This teacher guide provides instructions for using the video - Building the Coolest X-ray Satellite: Astro-E2 - in the classroom. The video describes NASA's development of the X-ray Telescopes and X-ray Spectrometer for the Asro-E2 mission. The telescopes utilize grazing optics to focus X-rays, and the spectrometer determines the energy of an X-ray by measuring the temperature rise in a wafer due ... Full description.

This activity guide illustrates how teachers can use planetary comparisons between Earth and Mars to teach basic geologic activities - i.e. volcanoes, impact cratering, layering, river processes, and crosscutting relationships - to help students understand a planet's history. The lessons included in this activity use current science results, as it contains actual orbital data from the Mars Global ... Full description.

This module involves making a mobile of galaxies. Pattern and instructions are included. It introduces the different shapes of galaxies and their nomenclature. The Space Place is an educational NASA site for children and adults with activities and facts related to the exploration of space. Some activities are computer-interactive and many are real-world-interactive. Full description.

In this program, students learn how NASA researchers study the Sun-Earth connection. Students learn about satellites that monitor the Sun: (Solar & Heliospheric Observatory) SOHO, Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), and Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) and (Highg Energy Solar Spectrostopic Imager) HESSI. They observe NASA researchers using data analysis and measurement ... Full description.

This guide accompanies an educational wallsheet that uses Gamma-ray Bursts as an engagement to teach selected topics in physical science and mathematics. It features four curriculum enhancement activities, background information, assessment information, student worksheets, extension and transfer activities, and detailed information about the physical science and mathematics content standards for grades ... Full description.

This model aims to help illustrate the purpose and methodology of NASA's Kepler mission. It includes (1) a hand-cranked or motorized orrery (moving model of a planet system) made of LEGO parts, (2) a light sensor representing the Kepler photometer, (3) computer software for graphing light curves, representing Kepler Science Office - data analysis. A light bulb at the center of the orrery represents ... Full description.

These short video clips show impact testing, deployment of NASA?s Deep Impact spacecraft after launch and flight of the spacecraft to encounter. They can be viewed and downloaded from the Web site. Full description.

This lithograph features Hubble Space Telescope images and includes text that describes and explains the images. There is also an accompanying inquiry-based classroom activity entitled ?In Search of the Complex Structures of Planetary Nebulae.? This activity is designed to encourage the development of research skills and independent thinking. Available online as well as hardcopy. Educators can access ... Full description.

This webcast features a panel of NASA scientists and engineers discussing the future of extrasolar planet research and the science behind a rare astronomical event: Venus crossing the Sun?s disk for about seven hours on June 8, 2004, an event not seen since 1882. The transit demonstrates a key technique being used to detect planets orbiting stars outside our Solar System. Just as Venus temporarily ... Full description.

This brochure describes the science of NASA's Swift satellite mission. Swift's primary goal is to unravel the mystery of gamma ray bursts. Full description.