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Main > Cool Stuff > Astronomy, Space and Space Exploration
Abrams Planetarium - Would you like to know what interesting events are happening in the night sky? Visit this site for a day-by-day list of what to look for and where to look for it. The list is updated each month and includes an archive of past diaries. Check out the archive near the end of the month to take a peek at next month's diary.
Asteroids: Deadly Impact @ Nationalgeographic.com - Can you solve the mystery in this adventure? Were the craters left by comets, meteors, or something els e? Log in and see what you can discover. Here's your mission: "TOP SECRET -- LEVEL 4 CLEARANCE REQUIRED -- CLASSIFIED DATA. Welcome back, Agent Your Name Here. Sorry to clutter your desk in your absence, but I need you on these mysterious cases. All involve extraterrestrial perpetrators. You know the drill: examine the evidence in the files and on your desk, and then finger the most probable culprits. Close every case correctly and you'll get to download a clip from National Geographic Television's classified videotape of `Asteroids: Deadly Impact.' I know you'll get to the bottom of these cases. Click here to destroy this message. --The Director."
Make Asteroid Potatoes - This activity explains where asteroids come from and gives a recipe to make edible asteroids, complete with realistic-looking craters. If you don't want to eat the result of this experiment, you can always keep your new asteroid as a pet. It won't eat much, we guarantee!
Mars Academy - If it were up to you to design a space mission to Mars, how would you start? You'd have to make a lot of decisions. Where will you land? Who will be your crew and what kinds of skills will they have? What sort of propulsion system will your spacecraft use? When should you launch and what should your trajectory be? Follow along as kids make these decisions, guided by scientists. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Mars Atlas Home Page - Fasten your seat belts. The Mars shuttle will be leaving just as soon as you get the courage to start clicking! You'll soon be served with a map of Mars that you can click to zoom in on. Then move around by selecting directional arrows. Stay as long as you like on Mars. You can either pack a lunch or just go to the fridge if you get hungry. (Hint: The actual map link is farther down the page, in the To Use This section.)
NASA - JSC Digital Image Collection Home - Over 250,000 images have been captured, digitized, and stored by NASA. Come explore the universe through these photos
One Giant Leap...The 30th Anniversary of Apollo 11 - The history of the Apollo Space Program, with many articles and links to other sites. World Book editors have compiles a collection of articles that celebrate the Apollo program.
Our Universe - Dark matter. Wormholes, black holes, white holes. Superstrings. What about the theory of everything? This site provides nice concise explanations of these astronomy puzzlers and more. Plus, there's a "defend the earth" arcade game for fun. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Space Place - Care for some El Nin'o pudding? Or perhaps some Asteroid potatoes? Want to make a meat tray nanorover? Or a super sound cone? This can only be the Space Place from the Jet Propulsion Lab. Lots of cool crafts, puzzles, and information that is really "out there." We loved it.
StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers - This is a wonderful beginner's guide to astronomy. It's written for younger children and presents itself in an easy-to-read text. This site includes sections on general astronomy, Earth, planets, stars, galaxies, the Sun, and more. Use these pages to introduce a child (or brother or sister) to the wonders of space. You may even learn some new stuff yourself.
The Singularity - Seems you've signed on to visit a black hole on this space mission. Too late to back out now! This takes awhile to load, so don't give up on it too soon. Your first mate navigates your ship to several types of stars before you meet up with...the singularity. Will you survive?
U.S. Space Camp - It's light-years away from any other camp experience! You can visit Space Camp here on the Web and see pictures of some of the things kids (and adults) get to do there. How would you like to ride a space shuttle simulator or build your own satellite? Beam yourself up to this site--you'll definitely find intelligent life here. Son of Net-mom was able to take the Space Academy training. (He was on the Coke team. Here's their yell: "OHH-OHH COKE *clap* Whoosh!!!) He can't wait to go back.
Views of the Solar System - What do you think of when you hear the word "Mars"? Mars, ah yes, one of my favorite candy bars. How about "Pluto"? Hey, that's Mickey's pet dog! "Saturn"? My dad's got one of those in the garage! OK, now what do they all have in common? They're all planets, of course. Did you know Mars has volcanoes and the biggest one is 16 miles high (the biggest one on Earth is only 6 miles high)? Did you know that for 20 years out of its 249-year orbit Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune? (This won't happen again until 2226.) Scientists also think that Pluto's atmosphere freezes and falls to the ground when Pluto gets farther away from the Sun--imagine shoveling clouds off your front walk! Did you know that you can drive a Saturn, but you can't make it sink? At least not the pla Net--it floats! There's lots more here, including many images and animations of planets, comets, and asteroids.
World Builders - If you could create your own planet, starting with a handful of stellar dust, what would you build? Maybe a water planet, or a desert planet? What sorts of animal and plant life would develop? What elements would make up the atmosphere, and--here's the big question--what kind of fast-food restaurants would be there? OK, we were kidding about that last question. But some college kids took a course in world building, and this page documents their results. See what you think about these virtual worlds; then follow the instructions and see if you can create your own planet!
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