Wright State University Astronomy Club

Educational Resources for Teachers and Amateur Astronomers

Here you can find free WSUAC-created resources to help you with teaching and observing. The "Challenges," like the rest of the material, are works in progress; please feel free to tailor them to your own classroom or situation. We will update as comments and suggestions come in. Also, please remember to credit appropriate sources if the items are re-distributed, as some of them do utilize copyrighted material.

• The Orion Challenges
• Challenge #1
• Challenge #2
• Challenge #3 with Orion front and Orion back (courtesy SFA)
• Challenge #4 and cross-staff cutout (courtesy Waxman, A Workbook for Astronomy ©1984)
• Challenge #5


• The Ursa Major Challenges
• Challenge #1
• Challenge #2
• Challenge #3 with Ursa Major front and Ursa Major back (courtesy SFA)
• Challenge #4 and cross-staff cutout (courtesy Waxman, A Workbook for Astronomy ©1984)
• Challenge #5


• Some definitions and formulae for getting the most out of your telescope



• A page explaining apparent magnitude



• A table for the Greek alphabet



• A PDF file of a planisphere template fromThe National Research Council of Canada (a huge hit for public outreach events!), and a Youtube video about how to put it together!



• A list of books containing projects and activities in astronomy.



• WHERE ARE THE PLANETS?
  
  Have your students plot the positions of the planets in the solar system. Here is a Java program I wrote using Peter Duffet-Smith's Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator (© 1989, Cambridge University Press) to calculate heliocentric longitude of the planets. For those interested in viewing the code, it can be found here. To get the latest Sun Java SE Development Kit (JDK), go to http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp. With this information you can construct a chart of the solar system (as seen from "above") and plot the positions of the planets relative to the vernal equinox point.

Please feel free to send feedback if you find any of these resources useful, or if you'd like to offer suggestions for additions or modifications. Your input is appreciated!