Course Materials and Resources

• OpenStax Astronomy
• Crash Course Astronomy Playlist
• NASA Solar System Exploration
• Stellarium on the Web
• PhET Simulations
• Foothill College Astro Simulations
• Additional Astronomy Links and Resources by Topic

General Astronomy Resources

• Astronomy Picture of the Day
• NASA Space Place (for Kids)
• NASA JPL Playlists
• NASA Launches and Landings Schedule
• NASA Television Upcoming Events
• PBS NOVA – The Planets
• Skylight (YouTube Channel, AMNH)
• Star Talk (YouTube Channel)
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI)
• Astropedia (USGS)
• Planetary Fact Sheet
• JPL Infographics
• COSMOS – The SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy

K12

• NASA Space Place (for Kids)
• NASA eClips (K12 Standards-Based)
• The Many Moons of Quack the Duck
• Earth’s Tilt 1: The Reason for the Seasons (MIT K12)
• Earth’s Tilt 2: Land of the Midnight Sun (MIT K12)
• Eclipse Videos on PBS
• TMBG Meet the Elements
• TMBG Why Does the Sun Shine?
• TMBG Why Does the Sun Really Shine?
• TMBG: What is a Shooting Star?
• TESS Coloring Book
• Exoplanet Coloring Pages | NASA

Our Location in Space

• If the Moon Were Only One Pixel
• The Known Universe by AMNH (YouTube)
• A 3D atlas of the universe – Carter Emmart (YouTube)
• The Digital Universe (Hayden Planetarium)
• Watch This Guy Build a Massive Solar System in the Desert (NatGeo, YouTube)
• Is Space Too Big to Explore? | Because Space

Observing the Sky

• Stellarium on the Web
• Interactive Sky Chart (Sky & Telescope)
• Make a Star Wheel (Sky & Telescope)
• Constellations (LPI)
• The Oldest Sky Maps (ESA)
• NASA Sky Event Calendar

Early Models of the Solar System

• The New Astronomy: Crash Course History of Science #13
• Orbits and Kepler’s Laws (NASA on YouTube)
• The Galileo Project at Rice University
• Ptolemaic, Copernican, Tychonic Models (YouTube)

Gravity

• Minute Physics: What is Gravity (YouTube)
• Hammer and Feather on Moon (YouTube)
• Bowling Ball and Feathers in a Vacuum Chamber (YouTube)

Light & Spectra

• NASA Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Skylight: More than Meets the Eye (AMNH)
• Imagine the Universe: EM Spectrum (NASA Goddard)
• Blackbody Spectrum PhET
• Blackbody Simulator with RGB
• Molecules and Light PhET
• Periodic Table Linked to Spectra
• TMBG Meet the Elements

RGB Images

• How We See Color (YouTube TedEd)
• Live Science: How Do We See Color?
• Images, Pixels, and RGB (YouTube)
• How scientists colorize photos of space (YouTube, Vox)
• Hubble’s Color Toolbox

The Sun

• Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
• Space Weather Impacts (NOAA)
• Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA)
• Why Does NASA Study Airglow (YouTube)
• Solar Neutrinos | All Things Neutrino
• TMBG Why Does the Sun Shine?
• TMBG Why Does the Sun Really Shine?

Star and Planet Formation

• Flight Through Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light (YouTube, NASA)
• Why is the Solar System Flat? (YouTube, MinuteEarth)
• Solar System Formation Gallery at LPI
• ESOcast 69: Revolutionary ALMA Image Reveals Planetary Genesis
• Where Did Earth’s Water Come From? (YouTube, MinuteEarth)
• Formation of the Solar System: Birth of Worlds (National Geographic Documentary)

Minor Planets

• What types of objects exist in the Solar System?
• TMBG: What is a Shooting Star?
• ASU CMS Meteorite Vault Tour (YouTube)
• What is a Planet? (NASA)
• What is a Dwarf Planet? (YouTube, NASA)
• Why isn’t Pluto a Planet (AMNH)
• The journey to Pluto, the farthest world ever explored (YouTube, TED-ed)
• Lowel Observatory: The Home of Pluto
• New Horizons Mission Page
• IAU Minor Planet Center
• Tour of Asteroid Bennu (YouTube, NASA)
• As the Asteroid Turns (Vesta, YouTube, JPL)
• Flight Over Dwarf Planet Ceres (YouTube, JPL)
• Orbit of Sedna (YouTube, NASA Spitzer)
• Oumuamua – Interstellar Comet (TED Talk)

Impacts and Cratering

• What Were the Biggest Asteroids to Hit Earth? (AMNH)
• What Happens When Large Meteorites Fall to Earth? (AMNH)
• Arizona’s Jaw-Dropping Mile-Long Meteor Crater (Smithsonian Channel)
• Videos capture exploding meteor in sky (CNN)
• How Are Large Asteroids Tracked? (AMNH)
• Can Asteroids be Deflected? (AMNH)
• NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office
• Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission
• NEO Earth Close Approaches (NASA JPL)
• NASA’s plan to save Earth from a giant asteroid (YouTube, Vox)
• Explorer’s Guide to Impact Craters (PSI)
• Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Why Craters Are Round (StarTalk)
• Why study impact craters? (AMNH)
• Explore: Shaping the Planets: Impact Cratering (LPI)