Edu News | August 17, 2023
Spend the School Year With NASA-JPL
Make educational connections to NASA and JPL happenings all year long with this calendar of upcoming events and links to educational resources you can use to explore STEM with us throughout the 2023-2024 school year.
August
All Month – Go Back to School With Us
The start of the school year is a great time to explore all of the resources we have on offer for educators, parents, and K-12 students. These include everything from classroom activities to DIY student projects to video tutorials to expert talks to our Teachable Moments series, which offers education-focused explainers of the latest NASA news.
There's something for every day of the school year, and you can find it all in one place on our Back to School event page. You can also sign up to receive monthly updates about new and featured content as well as upcoming events in your inbox with the JPL Education newsletter.
Learning Resources
- Public Event
Back to School With NASA-JPL Education
All the resources you'll need for a stellar school year from classroom lessons to student activities, challenges, and more!
- Sign Up
JPL Newsletter
Sign up to receive the latest STEM education resources, events, and news for teachers, students, and parents from the education team at JPL.
August 30 – See Supermoons on Parade
Skygazers will have plenty to moon over in August as the second of two supermoons this month graces the sky on August 30.
Make the event a Teachable Moment by dispelling common misconceptions about supermoons and digging into the real science behind the phenomena. Get students acting out moon phases, then have them apply what they've learned to make a Moon phases calendar and calculator. Plus, explore even more classroom activities and DIY projects all about our Moon.
Learning Resources
- Teachable Moments
What’s a Supermoon and Just How Super Is It?
Here’s what you can really expect to see during a supermoon. You don’t have to take our word for it. Get students investigating themselves.
- Collection
Moon Lessons for Educators
Teach students about the Moon with this collection of standards-aligned activities inspired by real NASA missions and science.
- Collection
Moon Activities for Students
Learn all about the Moon with these projects, slideshows, and videos for students.
September
September 24 – Follow Along as Asteroid Samples Arrive on Earth
Samples collected from the surface of an asteroid parachuted down to Earth on September 24, landing about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The samples were collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which gathered the material during a daring descent on asteroid Bennu in 2018. The mission, which marks the first time the U.S. has collected samples from an asteroid, will give scientists an unparalleled, up-close look at remnants from our early solar system.
Follow along with the mission by having students do some of the same math as OSIRIS-REx mission planners. Or, have them do their own asteroid-related experiments. It's also a great opportunity to make connections to another NASA sample-return mission.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Asteroids Lessons for Educators
Explore a collection of standards-aligned lessons all about asteroids and craters.
- Collection
Asteroids Activities for Students
Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about asteroids.
October
October 12 – Join NASA for the Psyche Launch
Did you know we can explore asteroids and other far away objects in the solar system to learn more about the interior of our own planet? That's one of the goals of NASA's Psyche mission, which is slated to launch on October 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is designed to explore an asteroid – also named Psyche – that may be the remnant of a planet's core.
The Psyche spacecraft is one of just a handful of NASA missions throughout history that have used electric propulsion rather than a chemical engine, which means it's also a great opportunity to make connections to real-world examples of motion and forces. Get a primer on all the engineering and science behind the mission from our Teachable Moments series, then explore related lessons and projects.
Learning Resources
- Article
Teachable Moments: Asteroid Mission Aims to Explore Mysteries of Earth's Core
Explore how NASA's Psyche mission aims to help scientists answer questions about Earth and the formation of our solar system.
- Collection
Psyche Lessons for Educators
Explore a collection of standards-aligned lessons related to NASA's Psyche mission.
- Collection
Psyche Activities for Students
Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about asteroids.
October 14 – Catch the Annular Solar Eclipse
October 14 marks the start of another exciting double-feature for skygazers: an annular solar eclipse followed by a total solar eclipse just six months later. In both events, the Sun, Moon, and Earth will align, creating a spectacular sight in the sky. But during the annular solar eclipse on October 14, a ring of sunlight will remain visible around the Moon. This is due to differences in the relative distances between the Sun, Moon, and Earth during the eclipse. In any case, remember to never look directly at the Sun without proper protection, such as certified solar eclipse glasses.
Another fun way to view a solar eclipse is by making a pinhole camera. Students can even use their pinhole cameras to make solar art. Check out our Teachable Moments article for more info on where and when to watch the eclipse, plus a primer on the science of solar eclipses. And explore even more eclipse lessons and activities – including a math puzzler from our NASA Pi Day Challenge.
Learning Resources
- Teachable Moment
The Science of Solar Eclipses and How to Watch With NASA
Get ready for the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023. Learn about the science behind solar eclipses, how to watch safely, and how to engage students in NASA science.
- Student Project
How to Make a Pinhole Camera
Learn how to make your very own pinhole camera to safely see a solar eclipse in action!
- Lesson
Model a Solar Eclipse
Students use simple materials to model a partial, annular, and total solar eclipse.
- Math Problem
Eclipsing Enigma: A ‘Pi in the Sky’ Math Challenge
In this illustrated math problem, students use pi to figure out how much of the Sun’s disk will be covered by the Moon during an eclipse and whether it’s a total or annular eclipse.
Oct. 31 – Dare Mighty Pumpkins
Every Halloween, during an annual contest held at JPL, our engineers join kids and families across the country in the hallowed tradition of pumpkin carving. But these aren't your average jack-o'-lanterns. JPL pumpkins from years past have included a simulated Moon landing, Mars-themed whack-a-mole, and an exploding pumpkin supernova. The event, which takes place during employees' lunch break, gives all-new credence to the Lab's unofficial motto, "Dare Mighty Things." And it's good timing because this Halloween is also JPL's 87th birthday.
Whether history or Halloween are your thing, we've got ways to make educational connections – including a DIY project that gets students daring mighty pumpkins, themselves.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Halloween Activities for Students
Explore student projects and slideshows that put a Halloween twist on STEM.
- For Kids
Halloween Activities and Articles for Kids
Explore Halloween activities from NASA's Space Place, including pumpkin stencils, planet masks, an a scary space slideshow.
- Articles
Teachable Moments: JPL History
Explore key moments in JPL history and how they connect to what students are learning now.
November
All Month – Explore STEM Careers
Take part in National Career Development Month in November by exploring STEM opportunities at NASA and JPL. Students can learn more about careers in STEM and hear directly from scientists and engineers working on NASA missions in our Teaching Space video series. Meanwhile, our news page has more about what it takes to be a NASA astronaut and what it's like to be a JPL intern. You can also explore a collection of stories about NASA people, Women at NASA, and Women at JPL, to learn more about the work they do.
For students already in college and pursuing STEM degrees, it's never too soon to start exploring internship opportunities for the summer. The deadline for JPL summer internships is March 29, so refresh your resume and get your application started now. Learn how to stand out with this article on how to get an internship at JPL – which also includes advice for pre-college students.
Learning Resources
- Expert Talks
Teaching Space With NASA
Hear from experts and education specialists about the latest missions and science happening at NASA and get your questions answered.
- Articles
Career Guidance
Get advice from scientists, engineers and educators about what it takes to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and how to get a foot in the door.
- Articles
Meet JPL Interns
These interns are pushing the boundaries of space exploration and science at the leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system.
- Opportunities
Internships and Jobs at JPL and NASA
Discover exciting opportunities at the leading NASA center for robotic exploration of the solar system.
December
All Month – Send Your Name to Jupiter
Here's a gift idea that doesn't cost a thing: Send a loved one's name to Jupiter with NASA's Europa Clipper mission. December is the last month to add your name to a microchip that will be flown on the spacecraft along with a poem written by the U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. The Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024, is designed to explore Jupiter's ice-covered ocean moon Europa – the newest frontier in our search for life beyond Earth. So don't miss the boat – or, in this case, spacecraft – on this exciting opportunity.
Explore activities students can do in class or over winter break to write their own space poetry and engage in hands-on activities and experiments related to the Europa Clipper mission.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Europa Lessons for Educators
Explore classroom activities to bring the excitement of STEM and NASA's Europa Clipper mission to students.
- Collection
Europa Activities for Students
Learn all about Jupiter's moon Europa with these projects and videos for students.
- Public Event
Send Your Name to Jupiter
Have your name engraved on NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. Plus, explore more ways you can participate with the mission.
- Live Stream
Watch Engineers Build Europa Clipper Live at JPL
Get a live view into the "cleanroom" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where engineers are building the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
All Month – Prepare for the Science Fair
Before you know it, it'll be science fair time. Avoid the stress of science fair prep by getting students organized and thinking about their projects before the winter recess. Start by watching our video series How to Do a Science Fair Project. A scientist and an engineer from JPL walk your students through all the steps they will need to create an original science fair project by observing the world around them and asking questions.
You can also explore our science fair starter pack of lessons and projects to get students generating ideas and thinking like scientists and engineers.
Learning Resources
- Video Series
How to Do a Science Fair Project
Learn all the ins and outs of crafting your very own science fair project.
- Collection
Science Fair Lessons for Educators
Teach students how to craft their own science and engineering fair project with these video tutorials and lessons featuring NASA missions and science.
- Collection
Science Fair Activities for Students
Learn how to design a science and engineering fair project and get inspired with our catalog of student projects featuring NASA missions and science.
January
January 4 - Take a Closer Look at Jupiter's 'Pizza Moon'
Everyone's favorite pizza moon is getting another series of close-ups from NASA's Juno mission. Now that Juno has completed its primary science goals, mission planners are tweaking the spacecraft's orbit to send it past some of Jupiter's most fascinating moons. Io – notable for the more than 150 active volcanoes that splotch its surface like a bubbling cheese pizza – is next on the docket with two planned flybys this school year. Keep an eye on the mission website for updates and images from the first flyby on Dec. 30, 2023 that you can use to engage students before the second flyby on Feb. 3, 2024.
While on the topic of Juno, which holds the title of the most distant solar-powered spacecraft, it's a great opportunity to segue into math lessons involving pi, exponents, and the inverse square law. Or, highlight another record-holder: Rosaly Lopes, the JPL scientist who discovered 71 active volcanoes on Io, for which she was given the 2006 Guiness World Record for her discovery of the most active volcanoes anywhere.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Juno Lessons for Educators
Explore classroom activities to bring the excitement of STEM and NASA's Juno mission to students.
- Collection
Juno Activities for Students
Learn all about NASA's Juno mission with these projects, slideshows, and videos for students.
- Teachable Moments
Cruising to Jupiter: A Powerful Math Lesson
Find out how NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter earned the title of most distant solar-powered spacecraft and how it relates to exponents.
February
February 18 – Learn What's Next for Mars Exploration
February 18 marks three years since NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, sticking the landing on one of the riskiest Red Planet descents to date. While the rover is coring away on Mars, collecting a diverse array of scientifically intriguing samples, mission teams here are busy designing, developing, and testing various devices to bring those samples to Earth. While we've collected samples from other objects in the solar system before (see October's asteroid sample return), this would be the first time we've retrieved samples from another planet. It requires an ambitious plan executed by multiple teams that need to achieve a number of other firsts – including the first launch from another planet.
Get students following along with classroom activities, projects, and challenges that have them apply their coding and collaboration skills to designing their own Mars sample return missions.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Mars Sample Return Lessons for Educators
Explore classroom activities to bring the excitement of STEM and NASA's Mars Sample Return mission to students.
- Collection
Mars Sample Return Activities for Students
Learn all about NASA's Mars Sample Return mission with these projects for students.
- Collection
Mission to Mars Student Challenge
Get K-12 students exploring Mars with NASA scientists, engineers, and the Perseverance rover as they learn all about STEM and design their very own mission to the Red Planet!
- Teachable Moments
NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars
Learn how, why, and what Perseverance will explore on Mars, plus find out about an exciting opportunity for you and your students to join in the adventure!
March
March 7-15 – Take the NASA Pi Day Challenge
There's more than pie to look forward to on March 14 as we'll be releasing an all-new set of Pi Day Challenge math problems involving NASA missions and science. Look for the latest problem set along with links to more resources and ways to celebrate Pi Day with us starting on March 7. You can get a sneak peek with the resources below, which work all year long, even without the slice of pie – although, we wouldn't blame you if you had one anyway.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Pi in the Sky Lessons
Find everything you need to bring the NASA Pi Day Challenge into the classroom, including printable handouts of each illustrated math problem.
- Student Project
NASA Pi Day Challenge
This collection of illustrated math problems gets students using pi like NASA scientists and engineers exploring Earth and space.
- Article
How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?
While you may have memorized more than 70,000 digits of pi, world record holders, a JPL engineer explains why you really only need a tiny fraction of that for most calculations.
- Article
18 Ways NASA Uses Pi
Whether it's sending spacecraft to other planets, driving rovers on Mars, finding out what planets are made of or how deep alien oceans are, pi takes us far at NASA. Find out how pi helps us explore space.
April
April 8 – Watch the Total Solar Eclipse
Time to get some solar eclipse glasses and dig out your pinhole cameras once again – this time for the headliner, a total solar eclipse on April 8. The eclipse will start in the South Pacific Ocean before passing over Mexico and following a diagonal path northeast over the U.S. and Canada. NASA is holding community events across the country where you can hear from speakers and participate in activities. Learn more on the agency's web page for all things solar eclipse.
Whether you're covering eclipse topics for the first time this school year or expanding on learning from October, this solar eclipse is a good time to get students exploring more about the science of eclipses. Start by looking at the five science experiments NASA has funded for the 2024 solar eclipse, then have students investigate solar eclipse science for themselves.
Learning Resources
- Teachable Moment
The Science of Solar Eclipses and How to Watch With NASA
Learn about the science behind solar eclipses, how to watch safely, and how to engage students in NASA science.
- Student Project
How to Make a Pinhole Camera
Learn how to make your very own pinhole camera to safely see a solar eclipse in action!
- Lesson
Model a Solar Eclipse
Students use simple materials to model a partial, annular, and total solar eclipse.
- Math Problem
Eclipsing Enigma: A ‘Pi in the Sky’ Math Challenge
In this illustrated math problem, students use pi to figure out how much of the Sun’s disk will be covered by the Moon during an eclipse and whether it’s a total or annular eclipse.
April 22 - Celebrate Earth Day With NASA
You may not immediately think of Earth science when you think of NASA, but it's a big part of what we do. Earth Day on April 22 is a great time to learn more about our Earth and climate science projects and missions, especially with the much anticipated NISAR mission taking to the skies in 2024 to track minute changes in the planet's surface, including those from natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
Whether you want to focus on Earth’s surface and geology, climate change, extreme weather, or the water budget, we have an abundance of lessons, student projects and Teachable Moments to guide your way.
Learning Resources
- Collection
Earth Lessons for Educators
Discover a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons all about Earth and climate change.
- Collection
Earth Activities for Students
Try these science and engineering projects, watch videos, and explore images all about the planet that we call home.
- Teachable Moments
Climate Change Collection
Explore this collection of Teachable Moments articles to get a primer on the latest NASA Earth science missions, plus find related education resources you can deploy right away!
May
May 6-10 – Give Thanks to Teachers and Black Holes
It may not seem like there's much to be gained from the dual programming of Black Hole Week and Teacher Appreciation Week on May 6-10, but sending students off to learn more about everyone's favorite spacely phenomenon might just give teachers the breather they deserve after a busy school year.
Have students dig into the science of black holes or even try out an experiment to learn how a black hole collision helped prove the existence of gravitational waves. Meanwhile, teachers can learn about all the ways their work has inspired us.
Learning Resources
- Slideshow
Black Holes: By the Numbers
What are black holes and how do they form?
- Lesson
Dropping In With Gravitational Waves
Students develop a model to represent the collision of two black holes, the gravitational waves that result and the waves' propagation through spacetime.
- Articles
Teachable Moments: Black Holes
Learn about the latest discoveries in black hole science and how to make connections to what students are learning.
- Share
Thank You, Teachers!
Employees at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory give thanks to the teachers who helped them reach for the stars.
All Month – Launch Into Summer
Speaking of black holes, don't let students' learning fall into one as the summer gets into full swing. Send them off with links to these DIY summer projects. There's even more for parents and families on our Learning Space With NASA at Home page, which also has information to help direct students' learning during out-of-school time.
Learning Resources
- Student Resources
Summer Activities for Students
Explore Earth and space with these hands-on projects, slideshows, videos, and more for K-12 students.
- Student Resources
Learning Space With NASA
Explore space and science activities you can do with NASA at home. Find video tutorials, DIY projects, slideshows, games and more!
TAGS: Teachers, Classroom, Lessons, Educators, K-12, Parents, Students, Resources
Teachable Moments | August 16, 2023
Asteroid Mission Aims to Explore Mysteries of Earth's Core
Explore how NASA's Psyche mission aims to help scientists answer questions about Earth and the formation of our solar system. Then, make connections to STEM learning in the classroom.
NASA is launching a spacecraft in October 2023 to visit the asteroid Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid. The mission with the same name, Psyche, will study the asteroid, which is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, to learn more about our solar system, including the core of our own planet.
Read more to find out what we will learn from the Psyche mission. Get to know the science behind the mission and follow along in the classroom using STEM teaching and learning resources from NASA.
Why It's Important

