Space Links

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

http://www.sundials.co.uk/

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

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/

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

http://web.archive.org/web/20101001055250/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/sun/solareclipse.shtml

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

http://nineplanets.org/

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://web.archive.org/web/20140208042043/http://dd.dynamicdiagrams.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/orrery_2006.swf

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