Association
• National Science Teachers Association STEM Resources - also check out Daily Do for more activities from NSTA
• 10 Innovative Ways to Bring STEM to Schools - Mind/Shift
• Space to Learn - NASA STEM Engagement
• PBS Learning Media - Many different science subjects can be found here
• Curious George - PBS Learning Media

Planetariums and Museums

Planetariums and Museums can be an excellent source of educational information. I am only listing a few here, some are major and others are local. I would encourage you to visit your local resource. If you are a teacher, ask about their educational programs. (as if you haven't already! 8^)

• Hayden Planetarium - New York, NY
• The Nathan and Fannye Shafran Planetarium at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• Lake Erie Nature and Science Center and the Walter E. Schuele Planetarium
• Abrams Planetarium - Michigan State University
• Charles Hayden Planetarium - Boston Museum of Science
• Franklin Institute Fels Planetarium - Philadelphia, PA
• National Air and Space Museum - at the Smithsonian
• Loch Ness Productions Planetarium Links - Links to planetarium websites. Find the one closest to you !
• Science Museum of Minnesota - SciEd Home

Eclipses

• Eclipse Home Page - NASA and Fred Espenak (Find Eclipse Bulletins here)
• Upcoming Solar and Lunar Eclipses - USNO Eclipse Portal
• Eclipse Page - at Hermit.org
• Eclipses and Transits - Eclipse site at NASA
• Space Science News for NASA - Also has a page on X (Twitter)
• SKY Online's Eclipse Page 2007 Eclipse
• National Solar Observatory website for the August 2017 Eclipse
• Astra Stargate also has its own Eclipse Guide for eclipse education and upcoming eclipses
• Also, check out Astra's Guide to the August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Page - here you will find general solar eclipse information as well as information on the eclipse that took the U.S.A. by storm in the summer of 2017

Image Processing and Remote Sensing

• NIH Image - Image Processing Page
• Center for Image Processing in Education - CIPE
• Image Processing Resources for Astronomy Teachers - American Association of Physics Teachers