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Website
California Institute of Technology

Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer: Venus

For Students 3rd - 8th
Resource offers the answers to many frequently asked questions about Venus. Kids can click on the user-friendly question links to learn more about this amazing planet.
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Website
California Institute of Technology

Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer

For Students 3rd - 8th
Cool Cosmos and NASA have joined together to provide kids with the answers to their most frequently asked questions. Visit this site to learn more about asteroids.
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Website
California Institute of Technology

Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer for Kids: Solar System

For Students 3rd - 8th
Resource presents information about the solar system through a list of most frequently asked questions. Click on each question and be transported to a wealth of knowledge about our solar system and the planets within it.
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Website
California Institute of Technology

Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer

For Students 3rd - 8th
Cool Cosmos and NASA help you uncover the mysterious Nebula. Kid's frequently asked questions are answered on this site thorugh easy to use links!
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Website
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: A Guide to Astronomy Resources

For Students 9th - 10th
A portal to resources on the sun, the Earth's neighboring planets, and the weather in space. Find out why Saturn is the "jewel of the Solar System" and explore what happens when Venus and Mercury make their rare transits across the sun.
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Online Course
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Courses: Physics: Introduction to Astronomy

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A university-level introduction to basic astronomy. Includes course readings, assignments, exams, and study notes with links to images and to biographical profiles of famous astronomers.
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Online Course
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences: Solar System

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A university-level course that looks at the structure of the solar system, the sun, the planets, and other bodies in space. Includes course readings, assignments, and study notes.
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Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: All Planet Sizes

For Students 9th - 10th
This illustration from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory shows the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Note that the planets are not shown at appropriate distances from the Sun.
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Website
University of California

Univ. Of Cal Berkeley: The Comet's Tale

For Students 9th - 10th
Site provides extensive information in the study of comets. Includes excellent graphics that depict what comets look like as they travel through the solar system. Also includes information on how comets may have effected the Earth's...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Similar Triangles: Using Parallax to Measure Distance

For Students 9th - 10th
Want to stretch your imagination? One good way is to try to imagine how far it is to a distant star. How much farther away is it than the moon is from the earth? In this project, you'll learn one way of measuring the distance without...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Find Center of Milky Way Galaxy Using Globular Star Clusters

For Students 9th - 10th
The Milky Way is the edgewise view of our home galaxy, a disk made up of billions of stars. The Sun resides on one of the spiral arms of the disk, 30,000 light-years from the thick hub of the galaxy. The actual center, with a black hole...
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Activity
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Planets Made Real: Creating Size and Distance Scale of Planets

For Teachers 6th - 8th
An activity where students build a scale model of the solar system based on a marble they pick from a bowl. After choosing a marble that represents Earth, students must calculate the size of the other planets and the sun. Site includes...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Know Your Neighbors: Researching the Planets

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students will study planets and moons in our solar system by working online and other resources. This lesson has students working together to generate a spreadsheet of data found. Students will use this information to describe why Earth...
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Graphic
Space Telescope Science Institute

Hubble Site: Images From Space

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides vivid images taken in space by the Hubble Telescope. You can view the entire collection or choose an area you enjoy the most. Explore galaxies, the solar system, nebulae and more!
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Interactive
ACT360 Media

Act Den: Sky Den

For Students 9th - 10th
This journey will help you solve big questions about the universe. You will be able to see beyond human capabilities and will learn what scientists are discovering.
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Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Comet

For Students 9th - 10th
A nice encyclopedia article from Wikipedia on comets describes what they are, their physical characteristics, gives a history of comet study, and provides a list of well-known comets.
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Article
American Institute of Biological Sciences

Action Bioscience: Looking for Life on Mars and Beyond

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn some of the characteristics of Mars. These characteristics lead some people to believe that life forms may be found on the fourth planet from the Sun.
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PPT
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Scaled Images of the Solar System

For Students 6th - 8th
Use the following lithographs to envision the scale of our solar system. View different models of planets at different scales, an infographic about the relative sizes of the planets and distance from the sun, and images of the largest...
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Website
California Institute of Technology

Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer

For Students 3rd - 8th
Explore the mysteries of the black hole! Cool Cosmos presents the answers to the most frequently asked questions about this phenomenon. Kids can click on the easy to use question links to find out more.
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Handout
PBS

Pbs: People & Discoveries: Ernest Rutherford

For Students 9th - 10th
A lovely biographical piece about Ernest Rutherford. A number of personal notes, along with extensive information about the physics work he did. Nice quote at the end.
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Activity
Harvard University

Harvard University: The Solar System

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
These hands-on activities are a great way for students to gain perspective on the relative sizes and distances of each planet, the relationship between the sun and Earth, and much more.
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Handout
Other

Astronomylinks

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a very comprehensive site on the subject of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The site has links to many sites on topics including astronauts, astronomy, astrophysics, education, jobs, etc.
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Website
Other

Astronomy and Astrophysics

For Students 9th - 10th
This site is about Astronomy and Astrophysics. The site has plenty of information and links to related topics.
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Website
Other

Celestia

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a free space simulation that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions. There is a forum for teachers and lesson plans that help enhance student use of the simulation. A program must be downloaded in order to...