This illustration depicts the 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | + Expand image
Asteroids are thought to be rocky remnants that were left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Of the more than 1.3 million known asteroids in our solar system, Psyche’s metallic composition makes it unique to study. Ground-based observations indicate that Psyche is a giant metal-rich asteroid about one-sixteenth the diameter of Earth’s Moon and shaped like a potato. Scientists believe it might be the partial nickel-iron core of a shattered planetesimal – a small world the size of a city that is the first building block of a planet. Asteroid Psyche could offer scientists a close look at the deep interiors of planets like Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, which are hidden beneath layers of mantle and crust.
We can’t see or measure Earth’s core directly – it is more than 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) below the surface and we have only been able to drill about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) deep with current technology. The pressure at Earth’s core measures about three million times the pressure of the atmosphere at the surface, and the temperature of Earth’s core is about 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,000 degrees Celsius), so even if we could get science instruments there, the hostile conditions would make operations practically impossible. The Psyche asteroid may provide information that will allow us to better understand Earth’s core, including its composition and how it was created. The asteroid is the only known place in our solar system where scientists might be able to examine the metal from the core of a planetesimal.
The Psyche mission's science goals are to understand a previously unexplored building block of planet formation (iron cores); to explore a new type of world; and to look inside terrestrial planets, including Earth, by directly examining the interior of one of these planetary building blocks, which otherwise could not be seen. The science objectives that will help scientists meet these goals include determining if asteroid Psyche is actually leftover core material, measuring its composition, and understanding the relative age of Psyche's surface regions. The mission will also study whether small metal-rich bodies include the same light elements that are hypothesized to exist in Earth's core, determine if Psyche was formed under similar or different conditions than Earth's core, and characterize Psyche's surface features.
How It Will Work
The Psyche mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Psyche’s solar arrays are designed to work in low-light conditions because the spacecraft will be operating hundreds of millions of miles from the Sun. The twin plus-sign shaped arrays will deploy and latch into place about an hour after launch from Earth in a process that will take seven minutes for each wing. With the arrays fully deployed, the spacecraft will be about the size of a singles tennis court. The spacecraft’s distance from the Sun will determine the amount of power it can generate. At Earth, the arrays will be able to generate 21 kilowatts, which is enough electricity to power three average U.S. homes. While at asteroid Psyche, the arrays will produce about two kilowatts, which is a little more than what is needed to power a hair dryer.

An illustration of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft and its vast solar arrays. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | + Expand image

