Message from CFHT Librarian, Liz Bryson
Aloha!!
Greetings to all parents, educators and students from your 'HOKU' editors, Liz Bryson and Lisa Wells! This edition is filled with a myriad of web sites that are both practical and creative. We hope you will recommend this publication to your family and friends. We are grateful for your feedback and support of our venture. email.
Contents:
- Amazing Space Web-Based Activities
- American Meteor Society
- Meteor Crater
- In The News - Meteorite Sites
- More on Mars
- Mars Explorer for the Armchair Astronaut
- 2001: A Space Odyssey - Destination Space
- Great Images in NASA (GRIN)
- Netsurfer Science: Vol 4 - In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
- Collecting Light
- International Dark-Sky Association
- Eighth Grade Sci-ber Text
- Space Weather?
- Virtual Science Center
Amazing Space Web-Based Activities
Set up by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI) in Baltimore, U.S.A. which is responsible for the operation of the remarkable Hubble Space Telescope - this stimulating website is bursting with information and images of everything cosmological and astronomical. The site is aimed squarely at the elementary level and is structured around a number of fully interactive on-line lessons covering topics such as Galaxies, Solar Systems, Comets, Black Holes and much more. Each lesson combines spectacular photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope with many high-quality graphics, videos and animations, designed to enhance student understanding and interest. Teachers can customize their own lessons using the astonishing quantity of information on offer, including topic overviews, scientific explanations and even lesson plans.
American Meteor Society
Founded in 1911, the American Meteor Society aims to encourage and promote research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are directly interested in meteoric astronomy. The society's website is where you can follow the work the researchers perform, learn about both visual and radio methods of observation and, of course, view images of meteorite showers and meteoric fireballs.Early August is a very active time with the Perseid Meteor shower which peaks on or around the 11th. The best time to view this shower is from midnight to sunrise. Since the recent passage of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, the Leonid meteor shower in November has also been quite spectacular with over 250 meteors per hour and some recorded over 1000 per hour last year. This may be the last good show for 37 years until the comet passes through the inner solar system again. Peak will be on the morning of the 18th, again, for best viewing, go out between midnight and sunrise and find the constellation Leo. More information about these and other meteor showers occuring during the year may be found at this site.
Meteor Crater
Most meteors hitting the earth's atmosphere will burn up - these are what we call shooting stars or meteors. Those space rocks which are large enough to survive the earth's atmosphere, will hit earth, these are called meteorites. In the Arizona desert, one can see the results of an impact of a meteorite at Meteor Crater. There is a history of the site discovery and a game.
In The News - Meteorite Sites
A fist-sized meteorite with a mineralogy and isotopic signature suggesting Martian origin has been discovered by Swiss researchers in the Sayh al Uhaymir region of desert in Oman. On June 15, scientists at the University of Bern announced their finding of the Martian meteorite, named Sayh al Uhaymir 094 and one of only eighteen known on Earth. This week's In the News takes a look at the Oman discovery and Martian meteorites in general. The first site (1) is a news article from CNN Online's Space section with a color photo of the meteorite and a link to a feature section about exploring Mars. The second (2) is a page from the Natural History Museum of Bern, Switzerland that is chock full of color images of Sayh al Uhaymir 094 and gives a link to an informative, thirteen-page press dossier in English (.pdf). The BBC News online has a nice article about this Mars rock, known as a nakhlite because of its distinct hydrogen isotope composition (3). Those who wish to read more technical reports on Martian meteorite mineralogy and scientific applications should consult the next two sites. NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab has a special page devoted to meteorites from Mars (4) with regular updates on discoveries including listings that give the date and geographic location of discovery, rock classification and mineralogy, finder's name, and where the specimen is kept. Color photos accompany the text. Space scientists at Johnson Research Center, Houston, have posted a research page (5) about Martian Meteorite ALH84001, which was collected in Antarctica and contains carbonates possibly derived from living organisms.
- Newly Discovered Mars Meteorite
- Mars Media Release from the Natural History Museum, Bern
- Mars Meteorite May Contain Water
- Mars Meteorites
- Search for Past Life on Mars
- Meteorite Central
More on Mars
Readers interested in learning about non-US-sponsored research on Mars should check out these sites. Mars Express (1), the Mars mapping and research division of the European Science Agency (ESA), is currently investigating Mars' tiny moon, Phobos. The Russian Space Research Institute (2) is involved in using electromagnetism to search for water on Mars, and also collaborated with British and American scientists on the Mars Climate Orbiter Project. The last site is for those who wish to learn more about Mars in general. For a refresher course on the Red Planet, visit The Planet Mars site (3) from MarsNews.com. The Planet Mars features an overview of Mars' atmosphere, moons, and history of exploration, along with a sheet of quick facts and links to news stories and other Mars sites.
