It's About Time
Orbits and Effects
What does your world revolve around? Challenge the class as they learn about orbits and the effects of them on our modern world. Young astronomers begin by measuring ellipses and calculating the eccentricity of Earth's orbit. Then, they...
Curated OER
Orbits Worksheet #2
Brief, but beneficial, this resource draws space scientists into the orbit of a moon around its planet. Assignees answer five multiple choice style questions using a diagram of the planet, the moon's orbit, its focal points, and the...
Curated OER
Orbits Worksheet #1
A diagram of Earth's path around the sun, including the position of the moon, is displayed at the top of the worksheet. Five multiple questions get astronomers to analyze the diagram considering what is going on in the solar system. Use...
Curated OER
Earth Science Regents: The Ellipse
Starting with the instructions to draw an ellipse, and with great pictures, this sheet should help your pupils learn the shapes and measurements involved. Using push pins and string, your class can discover the axis and focus points...
Curated OER
Drawing Ellipses Lab
For this ellipse worksheet, students learn the difference between an orbit and an ellipse. They draw ellipses and calculate the distance between foci, they calculate the length of the major axis and they determine the eccentricity. They...
Curated OER
Kepler's Law-Worksheet #2
In this Kepler's Law worksheet, students answer 8 questions about the orbits of satellites, the rotation of planets, the eccentricity of the moon's orbit and the distance planets are from the sun using Kepler's laws.
NASA
Rendezvous For Two
Imagine the challenge of getting the space shuttle to rendezvous with the International Space Station. Groups must determine the elliptical transfer orbit needed to get the space shuttle from its orbit to the orbit of the International...
Curated OER
Kepler's Laws-Worksheet #1
In this Kepler's laws worksheet, students solve 8 problems using Kepler's laws to find the eccentricity of the planet's orbit, to determine the average distance of Haley's comet from the sun and to determine Kepler's constant for each...
University of Washington
Kepler’s Laws
Introduce your physics or astronomy class to Kepler's laws of planetary motion with this straightforward worksheet. It covers the basic concepts of each and has learners answer questions to demonstrate their grasp on them. You could use...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
A Rose By Any Other Name
In part one, your astronomers read an interview dialogue between a reporter and Dr. Maria Ocasio, the chair of the group that assigns names to celestial objects. The topic in question is Pluto's status. Learners research Plutinos and...
Curated OER
Venus and Uranus Wordsearch
In this space science worksheet, learners find the words that are related to the planets of Venus and Uranus. The answers are found at the bottom of the page.