At left, xenon plasma emits a blue glow from an electric Hall thruster identical to those that will propel NASA's Psyche spacecraft to the main asteroid belt. On the right is a similar non-operating thruster. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + View image and details
The spacecraft will rely on the launch vehicle’s large chemical rocket engines to blast off the launchpad and escape Earth’s gravity, but once in space, the Psyche spacecraft will travel using solar-electric propulsion. Solar-electric propulsion uses electricity from the solar arrays to power the spacecraft’s journey to asteroid Psyche. For fuel, Psyche will carry tanks full of xenon, the same neutral gas used in car headlights and plasma TVs. The spacecraft’s four thrusters – only one of which will be on at any time – will use electromagnetic fields to accelerate and expel charged atoms, or ions, of that xenon. As those ions are expelled, they will create thrust that gently propels Psyche through space, emitting blue beams of ionized xenon. The thrust will be so gentle that it will exert about the same amount of pressure you’d feel holding three quarters in your hand, but it’s enough to accelerate Psyche through deep space. You can read more about ion propulsion in this Teachable Moment.
The spacecraft, which will travel 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) over nearly 6 years to reach its destination, will also use the gravity of Mars to increase its speed and to set its trajectory, or path, to intersect with asteroid Psyche’s orbit around the Sun. It will do this by entering and leaving the gravitational field of Mars, stealing just a little bit of kinetic energy from Mars’ orbital motion and adding it to its own. This slingshot move will save propellant, time, and expense by providing a trajectory change and speed boost without using any of the spacecraft’s onboard fuel.
Upon arrival at Psyche, the spacecraft will spend 26 months making observations and collecting data as it orbits the asteroid at different altitudes. Unlike many objects in the solar system that rotate like a spinning top, the asteroid Psyche rotates on its side, like a wheel. Mission planning teams had to take this unique characteristic into account in planning the spacecraft's orbits. The different orbits will provide scientists with ideal lighting for the spacecraft's cameras and they will enable the mission to observe the asteroid using different scientific instruments onboard.
The spacecraft will map and study Psyche using a multispectral imager, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a magnetometer, and a radio instrument (for gravity measurement). During its cruise to the asteroid, the spacecraft will also test a new laser communication technology called Deep Space Optical Communication, which encodes data in photons at near-infrared wavelengths instead of radio waves. Using light instead of radio allows the spacecraft to send more data back and forth at a faster rate.
Follow Along
Psyche is scheduled to launch no sooner than October 5, 2023 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Tune in to watch the launch on NASA TV.
Visit the mission website to follow along as data are returned and explore the latest news, images, and updates about this mysterious world.
Teach It
The Psyche mission is a great opportunity to engage students with hands-on learning opportunities. Explore these lessons and resources to get students excited about the STEM involved in the mission
Resources for Teachers
- Collection
Psyche Lessons for Educators
Explore a collection of standards-aligned lessons related to NASA's Psyche mission.
- Collection
Asteroids Lessons for Educators
Explore a collection of standards-aligned lessons all about asteroids and craters.
- Article
Teachable Moments: How NASA Studies and Tracks Asteroids Near and Far
Studying the chemical and physical properties, as well as the location and motion of asteroids, is vital to helping us understand how the sun, planets and other solar system bodies came to be. This article explores how NASA studies and tracks asteroids.
- Expert Talk
Teaching Space With NASA: Tracking Asteroids
In this educational talk, NASA experts will discuss how we track and study comets and asteroids. Plus, we'll answer your questions!
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Activities for Students
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Psyche Activities for Students
Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about asteroids.
- Collection
Asteroids Activities for Students
Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about asteroids.
Explore More
Resources for Kids
Check out these related resources for kids from NASA Space Place:
- Article for Kids: Asteroid or Meteor: What's the Difference?
- Article for Kids: What Is an Asteroid?
- Article for Kids: Why Does the Moon Have Craters?
- Article for Kids: What Is an Impact Crater?
Websites
Articles
Images
Videos
Interactives
Printouts
- Print a 3D Model of the Psyche Spacecraft
- Create a Psyche Lego Model
- Create a Model of the Psyche Asteroid
TAGS: Teachers, Classroom, Lessons, Educators, K-12, Parents, Students, Resources, Asteroid TM, Psyche
Teachable Moments | July 24, 2023
Exploring the Mystery of Our Expanding Universe
Learn about a new mission seeking to understand some of the greatest mysteries of our universe, and explore hands-on teaching resources that bring it all down to Earth.
Scientists may soon uncover new insights about some of the most mysterious phenomena in our universe with the help of the newly launched Euclid mission. Built and managed by the European Space Agency, Euclid will use a suite of instruments developed, in part, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to explore the curious nature of dark energy and dark matter along with their role in the expansion and acceleration of our universe.
Read on to learn how the Euclid mission will probe these cosmological mysteries. Then, find out how to use demonstrations and models to help learners grasp these big ideas.
Why It’s Important
No greater question in our universe promotes wonder in scientists and non-scientists alike than that of the origin of our universe. The Euclid mission will allow scientists to study the nearly imperceptible cosmic components that may hold exciting answers to this question.
Edwin Hubble's observations of the expanding universe in the 1920s marked the beginnings of what's now known as the big-bang theory. We've since made monumental strides in determining when and how the big bang would have taken place by looking at what's known as cosmic background radiation using instruments such as COBE and WMAP in 1989 and 2001, respectively. However, there's one piece of Hubble's discovery that still has scientists stumped: our universe is not only expanding, but as scientists discovered in 1998, that expansion is also accelerating.
This side by side comparison shows a constant rate of expansion of the universe, represented by the expanding sphere on the left, and an accelerating rate of expansion of the universe, represented by the expanding sphere on the right. Each dot on the spheres represents a galaxy and shows how galaxies move apart from each other faster in the universe that has an accelerating rate of expansion. | Watch on YouTube
How can this be? It makes intuitive sense that, regardless of the immense force of the big bang that launched all matter across the known universe 13.8 billion years ago, that matter would eventually come to a rest and possibly even start to collapse. Instead, it's as if we've dropped a glass onto the ground and discovered that the shards are flying away from us faster and faster into perpetuity.

An illustrated timeline of the universe. Credit: WMAP | + Expand image
Scientists believe that answers may lie in two yet-to-be-understood factors of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is unlike the known matter we experience here on Earth, such as what's found on the periodic table. We can't actually see dark matter; we can only infer its presence. It has mass and therefore gravity, making it an attractive force capable of pulling things together. Amazingly, dark matter makes up roughly 27% of the known universe compared with the much more modest 5% of "normal matter" that we experience day to day. However, dark matter is extremely dilute throughout the universe with concentrations of 105 particles per cubic meter.
This animated pie chart shows rounded values for the three known components of the universe: visible matter (5%), dark matter (27%), and dark energy (68%). Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center | › Full video and caption
In opposition to the attractive force of dark matter, we have dark energy. Dark energy is a repulsive force and makes up roughly 68% of energy in the known universe. Scientists believe that the existence of dark energy and the amount of repulsion it displays compared with dark matter is what's causing our universe to not only expand, but also to expand faster and faster.
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, a senior project scientist with the Hubble Space Telescope mission, explains how the mission has been helping scientists learn more about dark energy. Credit: NASA Goddard | Watch on YouTube
But to truly understand this mysterious force and how it interacts with both dark matter and normal matter, scientists will have to map barely detectable distortions of light traversing the universe, carefully measuring how that light changes over time and distance in every direction. As JPL Astrophysicist Jason Rhodes explains, “Dark energy has such a subtle effect that we need to survey billions of galaxies to adequately map it.”
And that's where Euclid comes in.
How It Works
The European Space Agency and NASA each contributed to the development of the Euclid mission, which launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 1. The spacecraft consists of a 1.2-meter (48-inch) space telescope and two science instruments: an optical camera and a near-infrared camera that also serves as a spectrometer. These instruments will provide a treasure trove of data for scientists of numerous disciplines, ranging from exoplanet hunters to cosmologists.

Light waves get stretched as the universe expands similar to how this ink mark stretches out as the elastic is pulled. Get students modeling and exploring this effect with this standards-aligned math lesson. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

This graphic illustrates how cosmological redshift works and how it offers information about the universe’s evolution. Credit: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI) | › Full image and caption
As Gisella de Rosa at the Space Telescope Science Institute explains, “The ancillary science topics we will be able to study with Euclid range from the evolution of the objects we see in the sky today to detecting populations of galaxies and creating catalogs for astronomers. The data will serve the entire space community.”
The cameras aboard Euclid will operate at 530-920 nanometers (optical light) and at 920-2020 nanometers (near infrared) with each boasting more than 576 million and 65 million pixels, respectively. These cameras are capable of measuring the subtle changes to the light collected from celestial objects and can determine the distances to billions of galaxies across a survey of 15,000 square degrees – one-third of the entire sky.
Meanwhile, Euclid's spectrometer will collect even more detailed measurements of the distance to tens of millions of galaxies by looking at redshift. Redshift describes how wavelengths of light change ever so slightly as objects move away from us. It is a critical phenomenon for measuring the speed at which our universe is expanding. Similar to the way sound waves change as a result of the Doppler effect, wavelengths of light are compressed to shorter wavelengths (bluer) as something approaches you and extended to longer wavelengths (redder) as it moves away from you. As determined by a Nobel Prize winning team of astronomers, our universe isn’t just red-shifting over time, distant objects are becoming redder faster.
Euclid will measure these incredibly minuscule changes in wavelength for objects near and far, providing an accurate measurement of how the light has changed as a factor of time and distance and giving us a rate of acceleration of the universe. Furthermore, Euclid will be able to map the relative densities of dark matter and normal matter as they interact with dark energy, creating unevenly distributed pockets of more attractive forces. This will allow scientists to identify minute differences in where the universe is expanding by looking at the way that light is altered or "lensed."
The multi-dimensional maps created by Euclid – which will include depth and time in addition to the height and width of the sky – will inform a complementary mission already in development by NASA, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Launching in 2026, this space telescope will look back in time with even greater detail, targeting areas of interest provided by Euclid. The telescope will use instruments with higher sensitivity and spatial resolution to peer deeper into redshifted and faint galaxies, building on the work of Euclid to look farther into the accelerating universe. As Caltech’s Gordon Squires describes it: “We’re trying to understand 90% of our entire universe. Both of these telescopes will provide essential data that will help us start to uncover these colossal mysteries.”
Teach It
The abstract concepts of the scope and origin of our universe and the unimaginable scale of cosmology can be difficult to communicate to learners. However, simple models and simulations can help make these topics more tangible. See below to find out how, plus explore more resources about our expanding universe.Resources
- Educator Guide
Model the Expanding Universe
Students learn about the role of dark energy and dark matter in the expansion of the universe, then make a model using balloons.
Subject Science
Grades 6-12
Time 30-60 mins
- Educator Guide
How Do We See Dark Matter?
Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.
Subject Science
Grades 6-12
Time Less than 30 mins
- Educator Guide
Math of the Expanding Universe
Students will learn about the expanding universe and the redshift of lightwaves, then perform their own calculations with a distant supernova.
Subject Science
Grades 9-12
Time 30-60 mins
- Collection
ViewSpace: Dark Energy Videos
Use this collection of short videos to introduce learners to the concept of dark energy.
- Collection
ViewSpace: Dark Matter Videos
Use this collection of short videos to introduce learners to the concept of dark matter.
- Science Briefing
Hubble Constant Discrepancies: Implications for Our Expanding Universe
Hear experts discuss how the rate of the universe is measured in different cosmological epochs and what the differences in those measures can tell us.
- Game
Roman Space Observer
How many astrophysical objects can you catch?
Explore More
- Article for Kids: What Is a Supernova?
- Article for Kids: What Is Dark Matter?
- Article: What Is Dark Energy?
- Article: Gravitational Lensing - Shining a Light on Dark Matter
- Facts & Figures: Euclid Mission - NASA
- Facts & Figures: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
NASA's Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
TAGS: K-12 Education, Teaching, Teachers, Educators, Resources, Universe, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Euclid, Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Universe of Learning
Teachable Moments | December 8, 2022
NASA Mission Takes a Deep Dive Into Earth's Surface Water
Explore how and why the SWOT mission will take stock of Earth's water budget, what it could mean for assessing climate change, and how to bring it all to students.
Update: Dec. 15, 2022 – NASA, the French space agency, and SpaceX are now targeting 3:46 a.m. PST (6:46 a.m. EST) on Friday, Dec.16, for the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. Visit NASA's SWOT launch blog for the latest updates.
NASA is launching an Earth-orbiting mission that will map the planet’s surface water resources better than ever before. Scheduled to launch on Dec. 16 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT mission is the latest international collaboration designed to monitor and report on our home planet. By providing us with a highly detailed 3D view of rivers, lakes, and oceans, SWOT promises to improve our understanding of Earth’s water cycle and the role oceans play in climate change, as well as help us better respond to drought and flooding.
Read on to find out why we're hoping to learn more about Earth's surface water, get to know the science behind SWOT's unique design, and follow along with STEM teaching and learning resources.
Why It's Important
Observing Earth from space provides scientists with a global view that is important for understanding the whole climate system. In the case of SWOT, we will be able to monitor Earth’s surface water with unprecedented detail and accuracy. SWOT will provide scientists with measurements of water volume change and movement that will inform our understanding of fresh water availability, flood hazards, and the mechanisms of climate change.
Scientists and engineers provide an overview of the SWOT mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | Watch on YouTube
Water Flow
Scientists use a variety of methods to track Earth’s water. These include stream and lake gauges and even measurements from space such as sea surface altimetry and gravitational measurements of aquifer volumes. Monitoring of river flow and lake volume is important because it can tell us how much freshwater is readily available and at what locations. River flow monitoring can also help us make inferences about the downstream environmental impact. But monitoring Earth’s surface water in great detail with enough frequency to track water movement has proven challenging. Until now, most monitoring of river flow and lake levels has relied on water-flow and water-level gauges placed across Earth, which requires that they be accessible and maintained. Not all streams and lakes have gauges and previous space-based altimetry and gravitational measurements, though useful for large bodies of water, have not been able to adequately track the constant movement of water through smaller rivers or lakes.
Here's why understanding Earth’s "water budget" is an important part of understanding our planet and planning for future water needs.
SWOT will be able to capture these measurements across the globe in 3D every 21 days. The mission will monitor how much water is flowing through hundreds of thousands of rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) and keep a close watch on the levels of more than a million lakes larger than 15 acres (6 hectares). Data from the mission will be used to create detailed maps of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs that will enable accurate monitoring to provide a view of freshwater resources that is not reliant on physical access. Meanwhile, SWOT’s volumetric measurements of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs will help hydrologists better track drought and flooding impacts in near-real-time.
Coastal Sea Level Rise
SWOT will measure our oceans with unprecedented accuracy, revealing details of ocean features as small as 9 miles (15 kilometers) across. SWOT will also monitor sea levels and tides. Though we have excellent global sea level data, we do not have detailed sea level measurements near coastlines. Coastal sea levels vary across the globe as a result of ocean currents, weather patterns, land changes, and other factors. Sea levels are rising faster than ever, and higher sea levels also mean that hurricane storm surges will reach farther inland than ever before, causing substantially more damage than the same category of hurricanes in the past. SWOT will be able to monitor coastal sea level variations and fill gaps in the observations we currently have from other sources.
What is sea level rise and what does it mean for our planet? | › View Transcript
Ocean Heat Sinks
Further contributing to our understanding of the role Earth’s oceans play in climate change, SWOT will explore how the ocean absorbs atmospheric heat and carbon, moderating global temperatures and climate change. Scientists understand ocean circulation on a large scale and know that ocean currents are driven by temperature and salinity differences. However, scientists do not currently have a good understanding of fine-scale ocean currents, where most of the ocean's motion-related energy is stored and lost. Circulation at these fine scales is thought to be responsible for transporting half of the heat and carbon from the upper ocean to deeper layers. Such downward ocean currents have helped to mitigate the decades-long rise in global air temperatures by absorbing and storing heat and carbon away from the atmosphere. Knowing more about this process is critical for understanding the mechanisms of global climate change.
JPL scientist Josh Willis uses a water balloon to show how Earth's oceans are absorbing most of the heat being trapped on our warming world. | › Related lesson
These fine-scale ocean currents also transport nutrients to marine life and circulate pollutants such as crude oil and debris. Understanding nutrient transport helps oceanographers assess ocean health and the productivity of fisheries. And tracking pollutants aids in natural hazard assessment, prediction, and response.
How It Works
A joint effort between NASA and the French space agency – with contributions from the Canadian and UK space agencies – SWOT will continue NASA’s decades-long record of monitoring sea surface height across the globe. But this mission will add a level of detail never before achieved.
SWOT will measure more than 90% of Earth’s surface water, scanning the planet between 78°N latitude and 78°S latitude within 1 centimeter of accuracy and retracing the same path every 21 days. Achieving this level of accuracy from a spacecraft height of 554 miles (891 kilometers) requires that the boom using radar to measure water elevation remain stable within 2 microns – or about 3% of the thickness of a human hair.
This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007. With its new, high resolution wide-swath measurements, SWOT will be able to observe eddies and current features at greater resolution than previously possible. Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | Watch on YouTube
Prior to SWOT, spacecraft have used conventional nadir, or straight-down, altimetry to measure sea surface height. Conventional nadir altimetry sends a series of radar or laser pulses down to the surface and measures the time it takes for each signal to return to the spacecraft, thus revealing distances to surface features. To acquire more detailed information on surface water, SWOT will use an innovative instrument called the Ka-band Radar Interferometer, or KaRIn, to measure water height with exceptional accuracy. Ka-band is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. SWOT uses microwaves because they can penetrate clouds to return data about water surfaces.

