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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND EVENTS

Educational Resources and Events Catalog

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  1. Program Guide & Resources: Finding Exoplanets

    Resource Guide
    Many exoplanets — worlds beyond our solar system — are very small and faint compared to their bright host stars, making it nearly impossible to spot them directly. Despite this, astronomers...
    Rectangular graphic illustrating the Exoplanets program theme. The right four-fifths of the graphic shows an illustration of three exoplanets orbiting a bright star. Running vertically along the left side of the image is a wide blue bar. In the lower half of the bar is a line drawing of a simple hand-held telescope on a tripod. The telescope points toward a circular field of view showing stars and planets.

  2. Lights, Coronagraph, Action! An Exoplanet Direct Imaging Demo

    Activities
    In this demonstration, participants will learn about the direct imaging method astronomers use to find exoplanets — planets outside our solar system. Using a trifold display board and a lamp, participants...
    Split image: At left, a bright dot with a glare. At right, a hand holds a dark circle to block the star's light.

  3. Exoplanet Detectives: A Transit Method Activity

    Activities
    In this activity, participants will learn about the transit method to find exoplanets — planets outside our solar system. Using a trifold display board, a lamp, and exoplanet shadow puppets, participants...
    Large tri-fold poster says Exoplanet Detectives at the top.

  4. Cosmic Canvas: Stellar Evolution Program Guide & Resources

    Activities | Resource Guide
    Stars are born, live incredible lives, and eventually die — sometimes in dramatic ways! This journey, known as stellar evolution, helps us understand how stars shape the universe. With these program...
    Artist's concept of the binary star system HM Sge on the black background of space sprinkled with various sizes of red and white points of light. At the top of the image, a blazing hot white disk surrounds a white dwarf star that is pulling a stream of material from its red giant companion, the glowing mottled ball at bottom right.

  5. Cosmic Canvas: Exoplanets Program Guide & Resources

    Activities | Resource Guide
    Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets—planets beyond our solar system. Some exoplanets are hot and stormy, others icy and rocky, and some look wildly different than the planets within...
    Illustration depicting the seven planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system against a black background. The image does not show the planets' orbits to scale as they are placed in a diagonal manner from top left to bottom right. The exoplanets’ surfaces are illuminated, as if an offscreen light source is shining on the face-on portion of each exoplanet. The exoplanets vary in size, and each is unique in color and detail. From left to right: a large blue sphere, a light brown and gray sphere, a smaller dark blue sphere with a white marbled surface, a sphere with a brown, white, and blue surface, a slightly larger sphere with gray vein-like features, a similarly sized sphere with a light brown surface, and a small brown sphere.

  6. Cosmic Stories

    Activities
    This activity allows participants to practice making observations and conveying ideas while crafting a poem, short story, or song about astronomical images, illustrations, artworks, tactile plates, and/or...
    Composite image of MSH 15-52, a pulsar wind nebula, which strongly resembles a ghostly purple hand with sparkling fingertips. The hazy purple cloud is set against a black, starry backdrop. The bright white spot near the base of the palm is the pulsar. The three longest fingertips of the hand-shape point toward 1 o’clock. There, a small, mottled, orange and yellow cloud appears to sparkle or glow like embers. This orange cloud is part of the remains of the supernova explosion that created the pulsar.

  7. Paint a Star-forming Nebula

    Activities
    In this activity, participants explore real telescope images of star-forming nebulae and create watercolor paintings to visualize how stars, gas, and dust interact in these dynamic regions. A step-by-step...
    A person’s hand holds a paintbrush and is adding finishing touches to a watercolor painting of a star-forming nebula. The scene is viewed from above, with the paper placed on a wooden table. The nebula painting shows towering, reddish-brown pillar-like formations resembling those found in deep space images, surrounded by a soft, swirling purple and blue sky filled with stars. Bright yellow and orange star shapes, along with small scattered black and blue dots, depict stars scattered across the cosmic scene. On the left side of the image, a watercolor palette features over 30 vibrant colors, including shades of pink, orange, blue, green, and brown. A few colors show signs of recent use, with drops of paint on the palette and paper.

  8. Make Your Own Exoplanet Model

    Activities
    In this activity, participants design and create an exoplanet that could exist, complete with distinct features and characteristics, and then use art supplies to bring their vision to life. This activity...
    A colorful drawing of an imagined exoplanet orbiting two stars. Against a black background is a small yellow circle, a star, in the top left corner of the image. Just below, to its bottom right, is a larger circle that has a red surface with black splotches, another star. Toward the center right of the image is a larger circle, the exoplanet. The left half of the planet is mostly reddish-orange and has two blue patches to represent oceans. The right half of the planet is gray and black with curvy features depicting clouds. Handwritten text about the imagined exoplanet system appears in the top right corner.

