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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND EVENTS

Educational Resources and Events Catalog

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  1. Exploring the Cosmic Cliffs in 3D

    Videos
    This visualization presents a flight through the ethereal landscape of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s famous image nicknamed “Cosmic Cliffs.” These cliffs are a spectacular...
    The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a brown cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom and a comparatively clear upper portion in blue. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The upper blue portion has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orange and brown cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys—an appearance similar to a mountain range. In the bottom left corner, a clearer area free of gas and dust appears black with speckled stars.

  2. Star Formation from the Carina Nebula to the Cosmic Cliffs

    Videos
    This scientific visualization traverses the vast star-forming region of the Carina Nebula Complex using multiwavelength data from NASA space telescopes. The narrated journey explores clusters of massive...
    Four images from the Carina Nebula Complex are spliced vertically at an angle. From left to right: Hubble’s view in brown, gray, and light blue tones with a brilliant white star cluster at center; a bright purple and pink observation by Chandra; a bright pink wash with tiny blue orbs imaged by Spitzer; and a Webb view showing bright blue at top with brown clouds at bottom, overlaid with stars.

  3. Flight to the Carina Nebula Complex

    Videos
    This visualization travels across interstellar space to the vast star-forming region of the Carina Nebula Complex. Starting with the 2D sky as seen from Earth, the sequence traces out the nearby constellations...
    At the center is a loose splotch of red, the Carina Nebula, set against the black background of space. Distant stars and galaxies are speckled across the scene. The very center of the Carina Nebula is brightest, almost white, with larger stars represented as dots. The gas and dust that make up the nebula take the loose form of flower petals, like an iris. The top “petal” appears in the rough shape of a lowercase V and becomes more diffuse and darker red the farther away the material is from the core. Off to its right is a small, loose red circle with several bright white stars within it. The lower petal of the nebula is also deep red, appearing more like a triangle with one peak centered at the bottom. That edge peters out into deeper red and becomes more translucent the lower it goes. Below that, a short horizontal line of deep semi-transparent red material appears. There is a prominent orange orb center-left at the top, and a blue one toward the bottom a little farther left.

  4. The Pillars of Creation and the Interplay of Stars and Dust

    Videos
    This scientific visualization explores the iconic Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula and the various ways that stars and dust are intertwined in the process of star formation. In developing the contextual...
    Mosaic of the Pillars of Creation visualization model, composed of 4 rectangular strips oriented 45 degrees clockwise from vertical. Strips alternate between Hubble and Webb views of the visualization model, with each strip labeled: “Hubble” at lower right corners of first and third strips; “Webb” at upper left corners of the second and fourth strips. Webb strips have drop shadows that make it look like they are overlaid on top of larger Hubble image. Mosaic shows 3 vertical structures (pillars) of thick smoke-like material. Pillar edges are glowing, with thin wisps of material moving away into space. In Hubble strips, pillars are dark brown and opaque, on greenish blue background. In Webb strips, pillars are bright orange to brown with a distinct area of bright red at the top of middle pillar. A red star appears at the tip of a peak in the left pillar and the background is deep blue.

  5. ETS Biweekly Meeting November 1, 2023

    Videos
    Guest speaker Allyson Bieryla of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian talked about the Lightsound Project, a solar eclipse sonification tool. Exoplanet Watch citizen scientist Avinash...
    Three images are combined. At left, the top and bottom half are split evenly and show students collaborating at a long table to build a telescope to track exoplanets. At right are metal tools touching two horizontal motherboards on a green backer.

  6. Stephan's Quintet: A Multi-wavelength Exploration

    Sonification | Videos
    This visualization explores the galaxy group Stephan's Quintet by using observations in visible, infrared, and X-ray light. The sequence contrasts images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer...
    Four galaxies appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, and one to the upper left. The galaxies appear to be touching. The galaxies are large relative to the hundreds of much smaller (more distant) galaxies in the background. All four galaxies have bright white cores and have streaks of blue and red. Some of the galaxies are peppered with white dust-like specks. Each galaxy is unique in size, shape, structure, and exact coloring. Scattered across the image, in front of the galaxies, are a number of foreground stars with diffraction spikes: bright white points, each with eight bright lines radiating out from the center.

  7. AstroViz 2023 at AAS 241

    January 8, 2023 Conference

    Clear and powerful visualizations are a critical component of science communications whether the audience is made up of researchers, students, or the public. Today’s astronomy visualizations cover ...

  8. Engage with NASA’s Science Activation Program: Tools for Using NASA Astrophysics in Informal STEM Learning

    January 8, 2023 Workshop

    Would you like to engage with STEM learners in venues such as museums, science centers, planetariums, libraries, and community colleges? Do you work with these audiences already or do you want to reach ...

  9. Astrophysics Variety Hour

    Videos
    How do astronomers find planets beyond our solar system ... without even seeing them? Join host Felicia Day on a lighthearted channel-surfing romp that explores where planets and people came from, and...
    Astrophysics Variety Hour Host Felicia Day

  10. Eta Carinae: The Great Eruption of a Massive Star

    Videos
    Eta Carinae, or Eta Car, is famous for a brilliant and unusual outburst, called the "Great Eruption," observed in the 1840s. This visualization presents the story of that event and examines the...
    Eta Carinae

  11. Ultra Deep Field: Looking Out into Space, Looking Back into Time

    Videos
    This six-minute visual exploration of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field showcases the characteristics and contents of this landmark observation, as well as its four-dimensional nature across both space and time....
    Ultra Deep Field

  12. Zoom to AG Carinae (Frame Sets)

    Videos
    This visualization starts with a wide-view of the Carina constellation and zooms down to the Hubble Space Telescope view of the massive star, AG Carinae. One of the brightest stars in our galaxy, AG Carinae...
    Bright star surrounded by shell of gas and dust

  13. Flight to AG Carinae (Frame Sets)

    Videos
    This visualization starts with the Hubble Space Telescope view of the massive star, AG Carinae. One of the brightest stars in our galaxy, AG Carinae undergoes eruptions that have ejected a small nebula...
    Bright star surrounded by shell of gas and dust

  14. AG Carinae: A Luminous Blue Variable Star (Frame Sets)

    Videos
    This visualization starts with a wide-field view of the Carina constellation and zooms down to the Hubble Space Telescope view of the massive star, AG Carinae. One of the brightest stars in our galaxy,...
    Bright star surrounded by shell of gas and dust

  15. Science Olympiad Astronomy and Solar System Webinars

    Competition Material | Videos
    Science Olympiad is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K–12 science education, increasing interest in science for all students, creating a technologically literate...
    Video still from National Science Olympiad