Sky Watch

Mouse
over
images

Eco-Pros
Environmental Education on the Web

SKY WATCH

ASTRONOMY

Astronomy - The Solar System

Stars, Galaxies and Cosmology

University of Tennessee Lecture Series

TENTH PLANET DISCOVERED

New discovery in our Solar System!
A "new" planet has been discovered in our Solar System.
Learn more about this cold, dark planet. (NASA)

The discovery of 2003 UB313, the 10th planet
Michael Brown, Planetary Scientist, CalTech
One of the three scientists credited with the discovery

Tenth Planet Found! (Spaceflight Now)

AURORA'S
Awesome, ghostly, alarming!

Auroras: Paintings in the Sky (University of California)
Picture Gallery (Spaceweather.com)
Movie of simultaneous auroras at both poles (NASA)

What travels at "warp speed"
more than 1.5 million miles per hour
(2,000 times the speed of sound)
and rams into Earth's magnetic field without a sound?
SPACE BLOBS

supermassive black hole

I just ate your sound system

Black Hole Surprise

Researchers' first realistic calculations of matter falling into black holes has strongly contradicted many widely-held expectations. They have shown, for instance, that life in the vicinity of a black hole is anything but calm and quiet.
Johns Hopkins University, News Release 3/7/05

The fatal plunge of matter into oblivion

"This is extremely exciting because it's the first time we have seen our own neighborhood supermassive black hole devour a chunk of material."
Click on the Interactive and Video
CNN (9/5/01)

CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY

The world's most powerful X-ray telescope
reveals mysterious, unexpected and shocking images.

CYBERSPACE SIGHTINGS

Curiosity leads to Discovery

ARE WE ALONE?

COSMIC LAWS LIKE SPEED OF LIGHT MIGHT BE CHANGING

AMAZING SPACE
Space Telescope Science Institute's education page. Online activities and tools for educators.
Explore the universe through the Hubble Space Telescope.
How brave are you? A black hole needs to be investigated.
Dare you enter?

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
ROSE CENTER FOR EARTH AND SPACE
Featuring the new HAYDEN PLANETARIUM (the largest and most powerful virtual reality simulator in the world), Cullman Hall of the Universe (Discoveries), Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway (Timeline), Scales of the Universe, and Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth (Earth's dynamic processes). Weekly Space Watch, downloadable desktop backgrounds.

CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY
X-Ray Astronomy. NASA's newest Great Observatory is the world's largest and most sensitive X-ray telescope and a spectacular scientific achievement. Astronomers are astounded by its x-ray images, which are of comparable quality to optical images.
CHANDRA NEWS

CNN TECHNOLOGY/SPACE NEWS

COMETS AND METEOR SHOWERS
Differences between comets, meteors and asteroids. Comet primer, observations, calendar, glossary, information, links and movies.

THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PROJECT
From Goddard Space Flight Center

COSMIC KIDS (NASA SITE)

DISCOVERY SCHOOL'S SKY WATCH

EXPLORATORIUM OBSERVATORY
Astronomy educational site with projects, exhibits and resources.
(A program of the The Exploratorium Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception, San Francisco)

IMAGINE THE UNIVERSE! (NASA)
A cosmic journey of exploration into the mysteries of our universe.
Learn about cosmic objects and find out what mysteries astronomers and astrophysicists are investigating right now.
Special features, satellites and data, exhibits, videos, interactivities,
and resources. Ask a High Energy Astronomer section contains a Library of Past Questions and Answers. (level: age 14 and older)

MARS EXPLORATION
Earth has many bizarre and amazing forms of life; and untold species exist that haven't been discovered yet. Life on Earth requires basic needs that life in non-Earth environments may not need to survive.

Mars for Kids - Travel hundreds of millions of miles and go on a Mars Adventure. Take a Martian tour, and learn more about Mars through classroom challenges, games and activities provided.