SWOT will track Earth's surface water in incredible detail using an innovative instrument called the Ka-band Radar Interferometer, or KaRIn. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image
The KaRIn instrument uses the principles of synthetic aperture radar combined with interferometry to measure sea surface height. A radar signal is emitted from the end of the 10-meter-wide boom on the spacecraft. The reflected signal is then received by antennas on both ends of the boom, capturing data from two 30-mile (50-kilometer) wide swaths on either side of the spacecraft. The received signals will be slightly out of sync, or phase, from one another because they will travel different distances to return to the receivers on either end of the boom. Knowing the phase difference, the distance between the antennas, and the radar wavelength allows us to calculate the distance to the surface.

Radar signals bounced off the water’s surface will be received by antennas on both ends of SWOT's 10-meter-wide boom. The received signals will be slightly out of phase because they will travel different distances as they return to the receivers. Scientists use this phase difference and the radar wavelength to calculate the distance to the surface. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image
The observations acquired by the two antennas can be combined into what is known as an interferogram. An interferogram is a pattern of wave interference that can reveal more detail beyond the 1-centimeter resolution captured by the radar. To explain how it works, we'll recall a couple of concepts from high school physics. When out-of-phase waves from the two antennas are combined, constructive and destructive interference patterns result in some wave crests being higher and some wave troughs being lower than those of the original waves. The patterns that result from the combination of the waves reveal more detail with resolution better than the 1-centimeter wavelength of the original Ka-band radar waves because the interference occurs over a portion of a wavelength. An interferogram can be coupled with elevation data to reveal a 3D representation of the water’s surface.

The KaRIn instrument illuminates two parallel tracks of approximately 50 kilometres on either side of a nadir track from a traditional altimeter. The signals are received by two antennas 10 metres apart and are then processed to yield interferometry measurements. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image
This highly accurate 3D view of Earth’s surface water is what makes SWOT so unique and will enable scientists to more closely monitor the dynamics of the water cycle. In addition to observing ocean currents and eddies that will inform our understanding of the ocean’s role in climate change, SWOT's use of interferometry will allow scientists to track volumetric changes in lakes and quantify river flooding, tasks that cannot yet be done on a wide scale in any other way.

This interferogram was captured by the air-based UAVSAR instrument of the magnitude 7.2 Baja California earthquake of April 4, 2010. The interferogram is overlaid atop a Google Earth image of the region. Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS/Google | › Learn more
Follow Along
SWOT is scheduled to launch no earlier than Dec. 16, 2022, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Tune in to watch the launch on NASA TV.
After launch, the spacecraft will spend 6-months in a calibration and validation phase, during which it will make a full orbit of Earth every day at an altitude of 553 miles (857 kilometers). Upon completion of this phase, SWOT will increase its altitude to 554 miles (891 kilometers) and assume a 21-day repeat orbit for the remainder of its mission.
Visit the mission website to follow along as data are returned and explore the latest news, images, and updates as SWOT provides a new view on one of our planet's most important resources.
Teach It
The SWOT mission is the perfect opportunity to engage students in studying Earth’s water budget and water cycle. Explore these lessons and resources to get students excited about the STEM involved in studying Earth’s water and climate change from space.
Educator Resources
- Collection
SWOT Mission Lessons for Educators
Explore the science and engineering behind the SWOT mission with this collection of standards-aligned lessons all about water.
- Collection
Climate Change Lessons for Educators
Explore a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons for students that get them investigating climate change along with NASA.
- Collection
Teachable Moments in Climate Change
Explore this collection of Teachable Moments articles to get a primer on the latest NASA Earth science missions, plus find related education resources you can deploy right away!
- Expert Talk
Teaching Space With NASA – Monitoring Earth from Space
In this educational talk, NASA experts discuss how we build spacecraft to study climate, then answer audience questions.
Student Activities
- Collection
SWOT Mission Activities for Students
Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about the water cycle and sea level rise.
- Collection
Climate Change Activities for Students
Learn about climate change and its impacts with these projects, videos, and slideshows for students.
- Collection
Earth Minute Video Series
This series of animated white-board videos for students of all ages explains key concepts about Earth science, missions, and climate change.
Explore More
Activities for Kids
- Download: SWOT Launch Bingo
- Video: How Much Water is on Earth?
- Game: Go With the Flow – An Ocean Currents Game
Websites
- SWOT Mission Website
- NASA Climate Change
- NASA Earth Observatory
- NASA Climate Kids
- NASA Sea Level Change
- NASA Cambio Climático en Español
Facts & Figures
Videos
Interactives
Image Gallery
Articles
- Climate articles from NASA
- Ask NASA Climate
- NASA People - Earth
- Water Mission to Gauge Alaskan Rivers on Front Lines of Climate Change
Podcast
TAGS: K-12 Education, Teachers, Educators, Earth Science, Earth, Climate Change, Climate, Satellites, Teachable Moments
Teachable Moments | October 20, 2022
The Science Behind NASA's First Attempt at Redirecting an Asteroid
Find out more about the historic first test, which could be used to defend our planet if a hazardous asteroid were discovered. Plus, explore lessons to bring the science and engineering of the mission into the classroom.
Update: Oct. 20, 2022 – The DART spacecraft successfully impacted the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, reducing the period of the asteroid's orbit by 32 minutes. Scientists considered a change of 73 seconds to be the minimum amount for success. This article has been updated to reflect the latest data and images from the impact.
In a successful attempt to alter the orbit of an asteroid for the first time in history, NASA crashed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, 2022. The mission, known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, took place at an asteroid that posed no threat to our planet. Rather, it was an ideal target for NASA to test an important element of its planetary defense plan.
Read further to learn about DART, how it worked, and how the science and engineering behind the mission can be used to teach a variety of STEM topics.
Why It's Important
The vast majority of asteroids and comets are not dangerous, and never will be. Asteroids and comets are considered potentially hazardous objects, or PHOs, if they are 100-165 feet (30-50 meters) in diameter or larger and their orbit around the Sun comes within five million miles (eight million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit. NASA's planetary defense strategy involves detecting and tracking these objects using telescopes on the ground and in space. In fact, NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, or CNEOS, monitors all known near-Earth objects to assess any impact risk they may pose. Any relatively close approach is reported on the Asteroid Watch dashboard.

NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office runs a variety of programs and initiatives aimed at detecting and responding to threats from potentially hazardous objects, should one be discovered. The DART mission is one component and the first mission being flown by the team. Image credit: NASA | + Expand image
While there are no known objects currently posing a threat to Earth, scientists continue scanning the skies for unknown asteroids. NASA is actively researching and planning for ways to prevent or reduce the effects of a potential impact, should one be discovered. The DART mission was the first test of such a plan – in this case, whether it was possible to divert an asteroid from its predicted course by slamming into it with a spacecraft.
Eyes on Asteroids is a real-time visualization of every known asteroid or comet that is classified as a near-Earth object, or NEO. Asteroids are represented as blue dots and comets as shown as white dots. Use your mouse to explore the interactive further and learn more about the objects and how we track them. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | Explore the full interactive
With the knowledge gained from the demonstration, similar techniques could be used in the future to deflect an asteroid or comet away from Earth if it were deemed hazardous to the planet.
How It Worked
With a diameter of about 525 feet (160 meters) – the length of 1.5 football fields – Dimorphos is the smaller of two asteroids in a double-asteroid system. Before DART's impact, Dimorphos orbited the larger asteroid called Didymos (Greek for "twin"), every 11 hours and 55 minutes.

