In this activity students will learn what a robotic telescope is and specifically how observations are made on the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope network.
In this activity students will learn about the Las Cumbres Observatory and where the telescopes are located, leading them to consider the impact of the environment on our view of the stars.
Determining the position of a star or other object in space is an important concept in astronomy. During this activity you will learn how the distances to nearby stars can be measured using the parallax effect, and put this method into practise to determine the distance to nearby stars.
Students will work in groups to design, test and build a model lander to safely transport their “astronaut” to Earth. This activity will provide your class with an exciting context within which to explore the effects of gravity, air resistance and friction on movement.
Students will carry out an observing session on the LCO robotic telescope network, using astronomical catalogues and planetarium software to determine target objects suitable for observation with the instruments available, within the allotted time window. Students will select appropriate observation parameters including filters and exposure times.
A supernova is the explosive death of a massive star. Although they only burn for a short amount of time, supernovae can tell us a lot about the Universe, including how to measure distance in space. In this activity you will plot the changing brightness of the object and interpret your data to study how these objects evolve.
One of the things we hope to learn through observation of near-Earth objects is their exact rotation rate. We can do this by taking a series of observations of the object over time, and plotting the change in brightness.
This activity demonstrates the scale of the Universe, starting with our closest cosmic neighbour the Moon and travelling through the Solar System to the nearest star. The vast scale of the Universe makes space travel beyond our Solar System almost impossible and demonstrates the importance of telescopes like Las Cumbres Observatory.
In this activity students will learn about a range of cosmic objects, play a game of Messier Bingo and use the Las Cumbres Observatory to observe the night sky.
The discovery of the expanding Universe was one of the greatest revelations in astronomy. During this activity students will relive Hubble’s monumental discovery by using real supernova spectra to create a famous Hubble Diagram.
In this activity you will measure how fast the Sun moves to caclulate how big the Sun appears in the sky. All you need are some household items and about 20 minutes on a sunny day.
In this project you will calculate the age of a supernova remnant using Las Cumbres Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope observations. You will compare the remnant's radius in images taken several years apart to determine the expansion velocity and use this to calculate how long ago the supernova explosion occurred.
There are many thousands of astronomical data files in our archive. We've created an archive search page that lets you limit your search by different attributes. This guide will walk you through the steps to finding the images you want.
How long would it take to travel to the Moon? Could you travel to the edge of the Solar System and beyond? In this activity students learn about the size of the Solar System, beginning with the Earth and Moon and reaching out to encompass the entire Solar System.
The aim of this activity is to understand the effect the mass and velocity of an impacting object has on the resulting crater, in terms of diameter, depth and ejecta rays and relate this information to the craters on the surfaces of Earth and the Moon.
After carrying out this activity, students will understand the effect the mass, velocity and angle of an impacting object has on the resulting crater, in terms of diameter, depth and ejecta rays, and relate this information to the craters on the surfaces of Earth and the Moon.
How old are the objects within our Solar System? One method scientists use to answer this important question is counting the number of craters on their surface. This information, combined with the time it takes for craters to form on each body, gives us a strong estimate how old the object is. In this activity students will put this method into practise to calculate the age of five bodies within our Solar System.
Have you ever wondered why you see the stars in the night sky more clearly on some nights than on others? You are about to measure quantitatively how the Earth’s atmosphere affects the quality of sky images, and thereby imposes fundamental limitations to ground-based astronomical observations.
There are no refrigerators or ovens on the International Space Station, but that isn’t the only reason that eating can be a strange experience for astronauts. Due to lack of gravity and shifting fluids, things can taste very different in space. In this activity students will carry out a taste test to explore how our senses affect the flavour of our food, and what this might reveal about eating in space.
Working in teams, students must complete a jigsaw puzzle and reveal the hidden word as quickly as possible, while their dexterity is impaired, to simulate the difficulties faced by astronauts when attempting to fix satellites and instruments wearing bulky spacesuits. Assembling a puzzle quickly and correctly will help them understand the importance of dexterity, hand-eye coordination and communication -- essential skills for an astronaut!
