This news story describes the search for planets orbiting stars other than our sun, particularly since the discovery of a planet around a sun-like star 20 years ago. Star Witness News is a series of articles, written for students, that are inspired... (View More) by Hubble Space Telescope press releases. Supplemental education materials include background information, vocabulary, and discussion questions and answers. Common Core Standards for English Language Arts are also identified. (View Less)

Students read and analyze four different articles about the NuSTAR mission discoveries regarding black holes. This activity is from the NuSTAR Educators Guide: X-Rays on Earth and from Space, which focuses on the science and engineering design of... (View More) NASA's NuSTAR mission. The guide includes a standards matrix, assessment rubrics, instructor background materials, and student handouts. (View Less)

This news story describes the innovations, operations, size, and capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope. The article also presents and discusses the questions and theories that the telescope will explore and test. Star Witness News is a... (View More) series of articles, written for students, that are inspired by NASA press releases. Supplemental education materials include background information, vocabulary, and discussion questions and answers. Common Core Standards for English Language Arts are also identified. (View Less)

This science news story highlights a new initiative by the Hubble Space Telescope to image distant galaxies. The program uses gravitational lenses to image galaxies that are otherwise too distant and faint for the telescope to image. The story... (View More) includes information describing how gravitational lenses are similar to optical lenses. The article also includes a description of parallel fields - a set of observations done in tandem with the gravitational lens observations that will result in six additional HUDF-type observations of the sky. Star Witness News is a series of articles, written for students, that are inspired by Hubble Space Telescope press releases. Supplemental education materials include vocabulary, discussion questions and answers, and identifies relevant Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. (View Less)

Dieter Hartmann, a high-energy physicist, presents a story-based lesson on the science of Gamma-Ray astronomy. The lesson focuses on gamma-ray bursts; examining their sources, types, and links to the origin and evolution of the Universe. The... (View More) story-based format of the lesson also provides insights into the nature of science. Students answer questions based on the reading guide. A list of supplemental websites is also included. (View Less)

The PlanetQuest Observing Cards are designed to give telescope operators and other interpreters a new way of explaining the night sky. Relating common observing objects to our search for exoplanets makes these spectacular sights more understandable.... (View More) These cards are a great resource for use at observing night events, providing new stories to tell about commonly viewed celestial objects. (View Less)