The sizes of the two asteroids in the Didymos system relative to objects on Earth. Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL | + Expand image
Neither asteroid poses a threat to our planet, which is one reason why this asteroid system was the ideal place to test asteroid redirection techniques. At the time of DART's impact, the asteroid pair was 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) away from Earth as they traveled on their orbit around the Sun.
The DART spacecraft was designed to collide head-on with Dimorphos to alter its orbit, shortening the time it takes the small asteroid to travel around Didymos. Compared with Dimorphos, which has a mass of about 11 billion pounds (five billion kilograms), the DART spacecraft was light. It weighed just 1,210 pounds (550 kilograms) at the time of impact. So how did such a light spacecraft affect the orbit of a relatively massive asteroid?
You can use your mouse to explore this interactive view of DART's impact with Dimorphos from NASA's Eyes on the Solar System. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | Explore the full interactive
DART was designed as a kinetic impactor, meaning it transferred its momentum and kinetic energy to Dimorphos upon impact, altering the asteroid's orbit in return. Scientists were able to make predictions about some of these effects thanks to principles described in Newton's laws of motion.
Newton’s first law told us that the asteroid’s orbit would remain unchanged until something acted upon it. Using the formula for linear momentum (p = m * v), we could calculate that the spacecraft, which at the time of impact would be traveling at 3.8 miles (6.1 kilometers) per second, would have about 0.5% of the asteroid’s momentum. The momentum of the spacecraft may seem small in comparison, but calculations suggested it would be enough to make a detectable change in the speed of Dimorphos' orbit. However, mission planners felt that changing Dimorphos’ orbit by at least 73 seconds would be enough to consider the test a success.
But there was more to consider in testing whether the technique could be used in the future for planetary defense. For example, the formula for kinetic energy (KE = 0.5 * m * v2) tells us that a fast moving spacecraft possesses a lot of energy.
When DART hit the surface of the asteroid, its kinetic energy was 10 billion joules! A crater was formed and material known as ejecta was blasted out as a result of the impact. Scientists are still studying the data returned from the mission to determine the amount of material ejected out of the crater, but estimates prior to impact put the number at 10-100 times the mass of the spacecraft itself. The force needed to push this material out was then matched by an equal reaction force pushing on the asteroid in the opposite direction, as described by Newton’s third law.
This animation shows conceptually how DART's impact is predicted to change Dimorphos' orbit from a larger orbit to a slightly smaller one that's several minutes shorter than the original. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Jon Emmerich | Watch on YouTube
How much material was ejected and its recoil momentum is still unknown. A lot depends on the surface composition of the asteroid, which scientists are still investigating. Laboratory tests on Earth suggested that if the surface material was poorly conglomerated, or loosely formed, more material would be blasted out. A surface that was well conglomerated, or densely compacted, would eject less material.
After the DART impact, scientists used a technique called the transit method to see how much the impact changed Dimorphos' orbit. As observed from Earth, the Didymos pair is what’s known as an eclipsing binary, meaning Dimorphos passes in front of and behind Didymos from our view, creating what appears from Earth to be a subtle dip in the combined brightness of the pair. Scientists used ground-based telescopes to measure this change in brightness and calculate how quickly Dimorphos orbits Didymos. By comparing measurements from before and after impact, scientists determined that the orbit of Dimorphos had slowed by 32 minutes to 11 hours and 23 minutes.

The green circle shows the location of the Dimorphos asteroid, which orbits the larger asteroid, Didymos, seen here as the bright line across the middle of the images. The blue circle shows where Dimorphos would have been had its orbit not changed due to NASA’s DART mission purposefully impacting the smaller asteroid on Sept. 26, 2022. The images were obtained from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory | + Expand image | › DART image gallery
One of the biggest challenges of the DART mission was navigating a small spacecraft to a head-on collision with a small asteroid millions of miles away. To solve that problem, the spacecraft was equipped with a single instrument, the DRACO camera, which worked together with an autonomous navigation system called SMART Nav to guide the spacecraft without direct control from engineers on Earth. About four hours before impact, images captured by the camera were sent to the spacecraft's navigation system, allowing it to identify which of the two asteroids was Dimorphos and independently navigate to the target.

A composite of 243 images of Didymos and Dimorphos taken by the DART spacecraft's DRACO camera on July 27, 2022, as the spacecraft was navigating to its target. Image credit: JPL DART Navigation Team | + Expand image | › DART image gallery
DART was not just an experimental asteroid impactor. The mission also used cutting-edge technology never before flown on a planetary spacecraft and tested new technologies designed to improve how we power and communicate with spacecraft.
Learn more about the engineering behind the DART mission, including the innovative Roll Out Solar Array and NEXT-C ion propulsion system, in this video featuring experts from the mission. Credit: APL | Watch on YouTube
One such technology that was first tested on the International Space Station and was later used on the solar-powered DART spacecraft, is the Roll Out Solar Array, or ROSA, power system. As its name suggests, the power system consisted of flexible solar panel material that was rolled up for launch and unrolled in space.

The Roll Out Solar Array, shown in this animated image captured during a test on the International Space Station, is making its first planetary journey on DART. Image credit: NASA | + Expand image
Some of the power generated by the solar array was used for another innovative technology, the spacecraft's NEXT-C ion propulsion system. Rather than using traditional chemical propulsion, DART was propelled by charged particles of xenon pushed from its engine. Ion propulsion has been used on other missions to asteroids and comets including Dawn and Deep Space 1, but DART's ion thrusters had higher performance and efficiency.
Follow Along
In the days following the event, NASA received images of the impact from a cubesat, LICIACube, that was deployed by DART before impact. The cubesat, which was provided by the Italian Space Agency, captured images of the impact and the ejecta cloud.

This image from LICIACube shows plumes of ejecta streaming from Dimorphos after DART's impact. Each rectangle represents a different level of contrast to better see fine structure in the plumes. By studying these streams of material, scientists will be able to learn more about the asteroid and the impact process. | + Expand image | › DART image gallery
Meanwhile, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Lucy spacecraft observed Didymos to monitor how soon reflected sunlight from the ejecta plume could be seen. Going forward, DART team members will continue observing the asteroid system to measure the change in Dimorphos’ orbit and determine what happened on its surface. And in 2024, the European Space Agency plans to launch the Hera spacecraft to conduct an in-depth post-impact study of the Didymos system.

This animation, a timelapse of images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, covers the time spanning just before DART's impact at 4:14 p.m. PDT (7:14 p.m. EDT) on Septtember 26 through 5 hours post-impact. Plumes of material from a compact core appear as wisps streaming away from where the impact took place. An area of rapid, extreme brightening is also visible in the animation. Image credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Cristina Thomas (Northern Arizona University), Ian Wong (NASA-GSFC); Joseph DePasquale (STScI) | + Expand image | › DART image gallery
Continue following along with all the science from DART, including the latest images and updates on the mission website. Plus, explore even more resources on this handy page.
Teach It
The mission is a great opportunity to engage students in the real world applications of STEM topics. Start exploring these lessons and resources to get students engaging in STEM along with the mission.
Educator Guides
Expert Talks
Student Activities
Articles
- Teachable Moments
How NASA Studies and Tracks Asteroids Near and Far
Here’s how NASA uses math and science to track the movements of asteroids and find out what they’re made of – and students can, too.
- Meet JPL Interns
From Island Life to Spotting Asteroids for NASA
Meet a JPL intern whose journey took her from the remote island of Saipan to a team helping track asteroids at NASA.
Resources for Kids
Check out these related resources for kids from NASA Space Place:
- Article for Kids: Asteroid or Meteor: What's the Difference?
- Article for Kids: What Is an Asteroid?
- Article for Kids: Why Does the Moon Have Craters?
- Article for Kids: What Is an Impact Crater?
Explore More
- Facts & Figures: Didymos In Depth
- Facts & Figures: DART Mission
- Website: DART Mission
- Gallery: DART Mission Images and Videos
- Facts & Figures: Asteroid Watch
- Gallery: Next Five Asteroid Approaches
- Articles: Asteroid News and Images from JPL
- Eyes on Asteroids
- Eyes on the Solar System - DART Impact
- Quiz: Are You a Planetary Defnder?
- Center for Near-Earth Object Studies
TAGS: Asteroids and Comets, DART, near-Earth objects, planetary defense, Science, K-12 Education, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Teachable Moments, Asteroid TM
Teachable Moments | May 12, 2022
Telescopes Get Extraordinary View of Milky Way's Black Hole
Find out how scientists captured the first image of Sagittarius A*, why it's important, and how to turn it into a learning opportunity for students.
Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole at its center, but we’ve never actually seen it – until now. The Event Horizon Telescope, funded by the National Science Foundation, has released the first image of our galactic black hole, Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A-star” and abbreviated Sgr A*).
Read on to find out how the image was acquired and learn more about black holes and Sagittarius A*. Then, explore resources to engage learners in the exciting topic of black holes.
How Black Holes Work
A black hole is a location in space with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it. A black hole’s outer edge, called its event horizon, defines the spherical boundary where the velocity needed to escape exceeds the speed of light. Matter and radiation fall in, but they can’t get out. Because not even light can escape, a black hole is literally black. Contrary to their name’s implication, black holes are not empty. In fact, a black hole contains a great amount of matter packed into a relatively small space. Black holes come in various sizes and can exist throughout space.
We can surmise a lot about the origin of black holes from their size. Scientists know how some types of black holes form, yet the formation of others is a mystery. There are three different types of black holes, categorized by their size: stellar-mass, intermediate-mass, and supermassive black holes.
Stellar-mass black holes are found throughout our Milky Way galaxy and have masses less than about 100 times that of our Sun. They comprise one of the possible endpoints of the lives of high-mass stars. Stars are fueled by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen, which forms helium and other elements deep in their interiors. The outflow of energy from the central regions of the star provides the pressure necessary to keep the star from collapsing under its own weight.

This illustration shows a binary system containing a stellar-mass black hole called IGR J17091-3624. The strong gravity of the black hole, on the left, is pulling gas away from a companion star on the right. This gas forms a disk of hot gas around the black hole, and the wind is driven off this disk. Image credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss | › Full image and caption
Once the fuel in the core of a high-mass star has completely burned out, the star collapses, sometimes producing a supernova explosion that releases an enormous amount of energy, detectable across the electromagnetic spectrum. If the star’s mass is more than about 25 times that of our Sun, a stellar-mass black hole can form.
Intermediate-mass black holes have masses between about 100 and 100,000 times that of our Sun. Until recently, the existence of intermediate-mass black holes had only been theorized. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has identified several intermediate-mass black hole candidates by observing X-rays emitted by the gas surrounding the black hole. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or LIGO, funded by the National Science Foundation, detected the merger of two stellar-mass black holes with masses 65 and 85 times that of our Sun forming an intermediate-mass black hole of 142 solar masses. (Some of the mass was converted to energy and about nine solar masses were radiated away as gravitational waves.)
Supermassive black holes contain between a million and a billion times as much mass as a stellar-mass black hole. Scientists are uncertain how supermassive black holes form, but one theory is that they result from the combining of stellar-mass black holes.

This chart illustrates the relative masses of super-dense cosmic objects, ranging from white dwarfs to the supermassive black holes encased in the cores of most galaxies. | › Full image and caption
Our local galactic center’s black hole, Sagittarius A*, is a supermassive black hole with a mass of about four million suns, which is fairly small for a supermassive black hole. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes have determined that many galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center.

