|
|
   Do you like to do public astronomy outreach education? Do you teach segments of astronomy someplace? Would you just like to learn a little bit more about certain astronomy topics in fun and interesting ways? Then the Outreach and Educator's Corner is the place for you... Warren Rupp Observatory has always been very proud of the fact that we don't charge a fee for our astronomy outreach and astronomy educational programs... and we'd like to keep it that way. We also know that other non-profit organizations and individuals have equally limited budgets, and that's why we'd like to offer some of the best of the best of the things we have for educational materials to you - just as we've received them - donations from the educational sources. All that we'd ask is that you do remember that it took time, effort, comittment and donations by our outreach educators to put these packages together for you and to please donate accordingly so we may continue to offer materials to you! What Will You Find In The Outreach and Educator's Corner?  New for this year! Imagine the Universe DVD-ROM, 15th Edition... This DVD-ROM captures the Imagine the Universe! and StarChild websites, which contain information and resources for grade K-12 teachers and students. It also includes the Astronomy Picture of the Day for the year 2010, and selected APOD pages from previous years for nearly 1000 beautiful astronomy images. This disk also includes the James Webb Space Telescope site. This DVD-ROM is appropriate to distribute to teachers, students, and the general public (all ages). Offered by: HEASARC, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The CDs are aslo offered "al la carte" so if you don't want or need a whole educator's kit, you can just pick up a few CDs of what interests you most.
 New for this year! Sun & Space Weather Multimedia CD
Multimedia CD with presentations, resources, and activities on the Sun and space weather for 3 different groups of grade levels. Offered by: NASA SOHO. These CDs are great for classroom use or outreach programs! If you enjoy solar astronomy, you'll like what you find here. The CDs are will aslo offered "al la carte" as well as in packages with other SOHO materials.
 With many thanks to Steele Hill, NASA and SOHO, we've managed to hang on to a handful of SOHO educational materials that will be of great use to your astronomy outreach and educational efforts. Here you will find posters, 3D postcards, software and more to help you along with your learning and teaching experiences. It has been our great pleasure this year to give these exceptional quality materials out to our Observatory guests and we've reserved these with our educator's in mind. You'll find the SOHO materials as part of the Educator Packages.
 As a member of the NASA Night Sky Network, we've also had the pleasure of receiving a variety of interesting educational materials from NASA as well. There's a wonderful collection of informational sheets, 3D bookmarks, pictorial CDs, and much more. It's been hard to keep some of these things back for our educators - but we've managed to reserve a handful! They'll be available in our Educator Packages.
 WMAP Inflatable Universe Teaching Ball. New for this year! This 12-inch inflatable beach ball portrays the oldest light in the universe. This light was emitted by hydrogen gas 380,000 years after the Big Bang, long before stars and galaxies formed. The patterns in this light trace minute variations in the early gas density (a part in 100,000) and provide valuable information about the age, shape, and composition of our universe. This full-sky map was produced from data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) between 2001 and 2006. It's been hard to keep some of these things back for our educators - but we've managed to reserve a handful! They'll be available in select Educator Packages.
 The Incredible Two-Inch Universe. New for this year! Explore the universe by shrinking cosmic scale in four steps, zooming out from the realm of the Earth to the realm of the galaxies. This activity pamphlet offers hands-on models for investigating the size and scale of astronomical objects and distances in the universe.
Offered by: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics They'll be available in our Educator Packages and a few will be offered seperately. You'll enjoy these great activities with your outreach groups!
 The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. Kepler is NASA's first mission capable of finding Earth-size and smaller planets around other stars. The Kepler Mission, NASA Discovery mission #10, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Thanks to the generosity of NASA and the good folks at Kepler, we've received Kepler educational materials just in time to place in our Educator Packets!
 When the Universe came into existence ~14 billion years ago, the only elements were hydrogen, helium, and traces of lithium, beryllium, and boron. The heavier elements did not yet exist. Heavy elements are produced by nucleosysthesis - the fusion of nuclei deep within the cores of stars. At some point in time, the first stars were formed, and within their cores the fusion process created heavier and heavier elements; the most massive stars produced nuclei as heavy as iron. When the stars used up their nuclear fuel, they started to evolve. The evolutionary processes of stars depend upon their initial mass. Mid-sized stars eject planetary nebulae, leaving a white dwarf core remnant. More massive stars explode as supernovae, leaving neutron stars or black holes at the centers of the supernovae remnants. The elements that were created within the cores of the first stars were ejected into space where they intermingled with the surrounding interstellar medium. This medium -- the gas and dust between the stars -- provides the raw material for the formation of new generations of stars. Eventually, these elements became incorporated into large clouds of gas and dust that condensed and formed protostars. And so the cycle of stellar formation and destruction continues - each new generation further enriching the interstellar medium with heavy elements that become incorporated into the next generation. We are just beginning to understand stellar formation and destruction - and how the Sun, Solar System and life on Earth are connected to this never-ending cycle. Thanks to the good folks at Chandra, we've received our Chandra outreach educational materials in time to include them in our Educator Packets!
Remember, the Outreach and Educator's Corner is a voluntary donation for any materials you choose to select. If your organization doesn't have any money - we understand and we'll happily share. If you're able to give - we'll use your donation towards creating even more outreach and education materials for the future! The future of astronomy outreach and astronomy education is in all of our hands...  |
