Hundreds of extrasolar planets (around other stars) have been found using several methods, including transit, ‘wobble’ and microlensing. New Zealand scientists are part of the hunt for extrasolar ...
Position: Director of the Electron Microscope Unit, the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW, Sydney. Field: Nanotechnology. When we first interviewed Dr Richard Tilley he was a senior ...
Professor Denis Sullivan studies white dwarfs – small and dense stars that are cooling down after being red giants. Our Sun, and most other stars, will eventually become a white dwarf. The life ...
In this activity, students explore the transit method of searching for planets. They plot graphs of light measurements from stars, searching for dimming that indicates the presence of a planet ...
In this activity, students collect and record data and use it to create 2D and 3D images of an unseen surface. They will then understand some of the processes involved in mapping the unknown. By ...
In this activity, students use a simple true or false interactive tool to categorise facts. This activity could be used as a formative activity to gather students prior knowledge and ...
Search data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft for the dips in star light intensity caused by exoplanets – planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. As these exoplanets pass between the star and ...
Globe at Night is an international citizen science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen scientists to measure and submit their night sky ...
Loss of the Night is an international citizen science project aiming to quantify the illumination of the night sky caused by artificial light. By monitoring how bright the night sky is over time ...
When St Francis Xavier Catholic School decided on the theme ‘Innovation’ as a whole-school science and technology focus, year 3 teacher Jo Collyer began searching for relevant teaching resources ...
In this online PD session recorded on 2 June 2016, Andrea Soanes from the Science Learning Hub was joined by three guest presenters – all inspirational women working in STEM – who shared their ...
In this online PD session recorded on 13 August 2015, secondary school teacher Steve Chrystall describes how he uses the Science Learning Hub’s satellites and rocket resources to teach space and ...
Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, from Victoria University of Wellington, explains the difference between planets and stars, and the place of the Solar System in our galaxy.
Professor Denis Sullivan, from Victoria University of Wellington, explains why we can only detect extrasolar planets indirectly. He outlines the ‘wobble’ method of detecting planets around ...
Professor Denis Sullivan, from Victoria University of Wellington, explains the transit method for detecting planets in orbit around stars other than our Sun.
Astronomers use telescopes that detect radiation from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This interactive explains which part of the spectrum various telescopes are able to view and ...
The size, orbit and design of a satellite depend on its purpose. In this interactive, scientists discuss the functions of various satellites and orbits. Accompanying fact files provide ...
Elements are formed deep within the cores of certain types of star. Find out more in this interactive.