This image shows the center of the Milky Way galaxy along with a closer view of Sagittarius A*. It was made by combining X-ray images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and infrared images from the agency's Hubble Space Telescope (red and yellow). The inset shows Sgr A* in X-rays only, covering a region half a light year wide. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al., IR: NASA/STScI | › Full image and caption
Why They're Important
Black holes hold allure for everyone from young children to professional astronomers. For astronomers, in particular, learning about Sagittarius A* is important because it provides insights into the formation of our galaxy and black holes themselves.
Understanding the physics of black hole formation and growth, as well as their surrounding environments, gives us a window into the evolution of galaxies. Though Sagittarius A* is more than 26,000 light years (152 quadrillion miles) away from Earth, it is our closest supermassive black hole. Its formation and physical processes influence our galaxy as galactic matter continually crosses the event horizon, growing the black hole’s mass.
Studying black holes also helps us further understand how space and time interact. As one gets closer to a black hole, the flow of time slows down compared with the flow of time far from the black hole. In fact, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the flow of time slows near any massive object. But it takes an incredibly massive object, such as a black hole, to make an appreciable difference in the flow of time. There's still much to learn about what happens to time and space inside a black hole, so the more we study them, the more we can learn.
How Scientists Imaged Sagittarius A*
Black holes, though invisible to the human eye, can be detected by observing their effects on nearby space and matter. As a result of their enormous mass, black holes have extremely high gravity, which pulls in surrounding material at rapid speeds, causing this material to become very hot and emit X-rays.
This video explains how Sagittarius A* appears to still have the remnants of a blowtorch-like jet dating back several thousand years. Credit: NASA | Watch on YouTube
X-ray-detecting telescopes such as NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory can image the material spiraling into a black hole, revealing the black hole’s location. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope can measure the speed of the gas and stars orbiting a point in space that may be a black hole. Scientists use these measurements of speed to determine the mass of the black hole. Hubble and Chandra are also able to image the effects of gravitational lensing, or the bending of light that results from the gravitational pull of black holes or other high-mass objects such as galaxies.

The thin blue bull's-eye patterns in this Hubble Space Telescope image are called "Einstein rings." The blobs are giant elliptical galaxies roughly 2 to 4 billion light-years away. And the bull's-eye patterns are created as the light from galaxies twice as far away is distorted into circular shapes by the gravity of the giant elliptical galaxies. | › Full image and caption
To directly image the matter surrounding a black hole, thus revealing the silhouette of the black hole itself, scientists from around the world collaborated to create the Event Horizon Telescope. The Event Horizon Telescope harnesses the combined power of numerous telescopes around the world that can detect radio-wave emissions from the sky to create a virtual telescope the size of Earth.
Narrated by Caltech’s Katie Bouman, this video explains how she and her fellow teammates at the Event Horizon Telescope project managed to take a picture of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), a beastly black hole lying 27,000 light-years away at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Credit: Caltech | Watch on YouTube
In 2019, the team released the first image of a black hole's silhouette when they captured the glowing gasses surrounding the M87* galactic black hole nearly 53 million light-years (318 quintillion miles) away from Earth. The team then announced that one of their next endeavors was to image Sagittarius A*.

Captured by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019, this image of the the glowing gasses surrounding the M87* black hole, was the first image ever captured of a black hole. Image credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration | + Expand image
To make the newest observation, the Event Horizon Telescope focused its array of observing platforms on the center of the Milky Way. A telescope array is a group of telescopes arranged so that, as a set, they function similarly to one giant telescope. In addition to the telescopes used to acquire the M87* image, three additional radio telescopes joined the array to acquire the image of Sagittarius A*: the Greenland Telescope, the Kitt Peak 12-meter Telescope in Arizona, and the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array, or NOEMA, in France.
This image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy representing an area roughly 400 light years across, has been translated into sound. Listen for the different instruments representing the data captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope. The Hubble data outline energetic regions where stars are being born, while Spitzer's data captures glowing clouds of dust containing complex structures. X-rays from Chandra reveal gas heated to millions of degrees from stellar explosions and outflows from Sagittarius A*. Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory | Watch on YouTube
The distance from the center of Sagittarius A* to its event horizon, a measurement known as the Schwarzschild radius, is enormous at seven million miles (12,000,000 kilometers or 0.08 astronomical units). But its apparent size when viewed from Earth is tiny because it is so far away. The apparent Schwarzschild radius for Sagittarius A* is 10 microarcseconds, about the angular size of a large blueberry on the Moon.
Acquiring a good image of a large object that appears tiny when viewed from Earth requires a telescope with extraordinarily fine resolution, or the ability to detect the smallest possible details in an image. The better the resolution, the better the image and the more detail the image will show. Even the best individual telescopes or array of telescopes at one location do not have a good enough resolution to image Sagittarius A*.

This image captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. Even though you can't see our galaxy's central black hole directly, you might be able to pinpoint its location based on what you've learned about black holes thusfar. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Brammer | › Full image and caption
The addition of the 12-meter Greenland Telescope, though a relatively small instrument, widened the diameter, or aperture, of the Event Horizon Telescope to nearly the diameter of Earth. And NOEMA – itself an array of twelve 15-meter antennas with maximum separation of 2,500 feet (760 meters) – helped further increase the Event Horizon Telescope’s light-gathering capacity.
Altogether, when combined into the mighty Event Horizon Telescope, the virtual array obtained an image of Sagittarius A* spanning about 50 microarcseconds, or about 1/13th of a billionth the span of the night sky.

Sagittarius A* is more than 26,000 light years (152 quadrillion miles) away from Earth and has the mass of 4 million suns. Image credit: Event Horizon Telescope | › Full image and caption
While the Event Horizon Telescope was busy capturing the stunning radio image of Sagittarius A*, an additional worldwide contingent of astronomical observatories was also focused on the black hole and the region surrounding it. The aim of the team, known as the Event Horizon Telescope Multiwavelength Science Working Group, was to observe the black hole in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum beyond radio. As part of the effort, X-ray data were collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope (NuSTAR), and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, additional radio data were collected by the East Asian Very Long-Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) network and the Global 3 millimeter VLBI array, and infrared data were collected by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
The data from these multiple platforms will allow scientists to continue building their understanding of the behavior of Sagittarius A* and to refine their models of black holes in general. The data collected from these multiwavelength observations are crucial to the study of black holes, such as the Chandra data revealing how quickly material falls in toward the disk of hot gas orbiting the black hole’s event horizon. Data such as these will hopefully help scientists better understand black hole accretion, or the process by which black holes grow.
Teach It
Check out these resources to bring the real-life STEM of black holes into your teaching, plus learn about opportunities to involve students in real astronomy research.
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Educator Guide: Dropping In With Gravitational Waves
Students develop a model to represent the collision of two black holes, the gravitational waves that result and the waves' propagation through spacetime.
Subject Science
Grades 6-8
Time 30-60 mins
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Teachable Moments: How Scientists Captured the First Image of a Black Hole
Find out how scientists created a virtual telescope as large as Earth itself to capture the first image of a black hole's silhouette.
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Teachable Moments: Gravitational Waves Detected for the First Time
Find out how researchers proved part of Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, then create a model of the Nobel Prize-winning experiment in the classroom.
Explore More
Articles
-
Teachable Moments: Learn About the Universe With the James Webb Space Telescope
Get a look into the science and engineering behind the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built while exploring ways to engage learners in the mission.
-
JPL Education ‘Teachable Moment’ Inspires Winning Science Fair Project
A “teachable moment” turned into a science fair win for an eighth-grader in Ontario, Canada, who based his project on a classroom activity from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Educator Guides
Student Activities
Check out these related resources for students from NASA’s Space Place
Across the NASA-Verse
- Educator Guide: Black Hole Math
- NASA/IPAC TeacherArchive Research Program
- Student Resources: Chandra
- Articles: Hubble - Black Holes
- Audio: Sonification of the Milky Way galactic center
- Audio: Sonification of the M87 black hole
- Interactive: Sagittarius A*
- Videos: Hubble - Black Holes
- Website: NASA Science - Black Holes
- Download: A Galaxy Full of Black Holes Presentation
- Expert Talk: Imaging a Black Hole Lecture
- Website: NASA - Black Holes
- Article: Black Hole Image Makes History
- Graphic: Anatomy of a Black Hole
This Teachable Moment was created in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning. Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
TAGS: Black hole, Milky Way, galaxy, universe, stars, teachers, educators, lessons, Teachable Moments, K-12, science
Teachable Moments | May 2, 2022
How NASA Plans to Dig Up the Dirt on Climate Change
Learn about the role that dust plays in Earth's climate, why scientists are interested in studying dust from space, and how to engage students in the science with STEM resources from JPL.
A NASA instrument launched to the International Space Station this summer will explore how dust impacts global temperatures, cloud formation, and the health of our oceans. The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, or EMIT, is the first instrument of its kind, designed to collect measurements from space of some of the most arid regions on Earth to understand the composition of soils that generate dust and the larger role dust plays in climate change.
Read on to find out how the instrument works and why scientists are hoping to learn more about the composition of dust. Then, explore how to bring the science into your classroom with related climate lessons that bridge physical sciences with engineering practices.
Why It’s Important
Scientists have long studied the movements of dust. The fact that dust storms can carry tiny particles great distances was reported in the scientific literature nearly two centuries ago by none other than Charles Darwin as he sailed across the Atlantic on the HMS Beagle. What still remains a mystery all these years later is what that dust is made of, how it moves, and how that affects the health of our planet.
For example, we now know that dust deposited on snow speeds up snow melt even more than increased air temperature. That is to say, that dust traveling to cold places can cause increased snow melt.

A coating of dust on snow speeds the pace of snowmelt in the spring. Credit: NASA | + Expand image
Dust can affect air temperatures as well. For example, dust with more iron absorbs light and can cause the air to warm, while dust with less iron reflects light and is responsible for local cooling. Iron in dust can also act as a fertilizer for plankton in oceans, supplying them with nutrients needed for growth and reproduction.

A plume of dust is shown emanating from over Alaska's Copper River in October 2016 in these images captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. Dust storms play a key role in fueling phytoplankton blooms by delivering iron to the Gulf of Alaska. Credit: NASA | › Full image and caption
Floating dust potentially alters the composition of clouds and how quickly or slowly they form, which can ultimately impact weather patterns, including the formation of hurricanes. That’s because clouds need particles to act as seeds around which droplets of moisture in the atmosphere can form. This process of coalescing water particles, called nucleation, is one factor in how clouds form.