  9. Drawing from the Data: Illustrating the TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets

    Activities
    In this activity, participants explore a scale model and real data from the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system to see how scientists and artists use current information to depict these distant worlds. Through...
    Illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, showing an imagined lineup of the star and its seven Earth-sized planets labeled b through h. From left to right, the image shows a bright, glowing orange star (TRAPPIST-1) taking up the left edge of the image. The seven planets appear in a horizontal row extending to the right, each increasingly distant from the star. The planets are labeled in lowercase letters beneath them from left to right as: b, c, d, e, f, g, and h. TRAPPIST-1b, closest to the star, is depicted with a red-orange, volcanic surface resembling Jupiter’s moon Io. TRAPPIST-1c appears rocky with a slightly darker surface. TRAPPIST-1d is shown with a thin band of water along its terminator—the boundary between the bright day side and dark night side. TRAPPIST-1e and f are both shown as water-covered planets, with increasing ice coverage on their night sides. TRAPPIST-1g appears larger, green-blue in tone, with a cloudy atmosphere resembling Neptune’s, though it remains a rocky planet. TRAPPIST-1h, the farthest out, is portrayed as a smaller, cold world.

  10. Program Guide & Resources: Stars

    Resource Guide
    Stars are giant balls of gas held together by their own gravity. They have different colors and sizes, and like humans, they have a life cycle: Stars are born, grow old, and eventually die.  With...
    Rectangular graphic illustrating the Stars program theme. The right four-fifths of the graphic consists of an infrared image of the Pillars of Creation from the Webb Space Telescope. The pillars are a ghostly blue-gray color with craggy finger-like tips. Running vertically along the left side of the image is a wide pink bar. In the lower half of the bar is a line drawing of a simple hand-held telescope on a tripod. The telescope points toward a circular field of view showing stylized stars with four-pointed diffraction patterns.

  11. Program Guide & Resources: Data and Imaging Processing

    Resource Guide
    Scientists rely on computers not only to do calculations, but also to transform telescope data into images. Coding and programming are some of the many methods that astronomers use in order to study the...
    Rectangular graphic illustrating the Data and Image Processing program theme. The right four-fifths of the graphic shows a space telescope orbiting Earth, collecting data from a supernova remnant, and transmitting the data to a large satellite dish. Running vertically along the left side of the image is a wide purple bar. In the lower half of the bar is a line drawing of a simple hand-held telescope on a tripod. The telescope points toward a circular field of view showing rows of ones and zeros.

  12. Program Guide & Resources: Electromagnetic Spectrum

    Resource Guide
    Astronomers learn about space objects by gathering and analyzing the light coming from them. Since there is more than one type light, observations of multiple types of light from an object —multiwavelength...
    Rectangular graphic illustrating the Electromagnetic Spectrum program theme. The right four-fifths of the graphic is a colorful multiwavelength space telescope image of a planetary nebula. The nebula looks like a human eyeball, with a hot pink pupil surrounded by blue and orange iris-like rings. Running vertically along the left side of the image is a wide green bar. In the lower half of the bar is a line drawing of a simple hand-held telescope on a tripod. The telescope points toward a circular field of view showing an expanding wave pattern.

  13. Stellar Life Cycle Bookmark and Bracelet

    Activities
    This activity introduces the life cycle of stars. Participants will learn that the evolution of a star depends on its initial mass. They will create a tassel for a bookmark describing the stages of a star’s...
    A beaded bracelet, three bookmarks with beaded charms, and a phone with a beaded charm.

  14. Stellar Evolution Scavenger Hunt

    Activities
    This activity introduces participants to the stages in the life cycles of massive and low-to-intermediate-mass stars. They will learn how a star’s life cycle depends on its mass by participating...
    Red-orange arcs surround the carbon star CW Leonis. Brilliant searchlight beams from the star’s surface poke through.

  15. Stellar Evolution Flipbook Activity Guide

    Activities
    This activity introduces the life cycle of stars. Participants will learn that the evolution of a star depends on its initial mass. They will explore the different stages in the life of a star by creating...
    A printed horizontal series of white pages are clipped together at left by a black binder clip. The title on the first page, "The Life of a Sun-like Star" appears at right, with much smaller text running vertically, NASA's universe of Learning. The paper is set against a star field filled with stars and irregular layers of brown gas,