Star Evolution – 3 – Three Types of Spectra

This is part 3 of an 8 part session series on Star Evolution. Find Part 1 here.

By using a computer animation students explore different types of spectra. Later they explore the spectrum of the Sun.

Age Range: 14 – 17 years
Prep. Time: Zero, if Activity 2 is done before
Lesson Time: 20 mins
Cost per activity: Printing of student’s worksheets
Includes the use of: Computer for each group of students

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Accompanying Images

Star Evolution – 2 – The Colours of Stars

This is part 2 of an 8 part session series on Star Evolution. Find Part 1 here.

By using a computer animation students will explore the colour of heated nail and will compare the observed colours with the colours of some flames and stars to draw the conclusion that the colour of the star depends from its temperature.

Age Range: 14 – 17 years
Prep. Time: 15 min
Lesson Time: 40 mins
Cost per activity: Printing of student’s worksheets
Includes the use of: Computer for each group of students

Slide Pack

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Star Evolution – 1 – Introduction

This is part 1 of an 8 part session series on Star Evolution. Find Part 2 here.

A presentation introduces students to different types of stars that have different colours and different sizes.

Age Range: 14 – 17 years
Prep. Time: Zero
Activity Time: 15 min
Cost per activity: Worksheet Printing

Teacher Guide and Slide Pack

Student Guide

Classifying the Universe

This is a great activity to do prior to a visit to an observatory.

In this activity, students will learn different ways of roughly separating the features of observable structures in the universe and will gain the tools needed for identifying what kinds of objects they can observe through telescopes when visiting the observatory.

Age Range: 10 – 13 years
Prep. Time: 30 minutes
Lesson Time: 35 minutes
Cost per activity: Cost of printing and optionally laminating the cards
Includes the use of: Printed cards

Slide Pack

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Activity Resources

The Geology of Mercury

In this activity, students will study the principal features of Mercurian geology are craters, faults and areas covered by volcanic lava. They will apply this to the Rembrandt Crater on Mercury, answering a series of questions concerning the geological features visible in the image.

Age Range: 12-16
Prep. Time: 5 minutes
Lesson Time: 30 minutes
Cost per activity: Low (printing costs)
Includes the use of: Printouts and a pen/pencil

Teacher Guide and Model Answers

Student Guide

Planetary Features

In this activity, students will first learn the correct terms for geological features. Then they identify these same features found on Earth on other planets, grouping the images from other planets into categories, labelling them and noting the similarities.

Students will then complete an activity to understand how water carves channels into their surfaces.

Age Range: 8-13
Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Cost per activity: High
Includes the use of: Sand, Craft Sand, Water, Trays and rocks/pebbles

Slide Pack

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Activity Resources

Discovering Exoplanets with the Transit Method

Exoplanets are too small and far away to see directly, even with the most powerful telescopes. So how can astronomers detect them? When an exoplanet passes in front of its star it blocks some of the star’s light. For a short time, the star’s brightness decreases. So, if astronomers detect that a star’s brightness decreases and then increases again, they can deduce that there is a planet orbiting the star.

In this activity students will investigate how scientists use a transit to detect exoplanets.

Age Range: 11-13 years old
Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Cost per activity: Low
Includes the use of: Laptop with webcam and light grapher software

Slide Pack

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Alternative Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams

In this activity, Students will practise plotting Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams using a range of different, yet familiar, items. Once they have plotted their graph they will compare this with other groups.
Next they will see how a real Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is created by using the stars table to plot a true H-R diagram.

Finally, they will compare the range of items by creating a ‘master diagram’, using all the items and stars plotted. Creating an expanded H-R diagram to see how objects really compare.

Age Range: 16-18
Prep. Time: 10 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cost per activity: Low (printing costs)
Includes the use of: Graph paper, Excel, internet

Teacher Guide and Model Answers

Student Guide

Getting to know SOHO

The Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission is a joint ESA/NASA mission that studies the Sun. Like Earth, SOHO follows an orbit around the Sun, studying its interior, surface, atmosphere and solar wind. SOHO sends continuous images of its observations back to Earth which scientists can use study to understand the nature of the Sun and predict how its activity will affect Earth and its environment.

In this activity, students are introduced to the ESA/NASA joint mission, SOHO and the instruments on board it.

They will look into SOHO’s orbit and its position in the Solar System relative to the Sun and Earth. They perform mathematical calculations and apply scientific concepts within their curriculum to this real-life context. Students are able to develop their understanding of concepts such as speed and distance calculations and gravitational potential energy.

Age Range:
Prep. Time: 0
Lesson Time: 1 hour
Cost per activity: Low (print costs)
Includes the use of: Worksheets

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Activity Resources

Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams

For this activity, students will make a classroom-sized, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram showing the lifecycle of stars. Students will be given a number of different stars of different luminosities and temperatures and they will need to create a graph with appropriate axis to plot the stars on.

Age Range: 11-16
Prep. Time: 10 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour
Cost per activity: Low
Includes the use of: String, large space (4 x 4 m)

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

Activity Resources