![SIlhouette of a figure examining stars with a telescope](/sites/default/files/2023-01/physics%20chapter%20header.jpg)
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.
![Lunar lander floating above the moon, with the Earth in the background](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2022-08/Untitled%20design%20%2812%29.png?itok=tAd3Suzb)
Let's Talk Space Exploration Resources
Backgrounders
Discover a set of resources to develop background knowledge on the topic of space exploration.
![Xiaoyi Bao](/sites/default/files/styles/career_image/public/2022-01/Xiaoyi%20Bao.jpg?itok=Qld9qH62)
Xiaoyi Bao
Professor and Canada Research Chair
![Light bulb and cord in shape of a head](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-11/light_bulb_head.jpg?itok=TahEJFB8)
Light and Sound Inventions that Changed the World
Lessons
Students will explore the societal impacts of inventions involving light and sound.
![Do you see a face in that electric socket? (michaeljmc, iStockPhoto)](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-07/green-wall-with-a-power-socket.jpg?itok=y7Atbmyc)
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!
![The Jodrell Bank Lovell Telescope located in Cheshire, England](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-06/Jodrell_Bank_Lovell_Telescope.jpg?itok=TFL_abQu)
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](/sites/default/files/styles/career_image/public/2020-06/Mahadeo%20Sukhai.jpg?itok=KalcMoxm)
Mahadeo Sukhai
Vice President of Research & International Affairs and Chief Accessibility Officer
![Skyglow from a city and highway](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-06/night_sky_and_highway.jpg?itok=5QVvQWHE)
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.
![Casting hot iron](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-04/casting_hot_iron.jpg?itok=mE6eP_bv)
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.
![Hubble Space Telescope as seen during a servicing mission in 2009](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-02/hubble_space_telescope.jpg?itok=eNoDBFx5)
Airborne & Space Telescopes
Backgrounders
Learn about telescopes that do their work high in Earth’s atmosphere and in space.
![Abstract light pattern](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-02/abstract_light.jpg?itok=MKGdyhIT)
Light and Its Properties
Backgrounders
Learn about light and its properties.
![Large diamond refracting light](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-02/big-round-cut-diamond.jpg?itok=KF0PkwqM)
Reflection and Refraction
Backgrounders
Learn about reflection and refraction and meet Emily Altiere, a PhD student in physics who studies lasers.
![Eyeglasses and a visual test chart](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-02/eyeglasses-on-visual-test-chart.jpg?itok=YSJ1M3Ow)
How We See
Backgrounders
Learn about how human vision works as well as some common types of vision problems.
![Boy looking through telescope at night](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-02/telescope-boy-night.jpg?itok=13zWe-Od)
Optical Telescopes
Backgrounders
Learn about the history of telescopes and the function of refracting and reflecting optical telescopes.
![Radio Telescope array at night](/sites/default/files/styles/resource_card_image_360x300_/public/2020-02/radio-telescope-at-night.jpg?itok=Xj9MDhpb)
Radio Astronomy
Backgrounders
Learn about radio astronomy, a type of astronomy that studies objects in space using radio waves and radio telescopes.