National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center

1929 Lessons

Download all lessons with their associated handouts: doc, pdf
Note: the pdf handouts for the "Discovering the Milky Way" and "Unsung Heroes" lessons are included in the .doc file.

• Discovering the Milky Way – Students will look at historic astronomical data to find a pattern originally seen by Henrietta Leavitt.
  • Lesson Plan (doc, pdf)
  • Reading: Henrietta Levitt's original paper (pdf)
• Just How Far is that Star? – Students will work with light meters to determine how astronomers find distances to objects of known brightness.
  • Lesson Plan (doc, pdf)
• Cosmic CSI: Stellar Fingerprints and Doppler Red Shifts – Students will explore what spectra from different elements looks like and how astronomers can learn composition of objects with this tool.
• Lesson Plan (doc, pdf)
• Handout with sample spectra to view and identify (pdf)
• Determining the Universe– Students will measure the size of several galaxies to reproduce a plot of Hubble's Law.
  • Lesson Plan (doc, pdf)
  • Supporting Materials:
    • Appendix A: The Rule of 57 (doc, pdf)
    • Appendix B: Galaxy Images (doc, pdf)
    • Appendix C: Galaxy Fact Cards (doc, pdf)
    • Appendix D: Questions for Students (doc, pdf)
• Unsung Heroes of Science– Students will explore figures in science who are often overlooked.
  • Lesson Plan (doc, pdf)