How could you build a refracting telescope using water as the lenses?
Hands-on Activities
Build your own refracting telescope using glasses of water as the lenses.
Let's Talk Space Exploration Resources
Backgrounders
Discover a set of resources to develop background knowledge on the topic of space exploration.
Xiaoyi Bao
Professor and Canada Research Chair
Light and Sound Inventions that Changed the World
Lessons
Students will explore the societal impacts of inventions involving light and sound.
Facial Recognition and the Brain
STEM Explained
Learn how your brain recognizes faces and why you sometimes see them in places they don’t exist!
Telescopes and Astronomy
Backgrounders
Visible light is only part of what astronomers study. They use different types of telescopes to study the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
Mahadeo Sukhai
Vice President of Research & International Affairs and Chief Accessibility Officer
Light Pollution
STEM Explained
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.
What Causes Hot Things to Glow?
STEM Explained
Getting electrons excited by heat can cause certain materials to give off visible light when heated - like filaments in light bulbs.
Airborne & Space Telescopes
Backgrounders
Learn about telescopes that do their work high in Earth’s atmosphere and in space.
Light and Its Properties
Backgrounders
Learn about light and its properties.
Reflection and Refraction
Backgrounders
Learn about reflection and refraction and meet Emily Altiere, a PhD student in physics who studies lasers.
How We See
Backgrounders
Learn about how human vision works as well as some common types of vision problems.
Optical Telescopes
Backgrounders
Learn about the history of telescopes and the function of refracting and reflecting optical telescopes.
Radio Astronomy
Backgrounders
Learn about radio astronomy, a type of astronomy that studies objects in space using radio waves and radio telescopes.