Institute and Museum of the History of Science
Museo Galileo: Multimedia: Video: Astronomical Use of the Plane Astrolabe
Invented in ancient Egypt, the plane astrolabe is a tool used by astronomers and navigators to determine time and identifying positions of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. Read text or view the video to understand the details of its...
Curated OER
Exploratorium: Your Weight on Other Worlds
Want to lose weight in a hurry? Just step on a scale on almost any other planet! This page allows you to enter your weight on Earth and it will calculate your weight on all of the other planets, some moons and even some stars. Requires a...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: The Transit of Venus
When Venus comes directly between the Earth and the Sun, it is called a transit. During the transit, the planet Venus blocks out a portion of the Sun's image, appearing as a black dot on the face of the Sun. Over time, the black dot...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: A Guide to the Energy of the Earth
Energy is neither created nor destroyed - and yet the global demand for it continues to increase. But where does energy come from, and where does it go? This video examines the many ways in which energy cycles through our planet, from...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solar System!
An introduction to our solar system: the planets, our Sun and our Moon. Students begin by learning the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding Newton's third law of motion. They...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Great Gravity Escape
Students use water balloons and a length of string to understand how gravity and the velocity of a spacecraft balance to form an orbit. They see that when the velocity becomes too great for gravity to hold onto an object, the object...
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: The Earth's Atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere is a thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth. It composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. This thin gaseous layer insulates the Earth from...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mercury and Venus
Students explore Mercury and Venus, the first and second planets nearest the Sun. They learn about the planets' characteristics, including their differences from Earth. Students also learn how engineers are involved in the study of...
National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (Spain)
Ministerio De Educacion: La Energia Externa Del Planeta
What do you know about the energy that comes to our planet? It is the energy from the sun but how does it work? What interaction produces with the atmosphere and hydrosphere? What effects produce in the geosphere? It contains 17...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: A Global Look at Moving Air: Atmospheric Circulation
Even with disruptions like weather fronts and storms, there is a consistent pattern to how air moves around our planet's atmosphere. This pattern, called atmospheric circulation, is caused because the Sun heats the Earth more at the...
Other
Christopher Crockett: The Astronomy Word of the Week Is "Barycenter"
While astronomers and philosophers have long mused on the possibility of other solar systems, the first planets confirmed to orbit a star other than our Sun weren't found until 1992. The reason it took so long is that it's really hard!...