This activity introduces the importance of meteorites to the understanding of the origin of the Solar System. Finding meteorites can be difficult because most meteorites look like Earth rocks to the casual or untrained eye. Even to the trained eye, recognizing meteorites can be difficult. Since scientists believe that some meteorites are pieces of the asteroid Vesta, they may be very old remnants ... Full description.

In this activity, students examine their concepts of a comet by designing and building a model. The goal is to have students replicate the scientific processes of observing, modeling, forming an explanation, making new observations, and revising. In this manner, students have the opportunity to emulate the experience of scientific discovery that makes science so exciting. Younger students will learn ... Full description.

This lithograph contains a Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxies that appear to form the number 10. The text describes the image and provides a brief explanation of why astronomer Halton Arp compiled his catalogue of odd-looking galaxies in the 1960s. The accompanying classroom activity In Search of ? Peculiar Galaxies is a curriculum support tool designed for use as an introductory inquiry activity. ... Full description.

In this activity, students will observe the surface of rotating potatoes to help them understand how astronomers can sometimes determine the shape of asteroids from variations in reflective brightness. When astronomers graph data relating to reflective brightness as a function of time, the resulting graph is called a "light curve." Full description.

This model airplane is designed to resemble the Swift bird, which conveys information about NASA?s Swift gamma-ray burst Explorer mission. Full description.

This story celebrates the 17th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. The anniversary image of the Carina Nebula is described and Hubble?s most significant scientific discoveries are identified. The article is from the Amazing Space science newspaper, The Star Witness, which can be used as a science content reading. Full description.

This story highlights Albert Einstein?s miracle year when he wrote five scientific papers. Connections are made between Einstein?s work and that of the Hubble Space Telescope. The article is from the Amazing Space science newspaper, The Star Witness, which can be used as a science content reading. Full description.

This story explains how the Hubble Space Telescope was used to assist scientists in finding natural resources on the Moon. This information can be used to introduce the idea of using reflected light to identify different materials on the Moon's surface. This selection is an adaptation of the HubbleSite press release: NASA's Hubble Looks for Possible Moon Resources. The article is from the Amazing ... Full description.

This article tells the story of the Deep Impact spacecraft's encounter with comet 9P/Tempel 1. A portion of the spacecraft, the impactor, crashed into the comet and released a storm of material. Scientific words and phrases that might be new to the student are identified and defined. Discussion questions with answers are also available to help focus the student?s attention on important information ... Full description.

This news story celebrates the 15th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. Information about the top ten discoveries made by Hubble is included. This selection was written in conjunction with the HubbleSite press release: Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images. The article is from the Amazing Space science newspaper, The Star Witness, which can be used as ... Full description.