Two kids in matching eclipse t-shirts look up at the sky through paper eclipse glasses.

Educational Resources: Astronomy and Astrophysics

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This collection of lessons and web resources is aimed at classroom teachers, their students and students' families. 

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Lessons and activities

Exploring Black Holes

For educators and students (grades K–12)  

Black holes are extremely dense regions of space that are formed from the collapsed cores of massive stars. Their gravity is so strong that nothing — not even light — can escape them. Here you can read the latest news and explore educational materials on black holes.

Milky Way Craft

For educators, parents and students (grades K–12)  

Build a simple electrical circuit that highlights the position of our planet, the Milky Way's center, and two of the Milky Way's prominent spiral arms.

Materials:

  • Legal size (8.5"x14") card stock. Regular 8.5"x11" is OK.
  • Gold-colored copper foil tape, 1/4 inch wide, with double-sided conductivity.
  • 2 light emitting diodes (LEDs) in two different colors (same color is OK). These LEDs should include internal resistors.
  • 1 CR2032 Li-ion cell battery about 1 inch in diameter, +3V.
  • Black electrical tape, 3/4 inch wide.

Instructions:

  1. Print the Milky Way on card stock.
  2. Cut about 15 inches of the fold-colored copper foil tape.
  3. Cut about 1 inch of black electrical tape, 3/4 inch wide.
  4. Follow the instructions on the front of the printed Milky Way card stock.
  5. Push the battery down onto the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way; LEDs will light up.
  6. Discover where you are in the Milky Way!

Model Pulsar

For educators, parents and students (grades K–12)  

Pulsars are super-dense stars that spin extremely fast. They emit beams of electromagnetic radiation from their poles into space, similar to a cosmic lighthouse. This video demonstrates how you can create a model of a pulsar using items you may already have at home.

Solar Eclipse Pinhole Box

For educators, parents and students (grades K–12)  

Create a fun way to safely view a solar eclipse.

Videos

Science for Kids: Exploring Our Solar System

Learn about our solar system, made up of the sun and everything that is gravitationally bound to it, including eight recognized planets.

Science for Kids: What are Comets & Asteroids?

Learn about some of the celestial objects that roam our solar system.

Science for Kids: What is Space Weather?

The sun emits materials that cause space weather. Learn about the sunspots, solar storms and solar flares and how they impact us here on Earth.

Science for Kids: What is a Black Hole?

Black holes are fascinating yet challenging to study because their extreme gravity, so strong light cannot escape, makes them exceptionally difficult to see. Learn what black holes are and how they form.

Kip Thorne Explains Gravitational Waves

The Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist explains what gravitational waves are and how they provide a unique way for us to learn about the universe.

The Stars within Us

Did you know that we are all made of the same things? Explore the origins of the materials that make up our entire universe.

Explore more astronomy and astrophysics videos

Images

Stars on a dark blue background surrounded by clouds of a yellow, red and magenta nebula.
Rosette Nebula: The Rosette Nebula surrounds a young star cluster. The cluster’s stars light up the nebula in vibrant red, gold and purple, and opaque towers of dust rise from the billowing clouds around its core. This image was  captured by the 570-megapixel U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA; image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Download a high-resolution version of the image.
Artist’s impression of a Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient that is unusually far from its host galaxy
Astronomers find a new luminous fast blue optical transient cosmic explosion: Using data from the Gemini South Telescope and other observatories, astronomers found a new luminous fast blue optical transient, a powerful but poorly understood type of cosmic explosion characterized by intense blue light. 

Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Garlick/M. Zamani (Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
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Comparison of EHT and EHT Reconstructed with PRIMO
Original image of M87* supermassive black hole and new enhanced version: A side-by-side comparison shows the original image (left) of the M87* supermassive black hole published by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration in 2019, and a new image (right) developed to enhance the fidelity and sharpness of the radio interferometry images.

Credit: L. Medeiros/Institute for Advanced Study; D. Psaltis/Georgia Tech; T. Lauer/NSF’s NOIRLab; F. Ozel/Georgia Tech (available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
Download a high-resolution version of the image.
A crackly orange surface with jagged spikes surrounding a dark spot.
Highest resolution image of the sun's surface ever taken: This image shows features of the sun’s surface as small as 18 miles (30 kilometers) in size for the first time ever. The image shows a pattern of turbulent, "boiling" gas that covers the entire sun and the tiny, bright markers of magnetic fields. 

Credit: AURA/NSF
Download a high-resolution version of the image.
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