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...

Lucie Green - Astronomer

A Catalyst article describing Lucie Green's work as an astronomer and broadcaster on the Sky at Night programme. The article looks at her education and research career together with information on her work outside of broadcasting.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 19, Issue...

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,...

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...

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...

Galaxy Zoo and the Universe

These two activities, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, involve using the website Galaxy Zoo 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...