A swirl of dust mixes with the clouds in a low-pressure storm over the Gobi desert between Mongolia and China. This image was captured by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite in May 2019. Credit: NASA | › Full image and caption
Thanks to EMIT, we’ll take the first steps in understanding how the movements of dust particles contribute to local and global changes in climate by producing “mineral maps”. These mineral maps will reveal differences in the chemical makeup of dust, providing essential information to help us model the way dust can transform Earth’s climate.
› Learn more about what EMIT will do from JPL News
How It Works
NASA has been exploring how dust moves across the globe by combining on-the-ground field studies with cutting-edge technology.
Dr. Olga Kalashnikova, an aerosol scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-investigator for EMIT, has been using satellite data to study atmospheric mineral dust for many years, including tracking the movements of dust and investigating trends in the frequency of dust storms.
As Dr. Kalashnikova describes, “From the ground, we can see what types of dusts are lifted into the atmosphere by dust storms on a local scale, but with EMIT, we can understand how they differ and where they originally came from.”
EMIT is the first instrument designed to observe a key part of the mineral dust cycle from space, allowing scientists to track different dust compositions on a global scale, instead of in just one region at a time. To understand dust’s impact on Earth’s climate, scientists will use EMIT to answer key questions, including:
- How does dust uplifted in the atmosphere alter global temperatures?
- What role do dusts play in fertilizing our oceans when they are deposited?
- How do dust particles in the atmosphere affect cloud nucleation; the process by which clouds are ‘seeded’ and begin to coalesce into larger clouds?

The EMIT instrument will fly aboard the International Space Station, which orbits Earth about once every 90 minutes, completing about 16 orbits per day. Credit: NASA | + Expand image
To achieve its objectives, EMIT will spend 12 months collecting what are called “hyperspectral images” of some of the most arid regions of our planet selected by scientists and engineers as areas of high dust mobility, such as Northern Africa, the Middle East, and the American Southwest.
These images are measurements of light reflected from the Earth below, calibrated to the distinct patterns, or spectra, of light we see when certain minerals are present. The EMIT team has identified 10 minerals that are most common, including gypsum, hematite, and kaolinite.

This example spectra shows how scientists will be able to identify different concentrations of minerals and elements in data collected by EMIT. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image
Why are these minerals important? One key reason is the presence or absence of the element iron, found in some minerals but not others.
Dr. Bethany Ehlmann is a planetary scientist and co-investigator for the EMIT project at Caltech and explains that when it comes to heating, “a little bit of iron goes a long way.” Iron in minerals absorbs visible and infrared light, meaning that even if only a small amount is present, it will result in a much warmer dust particle. Large amounts of warm dust in our atmosphere may have an impact on temperatures globally since those dust particles radiate heat as they travel, sometimes as far as across oceans!
Collecting images from space is, of course, no easy task, especially when trying to look only at the ground below. Yet it does allow scientists to get a global picture that's not possible to capture from the ground. Field studies allow us to take individual samples from tiny places of interest, but from space, we can scan the entire planet in remote places where no scientist can visit.
Of course, there are some complications in trying to study the light reflected off the surface of Earth, such as interference from clouds. To prevent this problem, the EMIT team plans to collect data at each location several times to ensure that the images aren’t being obscured by clouds between the instrument and the minerals we’re looking for.
The data collected by EMIT will provide a map of the compositions of dust from dry, desert environments all over the world, but the team involved won’t stop there. Knowing more about what the dust is made of sets the stage for a broader understanding of a few more of the complex processes that make up our global climate cycle. Upon completion of this study, EMIT's mineral maps will support further campaigns to complete our global dust picture. For example, NASA hopes to couple the data from EMIT with targeted field campaigns, in which scientists can collect wind-blown dust from the ground to learn more about where dust particles move over time and answer questions about what types of dust are on the go.
Furthermore, missions such as the Multiangle Imager for Aerosols, or MAIA, will allow us to better understand the effects of these dust particles on air-quality and public health.
Teach it
Studying Earth’s climate is a complex puzzle, consisting of many trackable features. These can range from sea level to particles in our atmosphere, but each makes a contribution to measuring the health of our planet. Bring EMIT and NASA Earth Science into your classroom with these lessons, articles, and activities to better understand how we’re exploring climate change.
Educator Guides
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Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game
Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.
Subject Science
Grades K-6
Time Less than 30 mins
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Modeling the Water Budget
Students use a spreadsheet model to understand droughts and the movement of water in the water cycle.
Subject Science
Grades 5-8
Time 30-60 mins
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Graphing Global Temperature Trends
Students use global temperature data to create models and compare short-term trends to long-term trends.
Subject Math
Grades 5-12
Time 1-2 hrs
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Using Light to Study Planets
Students build a spectrometer using basic materials as a model for how NASA uses spectroscopy to determine the nature of elements found on Earth and other planets.
Subject Science
Grades 6-11
Time > 2 hrs
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Cloud Computing: A 'Pi in the Sky' Math Challenge
In this illustrated math problem, students use pi to calculate how much water could be contained within a cloud.
Subject Math
Grades 6-12
Time Less than 30 mins
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More Earth Science Lessons for Educators
Explore a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons for students that get them investigating Earth science along with NASA.
Student Activities
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The Types of Clouds and What They Mean
Learn about cloud types and how they form. Then help NASA scientists studying clouds.
Subject Science
Grades K-3
Time 30-60 mins
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Make a Cloud in a Bottle
Have you ever wondered how clouds form? In this activity, you can make your own cloud to see for yourself!
Subject Science
Grades 4-12
Time < 30 mins
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Video Series: NASA's Earth Minute
Learn about the science behind climate change and the NASA missions studying it in these short videos.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time < 30 mins
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The Change of Seasons: Views from Space
See how seasonal changes affect our planet.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time < 30 mins
-
More Earth Science Activities for Students
Explore Earth science with these projects, videos, and slideshows for students.
Articles
- Teachable Moments
Reflecting On Greenland’s Melting Glaciers as OMG Mission Concludes
Explore how the OMG mission discovered more about what's behind one of the largest contributors to global sea level rise.
- Teachable Moments
Earth Satellite Joins NASA Fleet to Monitor Sea Level, Improve Weather Forecasts
Learn about the mission and find out how to make classroom connections to NASA Earth science – plus explore related teaching and learning resources.
- Teachable Moments
Climate Change Collection
Explore this collection of Teachable Moments articles to get a primer on the latest NASA Earth science missions, plus find related education resources you can deploy right away!
Websites
- NASA Climate Change
- NASA Earth Observatory - Images of Dust and Haze
- NASA Climate Kids
- Recursos En Español: NASA Climate Change
TAGS: Earth, climate, geology, weather, EMIT, Teachers, Classroom, Lessons, Earth Science, Climate Change, Dust, Global Warming, Educators, K-12, Teachable Moments, Climate TM
Teachable Moments | March 10, 2022
Pi Goes to Infinity and Beyond in NASA Challenge
Learn about pi and some of the ways the number is used at NASA. Then, dig into the science behind the Pi Day Challenge.
Update: March 15, 2022 – The answers are here! Visit the NASA Pi Day Challenge slideshow to view the illustrated answer keys for each of the problems in the 2022 challenge.
In the News
No matter what Punxsutawney Phil saw on Groundhog Day, a sure sign that spring approaches is Pi Day. Celebrated on March 14, it’s the annual holiday that pays tribute to the mathematical constant pi – the number that results from dividing any circle's circumference by its diameter.
Every year, Pi Day gives us a reason to not only celebrate the mathematical wonder that helps NASA explore the universe, but also to enjoy our favorite sweet and savory pies. Students can join in the fun by using pi to explore Earth and space themselves in our ninth annual NASA Pi Day Challenge.
Read on to learn more about the science behind this year's challenge and find out how students can put their math mettle to the test to solve real problems faced by NASA scientists and engineers as we explore Earth, the Moon, Mars, and beyond!
Visit the Pi in the Sky 9 lesson page to explore classroom resources and downloads for the 2022 NASA Pi Day Challenge. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

This artist's concept shows the Lunar Flashlight spacecraft, a six-unit CubeSat designed to search for ice on the Moon's surface using special lasers. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | › Full image details

Clouds drift over the dome-covered seismometer, known as SEIS, belonging to NASA's InSight lander, on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. | › Full image and caption

This animation shows the collection of data over the state of Florida, which is rich with rivers, lakes and wetlands. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

