Educational resources in astronomy
In this activity, we will demonstrate and model the solar system motions with our selves as objects. In this activity, we will try to find what is the directions of motion and rotation of the the moon and inner planets. How can we “shift” our perspective of the solar system between a stationary observer and an observer standing on a rotating Earth?
Asteroids are small objects that zoom around the Solar System. See if you can find the asteroid in the photos in this assignment! Pluto was discovered using this same method.
Keywords: asteroid, photos, blinking
Find out what happened when asteroids hit Finland, Norway, Latvia, Greenland and the UK. You can also study the effects of your own asteroid impact with the Down2Earth impact calculator!
Keywords: crater, asteroid, small solar system bodies
Every day, several tons of cosmic dust falls down onto our planet, and roof tops have proven to be the ideal place to look for micrometeorites, even in busy city environments. You can join the hunt, and if you’re lucky you might find your own micrometeorite on the roof of your school or a local warehouse.
Download these files for instructions on how to start searching for micrometeorites on your roof top.
Did you find a curious looking rock? With the help of these instructions you can investigate if it could be a meteorite.
This presentation will lead you through the common features of micrometeorites, including magnetism, weight, surface features and evidence of fusion crust, chondrules, metal flakes, patina and rust.
Interesting findings are worth submitting to an expert for analysis. With scientific methods any meteorites can be reliably identified and categorised. The presentation also guides you to where you might find such advice!
This resource is also available in Finnish.
This activity looks at how meteorites have been used and studied throughout history. It is an English language comprehension activity, with elements of history and geography, where students will read some text and then answer questions.
Did you find a curious looking rock? With the help of these instructions you can investigate if it could be a meteorite (or a meteowrong!). You can also go outdoors and pick any rock for investigation. Or how about hunting micrometeorites?
Keywords: meteorite, micrometeorite, small solar system bodies
This activity allows you to create the “rotation lightcurve” of an object, matching the approach that astronomers use when trying to determine the rotation rate of an asteroid.
The original version of this activity used a potato as the “asteroid”, so it is sometimes referred to as the “Rotato Experiment”!
This app allows you to simulate impacts on the Earth, Moon or Mars.
You can select the impactor parameters (composition, size, velocity, angle of impact) and then choose a target location. The crater that would be produced by your impactor is then displayed, along with various facts and figures about the impact.
You can compare your crater with real craters on each of the target bodies.
Every day, several tons of material fall from space down on earth. Some of this material are rocks of sufficient size to make meteors (shooting stars) that survive the extreme heat as they are decelerated through our atmosphere. A few times every year, we see big fireballs, meteors big enough to survive all the way down onto the ground.
The possibility of finding a meteorite have sent many out looking for stones that carry the signs of a space rock. Several networks of all-sky cameras exist around the globe, with the aim of doing research on meteor activity. Now, a network is being built to supply schools with unique class room material, where young students can participate in identifying meteors, calculating where their landing sites and their extra terrestial origins.
Here at the Online Observatory, we develop activities and tools that allow schools to contribute in the hunt for meteors and meteorites. The following talk was given at an event held at the Brorfelde Observatory in Denmark, June 2019.
As presented on the Multiplier Event at Brorfelde Observatory in June 2019
As presented on the Multiplier Event at Brorfelde Observatory in June 2019
Do you want to learn more about this project or have ideas on how to make these ideas even better, please contact us with your ideas and questions.
Some activities require Geogebra files, where students can manipulate arrows indicating the path of given meteors. In these files, they can get acquainted with coordnates and distances of any given event. The files are still only prepared with maps of southern Norway.
Here are a few Geogebra files for download: