Earth, Sun & Moon
http://www.earthsunmoon.co.uk/
This is an interactive site which gives useful explanations
http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/obs/
Another useful website with key facts relating to the Earth, Sun and Moon
http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/mmg/teaching/peterstidwill/interact/interact.htm
An interactive site with facts about Earth, Sun, Moon
http://sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/messenger/psc/PlanetSize.html
Compare sizes within the Solar system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy
Ptolemy
http://www.polaris.iastate.edu/EveningStar/Unit2/unit2_sub1.htm
Animated Ptolemaic geocentric model of solar system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhazen
Information about Alhazen – scroll down to Astrophysics section
http://glps2.org/wiki/index.php?title=Ibn_Al-Haytham
Alhazen information
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/copernicus.shtml
BBC short biography of Copernicus
http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/co/Copernicus
http://kids.yahoo.com/science/space/article/copernicus
Longer biographies of Copernicus
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/academy/lesson110_assignment2_4.htm
Simple facts about both Copernicus and Galileo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/galilei_galileo.shtml
BBC short biography of Galileo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zxntsbk
Copernicus and Galileo appearing on a ‘Game show’ each trying to prove he was the best scientist!
Day and night
http://www.fearofphysics.com/SunMoon/sunmoon1.html
http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/earthandbeyond/soonmoonearth/
Simple animations of relative movement of the Earth, Moon and Sun
http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/earthandbeyond/dayandnight/
http://www.absorblearning.com/media/attachment.action?quick=9y&att=708
Simple animations showing rotation of the Earth to produce day & night
http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/earthandbeyond/shadows/
Investigation showing how shadows change as the Earth spins on its axis
http://www.windows2universe.org/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/differential_rotation.html
Rotation of the Sun around its own axis – movement of sun spots
This page has many useful links to sundial pages on the internet
http://sundialsoc.org.uk/discussions/how-do-sundials-work/
How sundials work – some interesting information for adults, but rather longwinded for children
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/sundials.html
Discover more about the history of sundials
http://www.gaisma.com/en/dir/001-continent.html
Find data about sunrise & sunset in different countries of the world
Seasons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/9_10/earth_sun_moon.shtml
An animated demonstration that the Earth orbits the Sun once each year, etc.
http://astro.unl.edu/naap/motion1/animations/seasons_ecliptic.html
This animation allows you to move the person standing on earth to see how the sunlight falling on them changes during the different seasons
http://science-resources.co.uk/KS3/Physics/Earth_and_Beyond/Eclipse.htm
A simple demonstration of a lunar eclipse (when the Earth casts a shadow on the Moon)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/sun_and_planets/sun
See video clips of recent eclipses on this site
The Moon
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/neilabio.html
http://www.biography.com/people/neil-armstrong-9188943
http://www.ducksters.com/biography/explorers/neil_armstrong.php
Biographies of Neil Armstrong
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/moonphase.html
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2503/es2503page01.cfm
Simple animations showing phases of the Moon
http://astro.unl.edu/naap/lps/animations/lps.swf
A more complex animation
http://www.hermit.org/eclipse/why_solsys.html
Why do eclipses occur? It’s all explained here!
http://www.netquest.co.uk/eclipse/slides/slides1.htm
Here you’ll find three wonderful images of a total eclipse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/21/newsid_2635000/2635845.stm
Take a look at BBC News on the day of the first Moon landing
This site features an animation which shows clearly what happens during a solar eclipse
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/science/what_shape_the_moon/index.htm
What shape is the Moon? – explains eclipses!
Stars
http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/space-environment/2-what-are-stars-made-of.html
This site contains detailed information suitable for the more able reader
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/
A useful site with links to images of constellations
http://adsg.syix.com/linda/cecilia/constellations.htm
Good article about constellations
http://www.windows2universe.org/the_universe/Constellations/north_constellations.html
Information about individual constellations
http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations
More information about constellations
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/stars
Lots of video clips & information about stars
http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/constellations_northern
Once children know the names of many of the constellations you can have a go at naming as many of the northern hemisphere constellations as possible
http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEM536WJD1E_OurUniverse_0.html
Description of the Milky Way
http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/astro/gals
Information about galaxies
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/earth.html
Zoom out from planet Earth into our galaxy and beyond!
http://www.windows2universe.org/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/differential_rotation.html
Rotation of the Sun around its own axis – movement of sun spots
Planets
http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/mmg/teaching/peterstidwill/interact/interact.htm
Interactive site about the planets (still includes Pluto as a planet)
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm
Lots of information about the solar system
Despite the site’s name, it does point out that Pluto is no longer classified as a planet!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/sun_and_planets
Information, photographs & videos about the Sun and the planets in our solar system
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/exoplanet-exploration/
Planets found orbiting other stars
The Solar System
http://www.kidsdiscover.com/blog/spotlight/stonehenge-for-kids/
Site about Stonehenge aimed at children
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/history-and-research/history/
Clear plan of Stonehenge available as a PDF to download
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~bds2/ltsn/ljm/Orrery/
An orrery!
http://www.solarsystemscope.com/#plans
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system
Online simulations of solar system movement
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar
http://www.theplanetstoday.com/
Current positions of the planets
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/astronomy/solarsystemmodel/
Suggested method of creating simple orrery
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/
Calculate relative sizes of planets & distances from the Sun