Mars Explorer for the Armchair Astronaut
This new feature from NASA's Planetary Data Archives allows users to create custom maps of Mars and other planets. Red Planet enthusiasts will enjoy using the clickable map of Mars, based on images collected by NASA's Viking missions. Once a geographic feature (Terra Sirenum, Syrtis Major, Olympus Mons, etc.) is chosen from the map, the program takes the user to a custom view which can then be zoomed, panned, and displayed as either a sinusoidal, mercator, or simple cylindrical map. All images are in .jpeg format. Who says you have to spend millions to visit space? (From the Scout Report)Mars Explorer for the Armchair Astronaut and PDS Map-a-Planet
2001: A Space Odyssey - Destination Space
This website, created as a companion to an exhibit at the San Jose Tech Museum, compares the science and technology found in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (released in 1968) to real science and technology of today. Compare the current world with science fiction, or see and hear interviews with six visionaries, including artist Robert McCall. Learning resources include activities on space and planning for the future. RealPlayer is required to view interview clips. (From Yahoo's Picks of the Week)2001: Destination Space
Great Images in NASA (GRIN)
This site provides the public with more than one thousand digital pictures relating to NASA's history. It includes pictures of spacecraft and astronauts as well as pictures of space taken from spacecraft. The collection is searchable and the pictures can be browsed by subject and by space center. Each image is available in three sizes. (The Scout Report - July 6 2001)
Netsurfer Science: Vol 4 - In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Astronomers recently found a supercluster of galaxies so enormous in size that its origins cannot be explained by current theories. The light that the astronomers observed, both normal light and x-rays, actually 'shone' over 6.5 billion years ago, long before the earth even existed. The explanations on the site are lucid and the graphics include not only spectacular depictions of the new phenomenon but also simple and innovative graphics to explain some of the essential concepts.
Collecting Light
The challenge and the thrill of astrophotography is to gather light in the dark, to capture the faint traces of stars, galaxies, globular clusters, planets and deep sky objects via film or CCD device in a way that the human eye, lacking time exposure mode, just can't. Here Bill Kramer and Ted Saker shine light on the darkness of ignorance of those of us who'd like to take pictures of objects in the night sky but just don't know how. The site also provides links to image galleries showing the kind of results you might expect if you work hard at it. One of these links is to Bill and Ted's Excellent Astro-Picture Page.
International Dark-Sky Association
"IDA's goals are to be effective in stopping the adverse environmental impact on dark skies by building awareness of the problem of light pollution and of the solutions, and to educate everyone about the value and effectiveness of quality nighttime lighting." This site provides detailed information and news stories as well as a newsletter and related links.
Eighth Grade Sci-ber Text
It's great when teachers collaborate. Teachers in the state of Utah have created this online resource for their Eighth grade science curriculum full of activities and links. Topics covered include matter, energy, forces, machines, and earth. Most of the activities can easily be used for other grade levels. (From Blue Web'N)
Space Weather?
The monitoring of current space weather conditions is used to understand the sun-earth environment. SpaceWeather.com is an excellent source for monitoring this relationship through its offering of current space weather conditions and NASA news headlines. The topics and forecasts covered include solar storms, solar flares, auroras, solar winds, sunspots, and interplanetary magnetic fields. There are also several wonderful images to accompany the space weather phenomena. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Virtual Science Center
The online presence of Chabot Space & Science Center, a joint powers agency that is also affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, includes the Virtual Science Center, featuring multiple and changing exhibits at Chabot; curriculum support materials for K-12 science teachers; a virtual planetarium offering quick information and links to data tables for various celestial topics; a collection of links to authoritative space science and technology Web sites around the world; and an online glossary for space science learners. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
We gratefully acknowledge the following online sources: The Scout Report, Yahoo's Picks of the Week, Blue Web'N, and the Librarian's Index to the Internet.This page is compiled by Liz Bryson, CFHT Librarian
This page was designed by Lisa Wells, CFHT Observing Assistant
We appreciate your comments and questions.