Astronomy

Resources

Light Pollution

Light can be a type of pollution. Learn about the damage it causes to people and living things as well as how you can prevent it.

How can I tell which way is north at night?

Do you like to look at the stars? What can you identify in the night sky? Try finding some important constellations tonight!

Adult and children looking through telescope

The Optics of Telescopes

Learn about telescopes, how they work & why they're important to astronomers.

Airborne & Space Telescopes

Hubble Space Telescope as seen during a servicing mission in 2009 (NASA)

Close-up of the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope

SETI - The Search for extraterrestrial Intelligence

Some astronomers are not looking for stars, planets or galaxies. They are searching for intelligent life in the universe beyond our planet.

Optical Telescopes

Learn about the history of telescopes and the function of refracting and reflecting optical telescopes.

Radio Astronomy

Learn about radio astronomy, a type of astronomy that studies objects in space using radio waves and radio telescopes.

Astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques

Space Videos

Milky Way galaxy as seen from Australia (Brett Ritchie via Unsplash)

The Milky Way

In 2019, scientists discovered that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is not the shape they thought it was. How do astronomers use astronomical distance to understand the shapes of galaxies?

The Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, Australia

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - and How You Can Help!

When astronomers search for extraterrestrial life, they often have to listen for radio waves coming from deep space. If you’re interested, you can help!

An artist’s impression of a habitable exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star

Searching for exoplanets around the star next door

In planetary science, astronomers have found planets that orbit other stars, just like Earth orbits the Sun. Some of them might even be able to support life.

Why is it colder in the winter even though the Earth is closer to the Sun?

Learn why we have seasons in this hands on activity.

What would happen if a meteor hit Earth?

Explore the effects of asteroid impacts in this hands on activity.

Gamma ray image of the Milky Way taken by NASA’s Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope (NASA)

Gamma Rays: Helper or Hazard?

Gamma rays might make you think of cancer, harmful radiation or superheroes. But gamma rays have lots of uses: food safety, manufacturing and even medicine!

Where Can We Find Asteroids and Comets?

This backgrounder explains the difference between planets, dwarf planets and small solar system bodies, such as asteroids and comets.

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