Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Constellation Detective
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In this quick activity, learners practice locating a constellation in a map of very dark skies.

Exploring Black Holes and Gravity
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity lets learners imagine what would happen if our Sun were replaced with a black hole.

Magnification vs. Resolution: Can you see the flag on the Moon?
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity lets learners explore the difference between telescope magnification and resolution.

Glass and Mirrors: An Inside Look at Telescopes
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This hands-on astronomy activity allows you to create a “cutaway” telescope to clearly show how reflector and refractor telescopes work.

Standing in the Shadow of Earth
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity demonstrates the shadow of the Earth as it rises as a dark blue shadow above the eastern horizon.

A Universe Without Supernovae
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity illustrates the value of supernovae in the universe.

Black Holes: No Escape
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity lets learners experiment with marbles and weights to discover some basics about gravity and black holes.

A Universe of Galaxies: How is the Universe Structured?
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This fun hands-on astronomy activity lets learners explore models of the Milky Way and other galaxies to get a sense of relative distances to other galaxies.

Our Place in Our Galaxy
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In this fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity, learners construct a model of our place in the Milky Way Galaxy and the distribution of stars, with a quarter and some birdseed.

Observing the Moon
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Use this Moon Map Guide to help learners identify features on the Moon, while looking through a telescope.