The Age of the Universe
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, looks at Hubble’s law, whereby students use real data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to plot a graph from which they can obtain the Hubble constant. Students then look at the possible sources of error in their data and use this to calculate the uncertainty in their value…
Plotting the Rotation Curve of M31
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students use real data, taken from a scientific paper, to plot the rotational curve of M31 (Andromeda), our neighbouring spiral galaxy. They will look at Kepler’s third law to predict the motion of stars around the centre of M31. They will then measure the wavelengths…
3/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Activity sheet
The Rotational Period of the Sun
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, introduces students to ways of combining errors (uncertainties) from two independent measured quantities. Using the equation for Doppler shift, the error in the rotational velocity and time period are calculated. The content of the files are identical, except that one is identified…
Radius and Volume of Exoplanets
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, uses data from NASA’s Kepler space probe to determine the size of an exoplanet, and provides students with an insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the transit method of exoplanet detection. A classroom discussion, before the activity, illustrates the principle…
Kepler's Third Law
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, illustrates Kepler’s Third Law for our own Solar System using graphical methods, with a further look at how the same law can be used to derive information about the orbits of exoplanets around their parent stars. The activity could be extended to allow students to research…
Galaxy Zoo and the Universe
These two activities, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, involve using the Galaxy Zoo website to classify five samples of ten galaxies. The results are recorded in a table and presented in the form of a bar chart for each sample. These can be drawn on paper or plotted using Excel. Students then look at the differences between…
Colour and Wavelength in Space
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students look at the Sun and the Milky Way in different wavelengths. They apply their understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum to astrophysical objects and look at why it is important to use the whole spectrum in astronomy. The images of the Sun are within the document.…
Stellar Sat Nav
In these two activities, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students use bearings to plot constellations. They are then asked to think about what they represent. The Higher Level file has more complex constellations, such as Orion, whereas the basic activity requires students to plot more simple constellations, such as the…
Celestia Navigation
Celestia is a spaceflight simulator that allows you to explore real astronomical data as you fly through space. The majority of content is related to our Solar System. This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, acts as a basic guide and explores the potential of the program with a sample Key Stage Three activity included.…
Drawing Orbits
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, allows students to visualise the orbits of planets as ellipses, rather than circles, and allows for the further study of the geometry of these orbits through basic algebra, using terms derived from the drawing exercise. Depending on student ability, you may choose to assign…
Phases of the Moon
This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, challenges students to explain the phases of the Moon by linking the movement of the Moon around the Earth with our perspective from Earth of light and shadow on the Moon. The two files are identical, apart from the curriculum links stated in the teachers' notes. The…
The Spinning Earth
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students are introduced to the rotating Earth and the concept of longitude. They will carry out simple arithmetic that relates the 24 hour clock with the Earth’s rotation. The questions in the activity require an understanding of angle: one hour being equal to 15 degrees…
Human Sundial
In this activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, students look at their shadow at different times of the day and measure differences in its size and direction. The activity needs to take place in the playground on a sunny day. A compass or an online map can be used to help work out which way is North on the playground before…
Making Shadows
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, looks at how shadows are formed and what affects their size, direction and shape. Students place an object at the centre of a sheet of paper, and use a torch to produce shadows of different length and direction. This activity can be used as an introduction to shadows made by…
Fruit Solar System
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, helps students grasp the various sizes of planets in our Solar System using mostly fruit, with some other items. The class discussion before the activity encourages students to take an educated guess as to which planet each item represents. Equipment per team (multiply as necessary…
Moon Zoo
This activity, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, uses the Citizen Science project ‘Moon Zoo’ to help astronomers identify boulders on the surface of the Moon. There are two activities currently available on the Moon Zoo website: Crater Survey and Boulder Wars. Crater Survey requires much more time on each image…
Daytime Moon Viewing
This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, uses daytime viewing of the Moon to reinforce ideas learned in the classroom about light, shadow and the Moon itself. Advice is given on the best times to view the Moon, and the compulsory and optional equipment needed. By viewing the Moon during the day, students will be…
Futurecade
Futurecade is an innovative interactive suite of games from the Science Museum that allows students to explore how science and technology impacts on their everyday lives. Futurecade’s four games are inspired by current and future technology in the fields of robotics, satellites and space junk, geo-engineering and synthetic…
- 5/5
- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Interactive resource
The Big Bang Lesson
The lesson activities and resources for 'The Big Bang Lesson' are provided here for teachers and lecturers to use in their own schools and colleges. The lesson outline includes links to many of the presentation slides used by Professor Cox in his lesson, and also to clips from Professor Cox's STAR lecture, which…
- 5/5
- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Teacher guidance