HR MacMillan Space Centre - Just for Teachers

Resources to help you teach about astronomy, space science and sustainability

All Blog Posts (39)

Iron Science

Calling all science teachers! Are you interested in blowing stuff up? Does a 'normal' day in your class involve safety gear? Are you making the science of learning fun and active? If you answered yes to any of those questions (or even just 'maybe') then you owe it to yourself to check out the Iron Science Competition (www.ironscience.ca) The HR MacMillan Space Centre, (in partnership with Science World), is hosting the BC division here on January 22nd 2010 and we would love to have a whole gang… Continue

Added by Cam on October 15, 2009 at 2:17pm — No Comments

How I saw Neptune

I have been wanting to see Neptune for a very long time. On many occasions I have tried to observe this distant world but I have failed for various reasons. Mostly due to the not so dark skies around my house in Surrey. Sometimes it is confusing to find the 7.8 magnitude faint Neptune among a bunch of 5 or 6 magnitude stars near by. But my lucky moment arrived in the early morning of July 10th (2009). I read on SkyNews magazine that Jupiter was passing by Neptune for the next few days. So I dec… Continue

Added by Kasun Somaratne on July 13, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

2 ways to impress the crowd at a Starparty!

If you are into stargazing this site is a must know. heavens-above.com gives you pretty much everything you need to know about those mysterious slow moving stars that you might come across if you stare at the sky for just as little as 5 minutes. After you have created an account with your location on Earth it will tell you when you could see ISS, Hubble, Iridium flares, other major satellites, and occasionally the space shuttle when it is in orbit. What… Continue

Added by Kasun Somaratne on June 9, 2009 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Comet Lulin (The green comet)

So I heared about this comet from one of my friends and decided to check it out myself. This comet actually looks green. That is due to C2 and CN gases that gets released due to sunlight as the comet gets closer to the sun. This comet is in a highly eccentric orbit which means that it will not come around the sun for another long long time. So I went outside at around 8.30pm despite the bitter cold wind with my 20X50 binoculars to find the comet. Before I went outside I looked online where the… Continue

Added by Kasun Somaratne on February 26, 2009 at 10:42pm — No Comments

International Astronomy Year Begins!

It's been 400 years since Galileo first had a look at the stars through his telecope. This Galileo moment was the first step in our current scientific understanding of the universe. Wonder how Galileo felt when he saw phases in Venus, moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn for the first time? Well if you haven't seen these already you will have a very good chance of seeing them yourself this year as the whole world turn towards the night sky. The United Nations has declared the year 2009 as the I… Continue

Added by Kasun Somaratne on January 1, 2009 at 12:00am — No Comments

Another interesting website - could be a great resource for students

PlanetQuest is an interesting website from NASA (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) with lots of interesting multimedia to address curriculum. I particularly liked their "Alien Safari" (appropriate for the Grade 6 Earth and Space Science curriculum). Continue

Added by Lisa McIntosh on November 17, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Definitions of terms relevant to BC grade 9 Earth and Space Science

Attached are definitions from the vocabulary list from the grade 9 Earth and space science curriculum. Hope you find them useful.Definitions for Grade 9.doc Continue

Added by Lisa McIntosh on November 16, 2008 at 12:34pm — No Comments

RAINBOWS AT NIGHT

Found this on the website spaceweather.com - Many students ask if you can see a rainbow at night - until now i have always said no. The recipe for a rainbow couldn't be simpler. Splash sunlight across falling rain and voilà--a luminous arc of mythological beauty. Sunlight is crucial to the process, yet last night in Northern Ireland, a rainbow appeared long after sunset: How is this possible? Bright moonlight did the job of the sun. "The clear sky around the Moon and showers to my west provid… Continue

Added by Trish on October 17, 2008 at 2:45pm — No Comments

Who Owns the Moon?

A very interesting debate today on the internet started by NASA with regards to who holds the rights or ownership of the moon? Within the next 10 years, the U.S., China, Israel, and a host of private companies plan to set up camp on the moon. So if and when they plant a flag, does that gi… Continue

Added by Trish on August 28, 2008 at 2:17pm — 1 Comment

Perseid Peaks on August 12th

Meteors are one of the many facinating things about the night sky. But for city dwellers like us spoting a meteor can be a challenge. What better chance is there to see a meteor than in a meteor shower! The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th. According to Bill Cooke at NA… Continue

Added by Kasun Somaratne on August 7, 2008 at 4:15pm — No Comments

Space Junk - Watch Out !!

Weight: 1400-lb. Size: Like a double-wide refrigerator. The Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS), pictured above, was thrown overboard from the International Space Station on July 23, 2007, almost one year ago. At the time, the castaway was in a high orbit and barely visible from Earth's surface. N… Continue

Added by Trish on July 22, 2008 at 3:38pm — No Comments

Fly me to the moon!!!

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Added by Trish on July 18, 2008 at 11:37am — No Comments

The Perfect Sunset

Contrary to appearances, the landscape is not on fire. "This is just a cloudy sunset over open countryside in France," says Patrice Arnaudet, who took the picture on July 13th using a Canon 350D digital camera. "There was no fire." Blame the trickery on Rayleigh scatter… Continue

Added by Trish on July 16, 2008 at 10:44am — No Comments

My first photo of the sun!

I've been observing the sun for quite a time, but this is the first time I got a picture of it. I was using my binoculars (20X50) with a home-made Baader Solar filter. I took this photo by holding a digital camera closer to one of the eye pieces of my binoculars, which is not by far… Continue

Added by Kasun Somaratne on June 30, 2008 at 4:25pm — 1 Comment

Attention All Students on Summer Vacation - Participate in the Space Centre Summer Astronomy Picture Contest

Even though school is out there is still one home work assignment for you over the summer. Participate in the Space Centre's Summer Astronomy Picture Contest ! Take a picture of the night sky, summer star gazing or the Moon at it's various stages and email it… Continue

Added by Trish on June 27, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it...

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the first time. Results from that instrument, part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, are expected to provide the first measur… Continue

Added by Trish on June 26, 2008 at 8:28am — No Comments

What to wear on the moon in 2015...

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Added by Trish on June 16, 2008 at 10:37am — No Comments

Color View 'Dodo' and 'Baby Bear' Trenches

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager took this image on Sol 14 (June 8, 2008), the 14th Martian day after landing. It shows two trenches dug by Phoenix's Robotic Arm. Soil from the right trench, informally called "Baby Bear,"… Continue

Added by Trish on June 12, 2008 at 9:27am — No Comments

Construction on mars ?

This image was taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on Sol 11 (June 5, 2008), the eleventh day after landing. It shows the Robotic Arm scoop containing a soil sample poised over the partially open door of the Th… Continue

Added by Trish on June 6, 2008 at 11:58am — No Comments

The inside scoop!

This image from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) shows material from the Martian surface captured by the Robotic Arm (RA) scoop during its first test dig and dump on the seventh Martian day of the mission, or Sol 7 (June 1, 20… Continue

Added by Trish on June 3, 2008 at 9:24am — No Comments