Astronomers studying space have two big problems: A lot of things in space seem invisible – they do not give out light we can see. Scientists cannot leave the Earth to go and collect pieces of ...
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 ...
The Futures thinking toolkit provides a structured framework for developing students’ futures thinking skills. The toolkit supports students to develop scenarios that take into account the ...
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 consider evidence for life on other planets outside our Solar System. They examine data to decide on the likelihood of life on certain extrasolar planets. By the end of ...
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 ...
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 ...
The Science Learning Hub has lots of resources for primary teachers related to the night sky in the Planet Earth and Beyond strand of the New Zealand Curriculum. The night sky is fascinating to ...
When well managed, class discussion can help students examine, evaluate and share knowledge about a subject, providing opportunities for students to think critically and creatively, consider ...
Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, from Victoria University of Wellington, describes what black holes are. She also explains the importance to radio astronomers of black holes at the centres of galaxy ...
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 ...
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.
Watch this animation of Mars that shows all the major features of the Martian topography.
