Agnes Scott Observatory Tours

7th Grade Teacher Resources

One way to get your students interested in astronomy is encouraging

independent observation! And few things are more fun to observe than a meteor
shower. Here’s a chart of all the annual meteor showers you may wish to share
with your students:

Helpful Websites and Videos:

http://spaceweather.com/
Information on meteor showers, comets, and all sorts of cool stuff! This
website has a live feed of the sun so you can see the position of all its
sunspots, as well as the current speed of the solar wind. Students can even
track a specific sunspot to determine how fast the sun is rotating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gKoN4yPzy4
This amazing video compares our sun with the truly colossal largest known
stars.

http://www.history.com/shows/the-universe/videos/the-universe-astrobiology

This work was supported by a grant from the Georgia Space Grant Consortium.
 This 45-minute episode of “The Universe” deals with the search for
extraterrestrial life.

Simulations and Games:

Interactive Seasons Simulation

http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/007299181x/student_view0/chapter2/seasons_interactive.ht
ml
Here students can see how a planet’s seasons are affected by axial tilt as
well as compare the axial tilts of different planets in the solar system. A
short quiz is available below the simulation.

“If The Moon Were Only a Pixel”

http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html
“A tediously accurate scale model of the solar system,” this simulation
highlights the vast distances in our solar system.

Moon Phase Simulation

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/moon_phases/index.html
Here students can see the relative positions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon
during the different moon phases. Simple but effective.

SolarBeat
http://www.whitevinyldesign.com/solarbeat/
Explore the planets’ various orbital speeds while listening to the music of
the solar system.

Eclipse Simulation
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?
it=swf::800::600::/sites/dl/free/0072482621/78778/Eclipses_Nav.swf::Eclip
se+Interactive
This simulation is very helpful in understanding the nature of lunar and
solar eclipses.

This work was supported by a grant from the Georgia Space Grant Consortium.
Setting Sun Activity:

If you carefully watch the sunset day after day, you will notice that the sun does
not always set in the same place on the horizon. Here a helpful visualization:

Have your students draw a picture or take a photograph of the sun a couple times
a week for the remainder of the school year so they can observe this motion for
themselves.

Create-Your-Own Star Wheel Activity:

An easy template to create a star wheel, which is great for finding objects in the
night sky:

http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/do_science_now/science_apps_and_activi
ties/starwheels

Help Save the Milky Way for Future Generations:

This work was supported by a grant from the Georgia Space Grant Consortium.
Information and access to resources regarding light pollution awareness and
prevention:
https://www.iau-100.org/darkskies-for-all

This work was supported by a grant from the Georgia Space Grant Consortium.