MSNBC SPACE NEWS

NASA FOR KIDS
Want to know what to avoid if you ever want to explore space or work for NASA? Explore space - not drugs!
NASA for Kids provides links to sites about Airplanes, Earth, Planets, Space Travel, Stars and Galaxies, and lots more. Also click into links in left frame for Earth Science, Space Science, Educational Resources, and More About NASA.

NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
"To understand and protect our home planet, to explore the Universe and search for life, to inspire the next generation of explorers"

NASA'S LIBRARY
The Aeronautics and Space resource for education.

NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER (NSSDC)
Provides access to a wide variety of information.

SKY AND TELESCOPE
For amateur and professional astronomers. Online information available: Current News, News Archive, AstroAlert, Special Reports, Sky at a Glance, Astronomy Online column, Tips for Stargazers, Imaging, Resources, and Links. Click into this site and find out "what's up?"

SPACE.COM
Science, astronomy, missions/launches, images, maps, virtual tours in space. Space-related news, information, education and entertainment - focusing on mathematics and natural sciences, grades K-12. Browse through links and check out SpaceKids.

SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the astronomical research center responsible for operating the Hubble Space Telescope as an international observatory.

SPACEWEATHER.COM
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment

STAR CHILD (NASA)
A Learning Center for Young Astronomers (grade school level)

STUDENTS FOR THE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE

STUDYING EARTH'S ENVIRONMENT FROM SPACE
Educational site for high school and college instructors and students, developed by NASA.

THE EXPLORATION OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE
Magnetism; Electrons, Ions and Plasmas; Radiation Belts; The Sun and the Solar Wind; Exploring Earthspace; The Dynamic Magnetosphere.
Sequence of topics gives a complete self-contained course if you seek to educate yourself about space. (NASA site)

THE EXTRASOLAR PLANETS ENCYCLOPEDIA ((Harvard)
Astronomers reference material

THE NINE PLANETS
A multi-media tour of the Solar System. Take a scroll down the main page and see what wonderfully interesting information is offered on this site. Then back to the top and start your tour in Introduction. You will see "out-of-this-world" imagery which will transport you out into space. For a quick tour click on Express Tour and then each planet. And when you have more time, come back to this website and scroll down the main page links.

THE NINE PLANETS - JUST FOR KIDS
Bright, beautiful and written for children from the original material on the above site, The Nine Planets. Be sure to visit both Nine Planets sites because you may discover that there really is life out there!

THE WEB NEBULAE
Spectacular images of the universe.

2MASS
Near-infrared images from 2MASS, an all-sky survey. Zillions of stars, galaxies and nebulae. 2MASS uses two new, highly-automated 1.3-m telescopes, one at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, and one at CTIO, Chile. Click on About 2MASS in upper left. See the image gallery.

EARTH OBSERVATORY

The Terra satellite begins a 15-year program to study the Earth's biosphere. This Flagship is the first of a series of satellites of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) program. Terra will orbit the Earth once a day perpendicular to the direction of Earth's spin (north to south - south to north) The spacecraft will collect images using sunlight and heat, which computers will then process into images. Scientists around the world will study and interpret this data to help us learn about global climate change and the total environmental system of Earth.

NASA invites you into the EARTH OBSERVATORY

This is an incredible educational site.
Check out their Library.

We're going in!
You may not see us for a long time

If you were an intelligent being from outer space studying life on our planet,
what would you think of the intelligence of Earth's human beings?
(using the criteria below as a description for "intelligence")

Intelligent: having good judgment, sound thought, ability to solve problems,
ability to understand, guided by intellect
Intelligence: the skilled use of reason (orderly, rational)

Would you think that humanity on Earth is guided, nurtured and governed as a whole by intelligent human beings?

Would you form the opinion that the human beings on Earth are a positive attribute or a detriment to the life-support system of Earth and the biodiversity of species?

Looking at Earth from space, it appears beautiful, life-supporting and peaceful.
With this in mind, can you name some things about humans that might puzzle a friendly visitor from outer space?