Illustration of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Credits: NASA | + Expand image
How It Works
Dividing any circle’s circumference by its diameter gives you an answer of pi, which is usually rounded to 3.14. Because pi is an irrational number, its decimal representation goes on forever and never repeats. In 2021, a supercomputer calculated pi to more than 62 trillion digits. But you might be surprised to learn that for space exploration, NASA uses far fewer digits of pi.
Here at NASA, we use pi to understand how much signal we can receive from a distant spacecraft, to calculate the rotation speed of a Mars helicopter blade, and to collect asteroid samples. But pi isn’t just used for exploring the cosmos. Since pi can be used to find the area or circumference of round objects and the volume or surface area of shapes like cylinders, cones, and spheres, it is useful in all sorts of ways. Architects use pi when designing bridges or buildings with arches; electricians use pi when calculating the conductance of wire; and you might even want to use pi to figure out how much frozen goodness you are getting in your ice cream cone.
In the United States, March 14 can be written as 3.14, which is why that date was chosen for celebrating all things pi. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution officially designating March 14 as Pi Day and encouraging teachers and students to celebrate the day with activities that teach students about pi. And that's precisely what the NASA Pi Day Challenge is all about!
The Science Behind the 2022 NASA Pi Day Challenge
This ninth installment of the NASA Pi Day Challenge includes four brain-busters that get students using pi to measure frost deep within craters on the Moon, estimate the density of Mars’ core, calculate the water output from a dam to assess its potential environmental impact, and find how far a planet-hunting satellite needs to travel to send data back to Earth.
Read on to learn more about the science and engineering behind the problems or click the link below to jump right into the challenge.
› Take the NASA Pi Day Challenge
› Educators, get the lesson here!
Lunar Logic
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission is a small satellite that will seek out signs of frost in deep, permanently shadowed craters around the Moon’s south pole. By sending infrared laser pulses to the surface and measuring how much light is reflected back, scientists can determine which areas of the lunar surface contain frost and which are dry. Knowing the locations of water-ice on the Moon could be key for future crewed missions to the Moon, when water will be a precious resource. In Lunar Logic, students use pi to find out how much surface area Lunar Flashlight will measure with a single pulse from its laser.
Core Conundrum
Since 2018, the InSight lander has studied the interior of Mars by measuring vibrations from marsquakes and the “wobble” of the planet as it rotates on its axis. Through careful analysis of the data returned from InSight, scientists were able to measure the size of Mars’ liquid core for the first time and estimate its density. In Core Conundrum, students use pi to do some of the same calculations, determining the volume and density of the Red Planet’s core and comparing it to that of Earth’s core.
Dam Deduction
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT mission will conduct NASA's first global survey of Earth's surface water. SWOT’s state-of-the-art radar will measure the elevation of water in major lakes, rivers, wetlands, and reservoirs while revealing unprecedented detail on the ocean surface. This data will help scientists track how these bodies of water are changing over time and improve weather and climate models. In Dam Deduction, students learn how data from SWOT can be used to assess the environmental impact of dams. Students then use pi to do their own analysis, finding the powered output of a dam based on the water height of its reservoir and inferring potential impacts of this quick-flowing water.
Telescope Tango
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is designed to survey the sky in search of planets orbiting bright, nearby stars. TESS does this while circling Earth in a unique, never-before-used orbit that brings the spacecraft close to Earth about once every two weeks to transmit its data. This special orbit keeps TESS stable while giving it an unobstructed view of space. In its first two years, TESS identified more than 2,600 possible exoplanets in our galaxy with thousands more discovered during its extended mission. In Telescope Tango, students will use pi to calculate the distance traveled by TESS each time it sends data back to Earth.
Teach It
Celebrate Pi Day by getting students thinking like NASA scientists and engineers to solve real-world problems in NASA Pi Day Challenge. Completing the problem set and reading about other ways NASA uses pi is a great way for students to see the importance of the M in STEM.
Pi Day Resources
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Pi in the Sky Lessons
Here's everything you need to bring the NASA Pi Day Challenge into the classroom.
Grades 4-12
Time Varies
-
NASA Pi Day Challenge
The entire NASA Pi Day Challenge collection can be found in one, handy slideshow for students.
Grades 4-12
Time Varies
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How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?
While you may have memorized more than 70,000 digits of pi, world record holders, a JPL engineer explains why you really only need a tiny fraction of that for most calculations.
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18 Ways NASA Uses Pi
Whether it's sending spacecraft to other planets, driving rovers on Mars, finding out what planets are made of or how deep alien oceans are, pi takes us far at NASA. Find out how pi helps us explore space.
-
10 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day With NASA on March 14
Find out what makes pi so special, how it’s used to explore space, and how you can join the celebration with resources from NASA.
-
Infographic: Planet Pi
This poster shows some of the ways NASA scientists and engineers use the mathematical constant pi (3.14) and includes common pi formulas.
-
Downloads
Can't get enough pi? Download this year's NASA Pi Day Challenge graphics, including mobile phone and desktop backgrounds:
- Pi in the Sky 9 Poster (PDF, 11.2 MB)
- Lunar Flashlight Background: Phone | Desktop
- Mars InSight Lander Background: Phone | Desktop
- SWOT Mission Background: Phone | Desktop
- TESS Mission - Downlink Background: Phone | Desktop
- TESS Mission - Science Background (not pictured): Phone | Desktop
- Medley Background (not pictured): Phone | Desktop
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Pi Day: What's Going 'Round
Tell us what you're up to this Pi Day and share your stories and photos on our showcase page.
Plus, join the conversation using the hashtag #NASAPiDayChallenge on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Recursos en español
Related Lessons for Educators
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Planetary Egg Wobble and Newton's First Law
Students try to determine the interior makeup of an egg (hard-boiled or raw) based on their understanding of center of mass and Newton’s first law of motion.
Grades 3-8
Time 30 min to 1 hour
-
Whip Up a Moon-Like Crater
Whip up a moon-like crater with baking ingredients as a demonstration for students.
Grades 1-6
Time 30 min to 1 hour
-
Exploring Exoplanets with Kepler
Students use math concepts related to transits to discover real-world data about Mercury, Venus and planets outside our solar system.
Grades 6-12
Time 30 min to 1 hour
-
Tracking Water Using NASA Satellite Data
Using real data from NASA’s GRACE satellites, students will track water mass changes in the U.S.
Grades 4-8
Time 30 min to 1 hour
-
Modeling the Water Budget
Students use a spreadsheet model to understand droughts and the movement of water in the water cycle.
Grades 5-8
Time 30 min to 1 hour
Related Activities for Students
-
NASA's Earth Minute: Mission to Earth?
NASA doesn't just explore outer space! It studies Earth, too, with a fleet of spacecraft and scientists far and wide.
Type Video
Subject Science
-
Look at the Moon! Journaling Project
Draw what you see in a Moon Journal and see if you can predict the moon phase that comes next.
Type Project
Subject Science
-
Mars in a Minute: Are There Quakes on Mars?
Are there earthquakes on Mars – or rather, "marsquakes"? What could they teach us about the Red Planet?
Type Video
Subject Science
Explore More
Infographic
Facts and Figures
Missions and Instruments
Websites
TAGS: Pi Day, Pi, Math, NASA Pi Day Challenge, Moon, Lunar Flashlight, Mars, InSight, Earth, Climate, SWOT, Exoplanets, Universe, TESS, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Students, Lessons, Activities, Resources, K-12
Edu News | January 26, 2022
24 STEM Lessons You Can Quickly Deploy in the Classroom
Calling all teachers pressed for time, substitutes looking for classroom activities that don't require a lot of prep, and others hoping to keep students learning in especially chaotic times: We've got a new collection of lessons and activities that you can quickly deploy.
Read on to explore our collection of Quick and Easy STEM lessons and student activities, organized by grade band. Get everything you need to guide students through standards-aligned lessons featuring connections to real NASA missions and science as well as links to student projects, which can be led by teachers or assigned as independent activities.
Grades K-2
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Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.
Subject Engineering
Grades 2-8
Time 30-60 mins
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Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.
Subject Engineering
Grades 2-8
Time 30-60 mins
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What Tools Would You Take to Mars?
Students decide what they want to learn from a robotic mission to Mars and what tools they will put on their robot to accomplish their goals.
Subject Science
Grades K-2
Time 30-60 mins
-
Rockets by Size
Students cut out, color and sequence paper rockets in a simple mathematics lesson on measurement.
Subject Math
Grades K-2
Time 30-60 mins
-
Rocket Math
Students use rocket manipulatives to help them develop number sense, counting, addition and subtraction skills.
Subject Math
Grades K-1
Time 30-60 mins
-
Tangram Rocket
Students use tangrams to create rockets while practicing shape recognition.
Subject Math
Grades K-1
Time 1-2 hrs
-
Student Project: Build a Rover and More With Shapes
Use geometric shapes called tangrams to build a rover and other space-themed designs!
Subject Math
Grades K-2
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Student Project: Build a Rocket and More With Shapes
Use geometric shapes called tangrams to build a rocket and other space-themed designs!
Subject Math
Grades K-2
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Mineral Mystery Experiment
Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment
Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
What Do You Know About Mars?
Students decide what they want to learn from a robotic mission to Mars.
Subject Science
Grades K-2
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Melting Ice Experiment
Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Parachute Design
Students design and test parachute landing systems to successfully land a probe on target.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-2
Time 1-2 hrs
-
Planetary Poetry
In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 1-2 hrs
-
Student Project: Write a Poem About Space
Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game
Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.
Subject Science
Grades K-6
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Simple Rocket Science Continued
Students gather data on a balloon rocket launch, then create a simple graph to show the results of the tests.
Subject Math
Grades K-2
Time 30-60 mins
-
Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta
Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Student Project: Building With Spaghetti
Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Simple Rocket Science
Students perform a simple science experiment to learn how a rocket works and demonstrate Newton’s third law of motion.
Subject Science
Grades K-2
Time 30-60 mins
Grades 3-5
-
Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.
Subject Engineering
Grades 2-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.
Subject Engineering
Grades 2-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Soda-Straw Rockets
Students study rocket stability as they design, construct and launch paper rockets using soda straws.
Subject Engineering
Grades 4-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Student Project: Make a Straw Rocket
Create a paper rocket that can be launched from a soda straw – then, modify the design to make the rocket fly farther!
Subject Engineering
Grades 4-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Rocket Activity: Heavy Lifting
Students construct balloon-powered rockets to launch the greatest payload possible to the classroom ceiling.
Subject Engineering
Grades 3-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Design a Robotic Insect
Students design a robotic insect for an extraterrestrial environment, then compare the process to how NASA engineers design robots for extreme environments like Mars.
Subject Science
Grades 3-5
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Design a Robotic Insect
Design a robotic insect to go to an extreme environment. Then, compare the design process to what NASA engineers do when building robots for Mars!
Subject Science
Grades 3-5
Time 30-60 mins
-
Mineral Mystery Experiment
Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment
Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
How Far Away Is Space?
Students use measurement skills to determine the scale distance to space on a map.
Subject Math
Grades 3-7
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: How Far Away Is Space?
Stack coins and use your measurement skills to figure out the scale distance from Earth's surface to space.
Subject Math
Grades 3-7
Time 30-60 mins
-
Melting Ice Experiment
Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Planetary Poetry
In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 1-2 hrs
-
Student Project: Write a Poem About Space
Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Planetary Travel Time
Students will compute the approximate travel time to planets in the solar system using different modes of transportation.
Subject Math
Grades 4-6
Time 30-60 mins
-
The Ring Wing Glider
In this simple engineering design lesson, students turn a piece of paper into an aircraft wing and then try to improve upon their design.
Subject Engineering
Grades 3-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Make a Paper Glider
Turn a piece of paper into a glider inspired by a NASA design.
Subject Engineering
Grades 3-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game
Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.
Subject Science
Grades K-6
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta
Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Student Project: Building With Spaghetti
Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-8
Time 30-60 mins
Grades 6-8
-
Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.
Subject Engineering
Grades 2-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.
Subject Engineering
Grades 2-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Soda-Straw Rockets
Students study rocket stability as they design, construct and launch paper rockets using soda straws.
Subject Engineering
Grades 4-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Student Project: Make a Straw Rocket
Create a paper rocket that can be launched from a soda straw – then, modify the design to make the rocket fly farther!
Subject Engineering
Grades 4-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Rocket Activity: Heavy Lifting
Students construct balloon-powered rockets to launch the greatest payload possible to the classroom ceiling.
Subject Engineering
Grades 3-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Mineral Mystery Experiment
Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment
Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
How Far Away Is Space?
Students use measurement skills to determine the scale distance to space on a map.
Subject Math
Grades 3-7
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: How Far Away Is Space?
Stack coins and use your measurement skills to figure out the scale distance from Earth's surface to space.
Subject Math
Grades 3-7
Time 30-60 mins
-
Melting Ice Experiment
Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Planetary Poetry
In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 1-2 hrs
-
Student Project: Write a Poem About Space
Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Planetary Travel Time
Students will compute the approximate travel time to planets in the solar system using different modes of transportation.
Subject Math
Grades 4-6
Time 30-60 mins
-
The Ring Wing Glider
In this simple engineering design lesson, students turn a piece of paper into an aircraft wing and then try to improve upon their design.
Subject Engineering
Grades 3-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Make a Paper Glider
Turn a piece of paper into a glider inspired by a NASA design.
Subject Engineering
Grades 3-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game
Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.
Subject Science
Grades K-6
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta
Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-8
Time Less than 30 mins
-
Student Project: Building With Spaghetti
Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.
Subject Engineering
Grades K-8
Time 30-60 mins
-
How Do We See Dark Matter?
Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.
Subject Science
Grades 6-12
Time Less than 30 mins
Grades 9-12
-
Mineral Mystery Experiment
Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment
Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins
-
Melting Ice Experiment
Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Planetary Poetry
In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 1-2 hrs
-
Student Project: Write a Poem About Space
Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!
Subject Science
Grades 2-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
Let's Go to Mars! Calculating Launch Windows
Students use advanced algebra concepts to determine the next opportunity to launch a spacecraft to Mars.
Subject Math
Grades 9-12
Time 30-60 mins
-
How Do We See Dark Matter?
Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.
Subject Science
Grades 6-12
Time Less than 30 mins
Explore More
Find our full collection of more than 250 STEM educator guides and student activities in Teach and Learn.
For games, articles, and more activities from NASA for kids in upper-elementary grades, visit NASA Space Place and NASA Climate Kids.
Explore more educational resources and opportunities for students and educators from NASA STEM Engagement.
TAGS: Lessons, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Substitutes, Activities, Students, Science, Engineering, Quick and Easy