This one-page lithograph describes the science of NASA's Fermi mission and the mission objectives. The lithograph includes a student activity to demonstrate how a pulsar generates the pulses of light that we see. There is a link to the Sonoma... (View More) website that provides additional information and formal education activities. Note: In 2008, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) was renamed Fermi, for the physicist Enrico Fermi. (View Less)

This activity includes twelve monthly star charts to identify the stars that are visible in the night sky and that are known to have planets around them. The star maps can be used to find constellations and identify stars with extrasolar planets.... (View More) (Northern Hemisphere only, naked eye) (View Less)

This website provides basic information about x-rays and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

This website is a collection of questions relevant to the science and mission of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, submitted by students and the general public, with answers posted by experts in the field. Questions are organized in categories such as... (View More) cosmology, black holes, normal stars, dark matter. The website urges users to browse the Q&A section and search the website before submitting a question. (View Less)

This 28-page coloring and activity book includes general information on X-ray astronomy, Chandra and the STS-93 mission. It also looks at black holes, supernovas, galaxy clusters and more. Each image is accompanied by a summary of information.... (View More) Activities include mazes, word searches, connect-the-dots, crossword, code break, and word jumble. (View Less)

Students begin this lesson by creating a galaxy classification system for a collection of Hubble Space Telescope images. Following an explanation of galaxy morphological types, students then use additional images to identify and count the galaxy... (View More) types. Based on their findings, they discover the "morphology-density effect." Includes printable images, a student's guide and teacher's guide, and links to related StarDate radio programs. (View Less)

In this activity, students will use a simulator of an orbiting X-ray observatory to observe a supernova remnant, the expanding gas from an exploded star. They will take X-ray spectral data, analyze them, and answer questions based on that data. This... (View More) resource consists of a manual and software for the Introductory Astronomy Lab Exercise, from CLEA (Contemporary Laboratory Experiments in Astronomy). The manual includes introductory activities for students, background information, an instructor's guide, a student handout, an answer key, a software user's guide, and a glossary. The student section of the activity starts on page 13. See Related & Supplemental Resources for a link to download the software. Note: the software is only available for Windows. (View Less)

The lithograph contains a Hubble Space Telescope image that shows the colorful Planetary Nebula NGC 2440 with one of the hottest known white dwarf stars at its center. The text briefly explains the process of stellar death of sun-like stars and... (View More) those with a mass greater than eight times the Sun. In the accompanying educational activity, In Search of ... Stellar Death, students investigate how stars end their lives through a level 1 inquiry activity using the images and text from the lithograph and other resources. A level 1 inquiry activity can help prepare students to become independent thinkers. (View Less)

The lithograph contains a Hubble Space Telescope image that shows M82, an edge-on galaxy, undergoing a frenzy of star formation. The text explains the possible causes of the galaxy's unusual appearance and star-birth activity. In the accompanying... (View More) educational activity, In Search of ... Starburst Galaxies, students investigate the cause of the starburst, a rapid rate of star formation, through a level 1 inquiry activity using the images and text from the lithograph and other resources. A level 1 inquiry activity can help prepare students to become independent thinkers. (View Less)